C\SJy  ^"\^A\\aA/vu6  ^^Wo^VnWojx;^ 


GIFT  OF 


w^ 


.^i  W^i 


ORIGINS 


WILLIAMSTOWN 


BY 


ARTHUR  LATHAM    jPERRY,   LL.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF   HISTORY   AND   POLITICAL   ECONOMY   IN   WILLLA.MS  COLLEGE, 

MEMBER  OF  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY,   AND 

PRESIDENT   OF  THE   BERKSHIRE    HISToKK  AL 

AND  SCIENTIFIC   SOCIETY 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1894 


F 


COPYRIGHT,   1894,   BY 
ARTHUR   LATHAM   PERRY. 


THE  PERPETUAL  MEMORY 

OF 

Colonel  13enjamin  Simonlis  antJ  Captain  i^efjcmia!)  SmetJleg 

Unii!    .11     THEM    PROMIXKXT    AMONG    THE    EARLIEST    SOLDIERS    ANr> 

SETTLERS    IN    WEST    HOOSAC 

1       lil    OF    THEM    PATRIOT    OFFICERS    IN    THE    WA1{    OF    THE 

KK VOLUTION 

AND    (WHAT    16    MLCII    LESS    WORTH    THE    MENTION) 

BOTH    OF   THEM    GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHERS    OF   MY   CHILDREN 


.'^721  15 


PREFACE. 


The  first  time  I  ever  heard  of  Williamstown  and  Williams  College 
was  in  the  early  autumn  of  1843,  a  month  or  so  after  the  Semi-cen- 
tennial of  the  College,  which  fell  on  the  16th  of  August  of  that  year. 
Rev.  Phineas  Cooke,  an  alumnus  of  the  College  of  1803,  and  forty 
years  later  a  pastor  of  the  church  in  Lebanon,  New  Hampshire,  had 
attended  this  celebration  with  one  of  his  sons;  and  a  short  time 
afterwards  exchanged  pulpits  with  the  pastor  in  ray  native  village  of 
Lyme,  New  Hampshire.  My  mother  was  the  widow  of  the  previous 
pastor  there,  and  as  such,  was  well  known  to  Mr.  Cooke,  who  came 
into  our  house  after  the  afternoon  service,  as  was  customary  with 
him,  and  related  to  my  mother  at  length  his  recent  experiences  at 
his  alma  mater  in  Massachusetts.  I  was  then  a  boy  of  thirteen  years, 
and  listened  intently  but  not  over-intelligently  to  this  talk.  Phineas 
Cooke  was  an  immensely  tall  man,  six  feet  and  six  inches  in  height ; 
he  was  also  an  immensely  solemn  man  in  his  manner  of  speaking, 
employing  a  sort  of  cluck  of  the  tongue  at  the  close  of  each  sentence 
deemed  important ;  and  on  account  of  both  these  peculiarities,  he 
was  popularly  known  in  that  region  as  the  high  priest  of  New  Hamp- 
shire. He  was  a  native  of  old  Hadley  on  the  Connecticut,  and  natu- 
rally enough  passed  over  the  Hoosac  Mountain  to  Williamstown  for 
his  college  education.  But  in  the  forty  years  from  his  graduation 
he  had  never  revisited  the  place.  Great  changes  had  taken  place 
here  in  that  time,  as  a  matter  of  course.  His  son,  who  came  with 
him  hither  in  1843  from  Lebanon,  had,  in  the  mean  time,  grown  up 
and  bfien  graduated  at  Dartmouth.  The  two  were  entertained  at  the 
Semi-|entennial  by  an  elderly  lady,  Mrs.  Amasa  Shattuck,  who,  as  a 
girl,  had  waited  at  table  on  Cooke  in  her  father's,  William  Smith's, 
house  in  Water  Street ;  and  now  both  father  and  son  were  waited  on 
at  table  by  Mary  Shattuck,  a  granddaughter  of  the  hostess,  Mrs. 
Smith,  of  more  than  forty  years  before.  All  this,  and  much  more 
than  this,  of  a  similar  kind,  was  oracularly  given  out  in  the  way 


VI  PREFACE. 

of  reminiscence  to  my  mother  on  that  sunny  Sunday  afternoon.  It 
soon  passed  out  of  a  small  boy's  head,  although  not  irrecoverably. 

Nearly  five  years  later,  when  my  own  preparation  for  college  was 
about  completed,  my  own  pastor  in  Lyme,  llev.  Erdix  Tenny,  who 
was  my  father's  successor  there,  chanced  to  ask  me  where  I  was 
expecting  to  go  to  college.  I  answered,  "  Dartmouth,"  —  which 
was  but  nine  miles  distant  from  my  home,  and,  as  I  supposed,  the 
only  institution  accessible  to  me  in  my  poverty.  He  himself  was 
an  alumnus  of  Middlebury,  and  had,  on  several  grounds,  a  strong 
prejudice  against  Dartmouth,  and  kindly  suggested  to  me  whether 
Williamstown  might  not  be  a  good  place  for  me  to  go  to.  He  men- 
tioned Mark  Hopkins  as  the  popular  and  efficient  president  there,  — 
a  name  that  somehow  settled  down  into  my  memory.  After  I  had 
gone  back  to  Thetford  Academy,  which  was  just  across  the  Connec- 
ticut Kiver  from  my  native  village,  and  in  plain  sight  on  its  hilltop, 
I  thought  over  at  my  leisure  what  the  minister  had  said,  and  remem- 
ber now  that  the  name  "  Hopkins  "  seemed  to  have  then  a  sort  of 
solid  sound.  I  wrote  to  him  for  a  catalogue  of  the  college ;  which 
he  forwarded  at  once,  and  with  it  a  copy  of  a  pretty  thick  pamphlet 
entitled  "  Sketches  of  Williams  College,"  just  then  written  and  pub- 
lished by  David  A.  Wells  of  the  class  of  1847.  The  catalogue 
impressed  me  less  than  the  pamphlet,  for  there  was  some  striking 
history  in  the  latter,  and  some  romance ;  some  little  account  of  the 
old  French  and  Indian  wars  along  the  upper  Hoosac,  and  of  Fort 
Massachusetts  and  its  capture  by  the  French  in  1746 ;  and  a  little 
sketch,  too,  of  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams,  who  wrote  his  last  will  and 
testament,  as  it  were,  in  his  life  blood.  I  concluded  to  try  Williams 
College. 

A  fellow-passenger  with  me  in  the  stage  from  Greenfield,  over  the 
Hoosac  Mountain  to  North  Adams,  when  I  made  my  initial  journey 
to  Williamstown  as  a  prosjDective  freshman  in  September,  1848,  was 
Waldo  W.  Ludden,  then  a  member  of  the  sophomore  class.  He 
was  courteous  and  intelligent  and  won  my  confidence,  and  never 
afterwards  lost  it,  although  I  was  even  then  aware  that  a  sophomore 
is  a  sort  of  natural  enemy  of  a  freshman.  The  story  was  told  in 
the  stage,  that  there  "  used  to  be "  a  notice-board  to  passengers  at 
the  foot  of  the  mountain.  Walk  up  if  you  please,  and  another  upon  the 
summit,  Ride  doivn  if  you  dare.  Somewhat  as  an  echo  of  this  last, 
when  we  reached  the  west  descent  of  the  mountain,  Ludden  proposed 
to  me  that  we  leave  the  stage  and  take  a  short  cut  adown,  which,  he 
said,  was  an  old  war-path  of  the  Indians,  and  as  straight  as  a  gun- 
barrel.     This  statement  excited  my  interest  at  once,  and  I  accepted 


PREFACE. 


Vll 


the  proposal  with  alacrity,  plying  him  with  questions,  which  he 
could  not  answer,  as  to  what  Indians  frequented  this  old  trail,  and 
when,  and  why.  When  we  reached  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  which 
was  a  considerable  time  before  the  stage  reached  it,  I  was  struck 
with  the  position  and  beauty  of  the  valley.  About  ten  miles  to  the 
west  of  where  we  stood,  the  Taconics  loomed  up  to  defend  the  valley 
on  that  side,  very  much  as  the  Hoosacs,  over  which  we  had  just 
passed,  stood  guard  over  it  on  the  east ;  while  all  the  huge  tumbles 
tliat  constitute  the  Greylock  range  formidably  flanked  it  on  the 
south,  as  the  Dome  and  the  Domelet  overlooked  it  frowningly  on 
the  north.  The  two  branches  of  the  Hoosac  River,  which  the  Indians 
had  named  respectively  the  AshmciUticook  and  the  Mayunsook,  on 
the  angle  between  which  we  were  standing,  united  in  the  village  of 
North  Adams  to  form  a  stream,  which,  while  it  cannot  compare  in 
beauty  with  my  native  Connecticut  in  its  long  upper  reaches,  may 
yet  claim  something  of  the  eulogy  long  ago  poetically  paid  to  that :  — 

*'No  watery  gleams  through  happier  valleys  shine, 
Nor  drinks  the  sea  a  lovelier  wave  than  thine." 

In  short,  the  Genius  loci  touched  me  at  the  very  first ;  and  has  never 
since  loosened,  but  only  tightened,  its  genial  hold. 

During  my  college  course  of  four  years,  I  managed  to  find  out  all 
that  anybody  here  then  knew,  which  was  very  little  indeed,  about 
old  Fort  Massachusetts  and  the  local  events  falling  in  the  old  French 
and  Indian  wars.  I  made  the  pleasant  acquaintance  of  the  old 
farmer  who  then  owned  the  broad  meadow  along  the  Hoosac,  on 
which  the  fort  once  stood,  and  who  had  ploughed  over  its  rude  lines 
time  and  time  again,  and  whose  son  had  once  accidentally  thrown 
off  by  his  ploughshare  the  flat  stone  covering  the  well  of  the  fort, 
and  had  looked  down  for  a  moment  or  two  upon  the  rubbish  of  old 
utensils  and  whatnot,  with  which  its  depths  were  more  than  half  filled 
up.  He  repeatedly  visited  the  spot  with  me ;  gave  me  permission  to 
transport  to  the  College  the  last  headstone  remaining  legible  in  the 
little  "  God's  Acre  "  just  to  the  west  of  the  site  of  the  fort ;  and  at 
length,  when  I  wished  to  set  a  memorial  tree  on  the  very  site  of  the 
fort  itself,  he  took  pains  to  point  out  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
middle  of  the  parade-ground  within  the  original  enclosure  or  block- 
house. The  large  elm  now  growing  there  was  planted  in  1859  by 
my  own  hands  in  the  precise  spot  thus  indicated  by  Clement  Harri- 
son. I  wish  here  to  acknowledge  publicly  the  courtesy  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  of  North  Adams,  in  which  township 
falls  the  site  of  the  fort,  who,  as  I  understand  it,  with  unanimity 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

and  even  enthusiasm,  voted  many  years  ago  that  that  tree  should  in 
future  be  known  as  "  Perry's  Elm/' 

Throughout  the  whole  of  my  mature  life,  now  no  longer  short,  all 
of  it  spent  in  Williamstown  as  my  home  and  the  place  of  varied 
labors,  my  early  and  constant  interest  in  its  original  military  occu- 
pation, —  no  other  town  in  Massachusetts  (I  think)  had  such  purely 
military  beginnings;  my  later  curiosity  as  to  its  successive  civil 
establishments  and  development ;  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
became  still  later  the  seat  of  a  venerable  and  influential  College ;  my 
close  and  vital  connection,  through  marriage  and  otherwise,  with 
many  of  the  remarkable  persons  and  families  among  its  earliest 
settlers  and  their  descendants;  —  all  those  have  served  to  deepen 
and  broaden  the  gladdening  researches  made  into  the  earlier  and 
later  facts  relating  to  my  town  and  College.  Some  of  the  results  of 
this  longtime  interest  and  investigation  are  now  presented  to  the 
public,  in  this  volume.  A  mass  of  still  unused  and  mostly  subse- 
quent material,  large  portions  of  it  concerning  the  origin  and  exi- 
gences and  successes  of  the  College,  has  already  been  slowly  gathered 
and  partially  classified;  and  should  a  kind  Providence  but  spare 
my  life  and  strength  a  few  years  longer,  the  hope  is  fondly  indulged 
that  I  may  be  able  to  give  to  my  townsmen  generally,  and  espe- 
cially to  my  fellow-alumni,  another  volume  which  may  be  probably 
entitled  "  Williamstown  and  Williams  College,"  some  indirect  refer- 
ences to  which  may  here  and  there  be  found  in  the  text  of  the 

present  work. 

A.  L.  P. 

February  27, 1894. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 


Situation' 


CHAPTER   II. 


Fort  Massaciu'sett 


.       C9 


CHAPTER   III. 


Ephraim  Williams 


(•iiAi''i"i:i:   IV 


West  IIoosac 


CHAPTER   V. 


W1LLIAM6TOWX 


.     4G; 


INDEX 


02:5 


ORIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 


3l«ic 


CHAPTER  I. 


SITUATION. 


Beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  is  Mount  Zion,  on  the  sides 
of  the  north."  — Psalms  xlviii,  2. 


WiLLiAMSTOwx  lles  In  the  northwest  corner  of  Massachusetts. 
Its  northern  line  of  five  miles  in  length  is,  for  that  distance,  the 
southern  line  of  Vermont.  The  entire  northern  line  of  Massachu- 
setts was  long  in  controversy  between  that  state  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  was  finally  settled  on  by  the  Privy  Council  in  England, 
March  10,  1740,  in  these  words:  "That  the  northern  boundary  of 
Massachusetts  be  a  curved  line  pursuing  the  course  of  the  Merrimack 
River  at  three  miles  distance,  on  the  north  side  thereof,  beginning 
at  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  ending  at  a  point  due  north  of  Pawtucket 
Falls,  ayid  a  straight  course  drawn  from  thence  due  icest,  until  it  meets 
with  his  Majesty's  other  governments." 

This  line  was  actually  run  the  next  year  by  a  surveyor  named 
Richard  Hazen,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Haverhill,  on  the  Merrimack, 
and  accordingly  is  sometimes  called  "  Hazen's  line,"  and  has  never 
since  been  altered.  Pawtucket  Falls  are  the  rapids  on  which  the 
city  of  Lowell  was  long  afterwards  built;  but  by  some  means  the 
line  to  be  drawn  "  due  west,"  from  a  point  three  miles  north  of  them, 
was  really  drawn  about  1°  45'  noi'th  of  due  west ;  so  that  Massachu- 
setts, so  far  as  Williamstown  is  concerned,  gained  thereby  more  than 
one-third  of  the  area  of  the  town;  otherwise  the  meadows  of  the 
Hoosac,  the  site  of  the  College,  the  slopes  of  Prospect,  and  all  the 
lands  north  of  a  line  about  midway  between  the  two  villages,  would 
have  been  adjudged  to  New  Hampshire,  and  afterwards  have  fallen 

1 


i;  OKiaiNS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

to  Vermont.     It  was  indeed  a  blessed  error  of  the  compass  that  kept 
this  fine  strip  of  country  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts.^ 

When  Kichard  Hazen  ran  his  line  in  1741,  he  did  not  know  pre- 
cisely at  what  point  to  the  westward  to  stop;  for  the  boundary  between 
New  York  and  Massachusetts  had  not  then  been  definitely  settled, 
and  the  authority  under  which  he  acted  ordered  the  line  to  be  ex- 
tended west  "until  it  meets  his  Majesty's  other  governments." 
There  had  been,  however,  a  general  understanding  ever  since  the 
Dutch  ''New  Netherland"  had  been  conquered  by  the  English  in  1664, 
that  that  Province  extended  twenty  miles  east  of  Hudson's  River. 
Indeed,  a  futile  attempt  had  been  made  by  the  very  commissioners, 
who  took  possession  of  the  Province  in  the  name  of  King  Charles 
the  Second,  to  draw,  on  that  understanding,  the  western  boundary  line 
of  Connecticut.  So  far  as  Massachusetts  was  concerned,  such  a  line 
would  correspond  pretty  nearly  with  the  summits  of  the  Taconic 
Hills.  Accordingly,  Hazen  carried  his  line  westward  over  the  top  of 
this  range,  calling  that  part  crossed  by  the  line  ''  Mount  Belcher,'^ 
from  the  name  of  the  governor  under  whose  commission  he  was  sur- 
veying, and  supposed  that  the  ultimate  New  York  boundary  would 
run  along  those  summits,  but,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  he  con- 
tinued the  line  "  to  Hudson's  Eiver,  at  about  eighty  poles  from  the 
place  where  Mohawk  River  comes  into  Hudson's  River."  ^ 

Yet  misunderstandings,  as  between  New  York  and  Massachusetts 
in  relation  to  their  boundary  line,  began  early,  and  continued  until 
1773 ;  some  of  the  New  York  patroons  claimed  that  their  land-grants 
reached  over  into  the  valley  of  the  Housatonic.  A  few  Dutch 
pioneers  had  crept  up  the  Hoosac  from  the  westward,  very  near 
to  the  point  where  Hazen's  line  crosses  that  river.  In  1739  the  first 
committee  from  the  government  of  Massachusetts,  that  came  into 
this  valley  to  survey  it,  complained  in  their  report  of  "the  great 
opposition  we  met  with  from  sundry  gentlemen  from  Albany,"  and 
the  committee  of  the  General  Court  to  which  this  report  was  referred 
^•ecommended  "  that  the  government  of  New  York  be  informed  by 
proper  letters  of  the  resolution  of  this  Court  herein,  and  that  we  are 
ready  to  join  commissioners  with  such  as  shall  be  appointed  by 
them  for  the  stating  and  perambulating  the  bounds  between  each 
province."  The  same  committee  refer  to  "the  better  securing  the 
undoubted  right  this  government  have  to  those  and  other  lands  there- 
about," and  also  refer  to  the  lands  as  those  "whereon  some  few 

1  Original  Surveys  of  Williamstown,  as  copied  by  Tutor  Cofl&n  in  1843;  Williams' 
Vermont,  p.  211 ;  and  Palfrey's  Neiv  England,  v.  4,  p.  558. 

2  See  Hazen's  Journal  of  this  Survey,  first  printed  in  1879. 


SITUATION.  3 

people  have  already  got  and  inhabit'';  again,  iu  1749  another  com- 
mittee "  are  further  of  opinion  that  a  letter  be  sent  from  this  govern- 
ment to  the  government  of  New  York  once  more,  to  press  them  to 
join  commissioners  with  such  as  shall  be  appointed  by  this  Court  for 
settling  the  boundaries  between  this  government  and  that  of  New 
York  " ;  but  at  length,  in  1773,  all  these  anxieties  were  quieted  by  a 
Board  of  Mutual  Commissioners,  who,  with  the  governors  of  the  two 
provinces,  met  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  agreed  on  the  line  sub- 
stantially as  it  now  runs,  although  the  line  was  not  drawn  and  finally 
established  till  the  summer  of  1787,  while  the  Federal  Convention 
that  framed  our  National  Constitution  was  in  session  at  Philadel- 
phia, both  parties  in  the  meantime  having  appealed  to  the  Congress 
of  the  Confederation  to  appoint  commissioners  for  that  purpose. 

The  persons  thus  appointed  were  John  Ewing,  David  Rittenhouse, 
and  Thomas  Hutchins,  all  distinguished  men,  the  first  two  citizens 
of  Philadelphia,  and  the  last,  who  did  the  work  and  made  the  report 
in  the  name  of  the  three,  was  the  first  prominent  American  geogra- 
pher. He  had  been  assisted  in  the  survey  by  Professor  Samuel 
Williams  of  Harvard  College,  afterwards  a  citizen  and  the  first 
historian  of  Vermont.  The  line  as  thus  settled  by  national  authority 
is  a  straight  line  north  by  east,  and  its  length  as  stated  in  the 
report  was  "  fifty  miles,  forty-one  chains,  and  seventy-nine  links." 
A  small  equilateral  triangle  of  land  at  its  extreme  southwest  corner 
has  since  been  granted  by  the  state  of  Massachusetts  to  the  state  of 
New  York,  but  with  this  insignificant  exception  the  boundary-line 
between  them  is  still  Hutchins'  line  of  1787.  It  so  happened  that 
this  line  did  not  coincide  at  all  with  the  west  line  of  Williamstown 
as  laid  out  in  1749  by  a  committee  of  the  General  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts, but  ran  446  rods  to  the  west  of  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
town  as  then  laid  out,  and  gradually  approached  the  old  line  as  it  ran 
northwards,  and  crossed  it  about  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of  Hazen's 
line,  which  line  it  struck  at  last  about  half  a  mile  east  of  the  top  of 
the  Taconic  Ridge.  This  point  is  now  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
town  of  Williamstown,  of  the  county  of  Berkshire,  and  of  the  state 
of  Massachusetts.  It  is  also  the  southwest  corner  of  the  state  of 
Vermont ;  and  it  cuts  into  two  very  nearly  equal  parts  the  eastern 
line  of  the  state  of  New  York.  It  is  marked  at  present  by  a  small 
marble  monument,  which  was  probably  set  when  the  line  was  run  in 
1787.  Its  latitude  is  42°  44',  and  its  longitude  73°  13'  west  from 
Greenwich.  Not  far  from  150  acres  of  the  original  town  of  Williams- 
town was  in  this  way  cut  off  from  its  northwest  corner  and  thrown 
into  New  York,  while  a  gore  of  land  on  the  southwest  of  the  old  town 


4  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

was  thrown  into  Massachusetts,  and  fifty  years  later  (April  9, 1838) 
annexed  to  Williamstown.  The  present  western  line  of  the  town,  ac- 
cordingly, is  Hutchins'  line  for  that  distance,  and  is  very  nearly  eight 
and  one-fourth  miles  in  length,  and  is  in  direction  N.  20°  15'  E.,  keep- 
ing all  the  way  pretty  near  to  the  highest  points  of  the  Taconic  Range, ^ 

The  southern  line  of  Williamstown,  including,  since  1838,  the  base- 
line of  "  the  Gore,"  makes  a  straight  course  of  very  nearly  six  and 
three-fourths  miles  in  length,  and  in  direction  a  little  south  of  east 
from  the  New  York  boundary  to  the  western  line  of  the  present 
town  of  Adams.  This  course,  bounding  Hancock  and  New  Ashford 
on  the  north,  descends  from  the  ridge  of  the  Taconics,  passes  across 
the  narrow  valley  of  the  Hancock  Brook,  runs  over  "  Stratton  Moun- 
tain "  so-called  (a  huge  wedge  almost  closing  up  the  Williamstown 
valley  on  the  south),  so  as  to  bring  into  the  town  the  finely  rounded 
northern  face  and  summit  of  that  mountain,  next  crosses  the  still 
narrower  valley  of  the  Ashford  Brook,  and  then  climbs  up  the  steep 
side  of  Saddle  Mountain,  to  strike  the  Adams  line  but  little  to  the 
south  of  the  peak  of  Grey  lock. 

From  this  lofty  point,  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  town,  which  is 
the  only  one  of  its  four  sides  meeting  with  no  change  since  Colonels 
Partridge  and  Choate  and  Captain  Dwight  traced  the  town's  limits 
as  a  committee  of  the  General  Court  in  1749,  runs  its  course  of 
about  eight  and  one-fourth  miles  slightly  to  the  east  of  north,  at 
first  high  up  along  the  western  slope  of  Greylock,  —  about  sixty 
rods  from  its  highest  summit,  —  and  so  along  the  western  slopes  of 
Mounts  Fitch  and  Williams,  all  three  of  whose  high  heads  are  in 
what  was  the  old  township  of  East  Hoosac,  and  then  obliquely  over 
the  strong  shoulder  called  "  Wilbur's  Pasture,"  which  serves  to  unite 
Mount  Williams  with  Mount  Prospect,  and  then  adown  the  gorge 
between  these  and  diagonally  across  the  valley  of  the  Hoosac,  — just 
cutting  in  twain  the  long  woollen-mill  in  Blackinton, — and  then  climb- 
ing the  slope  of  East  Mountain  to  the  north  of  the  river,  and  passing 
along  its  western  side  more  than  half-way  up  to  its  summit,  hits 
Hazen's  line  at  last,  and  makes  the  northeast  corner  of  the  town. 

Within  these  four  lines  are  enclosed  as  nearly  as  may  be  forty- 
seven  square  miles,  or  30,000  acres,  of  wonderfully  varied  surface.- 

1  Mass.  Arch.,  v.  114,  pp.  314,  315;  Hildreth's  U.  S.,  v.  2,  pp.  44,  572,  v.  3,  p.  531 ; 
Professor  Dewey  in  Field's  Berkshire,  p.  9;  Drake's  Biog.  Diet.,  arts.  "Samuel 
Williams"  and  "Thomas  Hutchins";  Rev.  John  Norton's  iJedeemed  Captive;  and 
Coffin's  Map  of  Williamstown.  In  these  matters  of  angles  and  distances,  I  have  had 
the  help  of  my  mathematically  gifted  colleagues,  Professor  Safford  and  Professor  Dodd. 

2  The  exact  mathematical  direction  of  the  southern  and  eastern  town-lines  cannot 
be  given  till  another  accurate  survey  be  had ;  nor  can  the  exact  length  of  any  of  the 


SITUATION.  6 

It  is  time  now  to  try  to  convey  to  readers  who  have  never  seen 
the  Williamstown  valley,  to  those  who  have  sometimes  seen  it  but 
now  live  at  a  distance  from  it,  and  even  to  those  who  live  within 
it  but  have  not  had  the  leisure  or  the  taste  to  examine  it  in  detail, 
clearer  conceptions  of  its  grand  outlines  and  delightful  features. 
Perhaps  this  may  best  be  done  by  following  out  what  the  Germans 
call  the  "  river-and-mountain-system ''  of  the  region.  In  its  broader 
sense  this  valley  lies  enclosed  between  the  Taconics  on  the  west  and 
the  Hoosacs  on  the  east,  the  tips  of  the  two  crests  at  this  point  are 
as  nearly  as  possible  twelve  miles  apart,  the  courses  of  the  two 
mountiiin  ranges  are  pretty  nearly  north  and  south,  the  valley  is 
accordingly  an  east  and  west  one,  and  the  Hoosac  Kiver  flows 
through  it  on  its  northern  edge  in  that  general  direction.  The  north 
branch  of  the  Hoosac,  called  by  the  Indians  3fayunsook,  washes  the 
western  slopes  of  the  Hoosacs  as  they  bound  the  valley  at  its  north- 
east corner ;  and  the  south  branch,  named  by  the  aborigines  Ashu- 
willticookj  flows  northerly  through  a  narrow  valley  of  its  own 
between  the  Hoosacs  and  Saddle  Mountain,  draining  the  adjacent 
sides  of  the  two  at  the  southeast  comer  of  the  valley ;  and  then 
these  two  river-branches  unite  in  the  village  of  North  Adams  to 
form  the  Hoosac,  along  whose  northern  bank  throughout  the  Will- 
iamstown valley,  and  so  on  to  the  Hudson,  ran  for  one  hundred 
years  in  the  historical  times  ending  in  1759  (and  no  one  can  tell 
for  how  much  longer)  the  great  eastern  war-trail  of  the  Six  Nations 
from  their  homes  on  the  Mohawk  (and  to  the  west  of  it)  to  the 
Deerfield  and  the  Connecticut.  The  Canada  Indians,  also,  in  con- 
junction with  their  French  allies,  trod  the  same  war-path  to  reach 
Fort  Massachusetts  and  the  valleys  beyond  the  Hoosac  Mountain. 

The  village  of  Williamstown  is  just  west  from  that  of  North 
Adams,  at  five  miles'  distance,  but  the  two  are  mostly  out  of  sight  of 
each  other  owing  to  an  intervening  ridge  through  which  the  Hoosac 
has  forced  its  way  to  the  westward,  namely,  the  easternmost  of  the 
three  lobes  of  Saddle  Mountain,  which  is  called  the  "  Raven  Rock," 
and  which  slopes  gradually  down  to  the  south  bank  of  the  Hoosac, 

four  lines  be  given  till  then.  Correction  for  the  variation  of  the  needle  was  made  for 
the  west  line,  —  that  is,  exactly  N.  20^  15'  E. ;  but  corrections  for  variation  were  not 
made  in  the  original  survey  of  1749,  and  the  results  for  the  three  lines  were  stated 
then  as  follows  :  north  line,  "  S.  82^  E.,  1583 rods  " ;  east  line,  "  S.  »^50'  W.,  2G00  rods  " ; 
south  line,  "  N.  80°  30'  W. ;  2120  rods."  To  the  length  of  this  line  44G  rods  have  since 
been  added.  As  the  measurement  of  the  lots  within  the  lines  was  originally  under- 
stated, as  a  rule,  so  it  is  probable  that  lengths  as  then  measured  were  understated 
also.  The  town-area  given  in  the  text  must  be  very  nearly  right.  See  Field's  Berk- 
shire, pp.  9, 397.  My  fellow-townsmen,  William  Torrey  and  J.  A.  Eldridge,  surveyors, 
have  given  me  information  on  these  points. 


6  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

and  is  penetrated  near  the  stream  by  the  "  Little  Tunnel "  of  the 
railroad,  while  from  the  north  bank  there  rises  up  at  once  a  spur  of 
the  Green  Mountains  extending  northerly  into  Vermont.  To  one 
looking  due  east  from  any  part  of  the  village  of  Williamstown  or 
from  the  highlands  to  the  westward  of  that  clear  to  the  top  of  the 
Taconics,  the  view  is  limited  by  a  long  and  low  arc  of  a  circle, 
the  southern  tip  of  which  is  the  summit  of  Mount  Williams  (the 
northern  point  of  the  central  lobe  of  Saddle  Mountain),  and  the 
northern  tip  of  which  is  the  summit  of  Smedley  Height  (the  south 
end  of  the  Green  Mountain  spur  just  referred  to),  and  the  centre 
of  which  is  the  tops  of  the  Hoosacs.  These  tops,  though  some  miles 
more  distant  than  the  slopes  of  the  other  two,  form,  to  the  eye  of  a 
Williamstown  observer,  one  bended  line  with  them,  and  constitute 
the  arc  within  which  the  sun  rises  throughout  the  year,  and  within 
which  are  the  visible  risings  of  the  moon  also.  The  grandest  sight 
vouchsafed  the  dwellers  on  this  part  of  the  Hoosac  is  the  sun  of  a 
cloudless  morning  rising  in  its  strength  in  some  part  of  this  long  arc, 
and  the  most  beautiful  sight  is  the  full  moon  ascending  the  blue 
from  some  point  within  it.  At  the  summer  solstice  the  sun  rises 
directly  over  the  Smedley  Height,  and  the  point  of  dawn  shifts 
daily  to  the  southward,  till  at  the  winter  solstice  it  is  just  over  that 
part  of  the  line  made  by  the  lower  slope  of  Mount  Williams.  The 
writer's  eastern  piazza  happens  to  front  the  middle  part  of  this 
slightly  concave  line,  and  he  has  watched  with  delight,  for  many 
years,  the  annual  passage  of  the  sun  back  and  forth  between  these 
extreme  points,  and  also  the  corresponding  movements  of  the  moon ; 
and  this  middle  part  happens  to  be  just  that  point  of  the  ridge  of 
the  Hoosacs  under  which  passes  the  famous  "  Hoosac  Tunnel." 

The  Hoosac  River  from  the  junction  of  its  two  branches  flows 
nearly  due  west  three-quarters  of  a  mile,  and  then  bending  southerly 
has  upon  its  right  bank  the  spacious  meadow  on  which  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts once  stood,  and  then  turning  slowly  to  its  westerly  course 
again,  through  narrower  meadows  on  either  side,  trends  suddenly  to 
the  northward  at  about  four  miles'  distance  from  the  junction,  and 
thence  flows  through  meadows,  growing  for  the  most  part  broader 
in  a  general  northwesterly  direction,  till  at  length  it  meets  the 
Hudson.  This  sharp  bend  of  the  river  at  the  southwestern  foot  of 
Smedley  Height  brings  into  view  the  Williamstown  valley  in  its 
secondary  sense  as  a  valley  extending  north  and  south.  Just  after 
this  bend  is  taken  the  Hoosac  receives  its  largest  tributary  in  this 
part  of  its  course ;  namely,  the  so-called  Green  River,  which  is  formed 
at  South  Williamstown  village  by  the  junction  of  the  Ashford  and 


SITUATION.  7 

Hancock  brooks,  both  of  which  enter  Williamstown  from  the  south, 
the  first  washing  the  eastern  foot,  and  the  second  the  western  foot, 
of  Stratton  Mountain. 

The  head-springs  of  both  these  brooks  are  on  the  same  watershed, 
and  on  the  same  parallel  of  latitude,  about  five  miles  apart,  and 
about  ten  miles  south  of  the  point  where  the  Green  River  strikes 
into  the  Hoosac.  The  Ashford  Brook  rises  just  near  the  town-line 
between  New  Ashford  and  Lanesboro,  at  an  altitude  1300  feet 
above  tide-water;  and  within  a  few  rods  of  the  spring  is  the 
swamp  whose  drainage  forms  the  northernmost  branch  of  the 
Housatonic  River,  whose  course  ends  in  Long  Island  Sound.  The 
Hancock  Brook  rises  on  a  swell  of  the  Taconics,  very  near  the  state- 
line  between  Massachusetts  and  New  York,  and  soon  turning  at 
right  angles  to  the  north,  flows  in  that  direction  through  a  narrow 
but  very  fertile  valley,  to  its  junction  with  the  other.  On  the  same 
swell  of  the  Taconics  with  the  source  of  this  brook,  and  only  a 
short  distance  to  the  south  of  it,  lies  the  source  of  the  Kinderhook 
creek,  which,  flowing  southerly  through  the  Hancock  valley  and 
Stephentown,  reaches  the  Hudson  at  Schodack.  Five  miles  long  is 
the  Green  River,  and  the  point  at  which  it  pours  into  the  Hoosac 
just  above  the  railroad  station  is  only  about  5So  feet  above  tide- 
water. A  mile  lower  down  the  main  river  comes  in  another  tribu- 
tary from  the  southward,  which  is  called  Hemlock  Brook ;  and  it  is 
these  four  streams  together,  with  the  lower  reach  of  the  Hoosac  in 
the  town,  which  form  the  "  Williamstown  valley  "  in  its  narrower 
sense ;  that  is  to  say,  the  latitudinal  valley  lying  wholly  within  the 
town  limits,  in  contrast  with  the  longitudinal  valley  of  about  the 
same  length  comprising  the  northern  parts  of  both  Williamstown 
and  North  Adams. 

At  the  point  where  the  old  county  road  from  Pittsfield  to  Ben- 
nington crosses  the  Hoosac  at  the  bloody  bridge,  the  river,  which 
has  kept  an  almost  straight  northwest  line  from  the  junction  of  the 
Green,  flows  due  west  till  it  takes  in  the  waters  of  the  Hemlock, 
then  curves  pretty  sharply  for  a  due  north  course  for  a  while,  and 
then  bends  eastward  till  it  touches  the  county  road  again  just 
before  both  of  them  leave  the  town  altogether.  Thus  the  road 
between  these  two  points  subtends  what  is  very  nearly  a  semicircle 
of  river,  which  encloses  the  "  River  Bend  Farm,"  so-called,  of  which 
we  shall  hear  more  by  and  by,  because  it  was  a  French  and  Indian 
station  in  the  old  French  wars,  and  because  it  became  the  home  of 
Colonel  Benjamin  Simonds  for  many  years ;  the  same  arc  encloses 
also  six  of  the  original  Meadow  Lots,  three  of  the  original  Pine  Lots, 


8  OEIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

two  of  the  original  fifty-acre  Lots,  as  these  were  early  divided  by  and 
among  the  "  proprietors  " ;  and  it  encloses  also  the  mouth  of  the  Broad 
Brook,  a  very  considerable  tributary  of  the  Hoosac  coming  into  it  on 
the  east  side  at  right -angles,  whose  two  branches,  uniting  a  little 
north  of  the  town  and  state  line  at  a  place  called  the  "  Forks,"  drain 
a  small  section  of  southern  Vermont.  All  the  pine  timber  of  the 
original  town  grew  on  or  near  the  banks  of  the  Broad  Brook,  the 
first  saw-mill  of  the  town  was  carried  by  its  water,  and  its  site  en- 
closed within  the  semicircle,  and  some  young  pines  are  now  grow- 
ing up  again  on  these  lands  divided  in  1765  into  sixty-three  "  pine 
lots"  of  three  acres  and  sixty  rods  each.  Just  beyond  the  Vermont 
line  the  Hoosac  receives  also  on  the  east  side  the  water  of  Ware's 
43r  Rattlesnake  Brook,  a  small  stream  that  comes  tumbling  down  the 
hillside.  The  bridge  over  this  stream  on  the  old  county  road, 
which  is  also  here  the  old  Indian  trail,  is  the  beginning  of  the 
■"  Dug  AVay "  so-called,  a  very  narrow  road  cut  into  the  hill  for  a 
mile  or  so  in  Pownal  right  along  the  right  brink  of  the  Hoosac. 
The  only  other  affluents  of  our  river  received  in  Williamstown  of 
any  account  are  two  small  brooks  flowing  down  the  north  sides  of 
Saddle  Mountain  and  hitting  the  stream  close  together  just  after  it 
enters  the  town  from  North  Adams. 

Of  course  the  lowest  point  of  land  in  Williamstown,  since  all  the 
running  water  of  the  valleys  and  hillsides  drains  into  the  Hoosac, 
is  the  place  where  the  river  cuts  the  north  line  of  the  town  into  two 
equal  parts  and  pours  into  Vermont.  This  point  is  about  thirty-five 
feet  lower  than  the  river  level  at  the  Noble  bridge  near  the  railroad 
station.  When  they  were  running  the  north  line  of  the  state  of 
Massachusetts,  Eichard  Hazen  and  his  helpers  crossed  the  river  at 
this  point  on  Sunday,  the  12th  of  April,  1741.  ''With  difficulty  we 
waded  it  and  lodged  on  ye  AVest  side  that  night.  It  Clouded  over 
before  Night  and  rained  sometime  before  day,  which  caused  us  to 
stretch  Our  blankets  and  lye  under  them  on  ye  bare  ground,  which 
was  the  first  bare  ground  we  laid  on  after  we  left  Northfield."  This 
interesting  lodging-place  of  the  sturdy  surveyor,  who  was  a  God- 
fearing man  notwithstanding  he  continued  his  survey  through  the 
wilderness  on  Sunday,  is  on  the  broad  and  beautiful  meadow  once 
owned  by  John  Bascom,  and  is  within  plain  sight  and  a  stone's 
throw  of  the  "  Line  House  "  so-called  on  the  public  highway.  In- 
deed, Hazen's  line  bisects  both  the  house  and  the  meadow.  From 
the  Hoosac  at  this  lodging-place  the  old  surveyor  found  it  twenty- 
one  miles  and  sixty  rods  to  the  Hudson  River,  —  "  at  about  Eighty 
poles  from  the  place  where  Mohawk  fiver  comes  into  Hudson's  river." 


SITUATION.  9 

There  is  not  a  single  lake  or  pond  within  the  limits  of  Williams- 
town,  and,  consequently,  except  as  dams  have  been  thrown  across  the 
streams  for  puriK)ses  of  utility  or  beauty,  there  is  no  expanse  of 
water  anywhere.  This  is  the  only  fault  that  has  ever  been  found 
with  the  region  as  one  of  picturesque  beauty.  Along  the  Hoosac 
and  the  lesser  streams  there  is  considerable  alluvial  land,  much  of 
which  was  originally  cut  into  <*  meadow  lots,"  and  which  is  natur- 
ally very  fertile  laud ;  of  swampy  or  marshy  land  there  is  very  little 
in  the  town,  although  the  mosses  and  ferns,  which  are  pretty  sure 
signs  of  a  soil  too  wet  and  cold  to  be  productive,  are  not  wanting  in 
the  hill  pastures  and  poorer  meadows ;  ui)land  of  a  moderate  height 
above  the  streams,  and  easily  tilled  and  fairly  productive,  constitutes 
by  much  the  larger  part  of  the  surface ;  and  a  good  deal  of  the  rest 
is  pretty  steep  and  sometimes  pretty  stony  hillsides.  There  is 
almost  no  land  in  the  whole  circuit  that  will  not  bear  forest  trees, 
and  forest  trees  in  their  due  proix)rtion  are  as  profitable  a  crop  as 
can  be  raised.  There  are  perhaps  2500  acres  of  ground  which  has 
once  been  cleared  and  tilled,  which  would  have  been,  and  would  be 
now,  more  productive  in  forest  than  as  ploughed  or  pastured,  and 
some  of  this  is  being  allowed  to  grow  up  again  to  trees,  although 
systematic  tree-planting  to  any  considerable  extent  in  fields  has 
never  yet  been  practised  here,  as  surely  it  might  profitably  be  done. 
AVhen  first  explored  and  surveyed,  the  town  was  splendidly  wooded 
in  every  part,  of  which  the  evidence  is  the  direct  testimony  of  the 
surveyors  and  early  settlers,  and  also  the  early  division  among  the 
householders  of  the  "  pine  lots  "  and  the  "  oak  lots."  Of  more  than 
one  of  the  early  land-buyers  and  home-seekers  trustworthy  tradition 
reports  that  he  came  in  "  and  went  to  chopping." 

The  curve  of  the  Hoosac  that  we  have  been  following  from  its 
entrance  on  the  east  to  its  exit  on  the  north,  cuts  off  from  the  rest 
of  the  town  its  remarkably  picturesque  northeast  corner,  which  con- 
tains about  one-ninth  of  its  entire  area,  and  which  has  had  a  history 
and  development  somewhat  distinct  from  that  of  the  rest  of  it.  We 
are  concerned  at  present  only  with  the  ])hysical  features  of  this  iso- 
lated part.  From  the  first  settlement  of  the  town  it  has  borne  the 
designation  of  the  "  White  Oaks,"  and  it  is  almost  certain  now  to 
carry  this  name  onwards  till  the  end  of  time.  All  the  original 
*'oak  lots"  were  within  this  curve;  of  white  oak  timber  in  the 
other  parts  of  the  town  there  was  little  or  none ;  and  when,  in  1866, 
the  unique  and  self-denying  labors  of  Professor  Hopkins  had  estab- 
lished a  church  on  the  Broad  Brook,  he  christened  it  the  "  Church 
of  Christ  in  AVhite  Oaks."     This  organization  shows  no  signs  of 


10 


ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 


decay,  the  memory  of  the  great  and  good  man  who  breathed  it  into 
form  gives  no  sign  of  getting  dim,  and  the  name  that  had  been 
attached  to  the  locality  for  a  century  has  now  accordingly  been  fas- 
tened to  it  by  a  new  tie  of  gratitude  and  religion.  The  lands  of  this 
section  consist  of  the  pratty  broad  and  very  fertile  bottoms  along 
the  right  bank  of  the  Hoosac,  and  some  intervale  along  both  banks 
of  the  lower  Broad  Brook ;  of  about  a  thousand  acres  of  tolerably 
level  upland,  mostly  on  what  is  called  Oak  Hill ;  and  for  the  rest,  of 
the  rather  steep  slopes  of  that  spur  of  the  Green  Mountains  which 
has  already  been  referred  to.  This  spur  is  very  irregular  in  shape, 
and,  with  its  connecting  mountains  further  north,  forms  a  striking 


Mount  Hazen. 


"  EAST    MOUNTAIN." 
2.    Hudson's  Height.  3.    Mount  Ennnnons. 


4.    Snnedley  Height. 


feature  in  the  landscape  of  southwestern  Vermont ;  but  the  part  of 
it  with  which  we  shall  have  most  to  do,  which  is  commonly  called 
as  a  whole  "East  Mountain,"  in  relation  to  the  village  and  the 
College,  and  which  rises  up  sharply  from  the  north  bank  of  the 
Hoosac  as  it  enters  the  town  into  a  noble  ridge  (running  north)  on 
the  average  about  1600  feet  above  the  stream,  has  none  of  its  four 
summits  in  Williamstown,  and  only  about  two-thirds  of  its  western 
slopes. 

Of  these  four  summits,  which  are  tolerably  distinct  from  each  other 
as  seen  from  the  westward,  the  northernmost  and  highest,  which 
has  been  appropriately  named  "  Mount  Hazen "  in  honor  of  the 
old  surveyor  of  1741,  who  ran  his  line  over  this  ridge  and  just  at  the 
foot  of  this  rise,  rests  wholly  in  Vermont,  and  curves  to  the  west 
from  the  general  direction  of  the  ridge  as  if  to  do  obeisance  to 


SITUATION.  11 

the  majestic  *^  Dome,"  and  slopes  down  rapidly  northwards  to  the 
''Forks "  already  mentioned.  This  peak  of  Mount  Hazen,  which  closes 
up  the  view  from  our  village  to  the  northeast,  is  2500  feet  above  sea 
by  careful  estimation  from  the  known  heights  of  neighboring  peaks. 
"  Hazen's  Rock,"  an  immense  boulder  tirst  noticed  and  named  and 
marked  by  the  writer  and  his  eldest  son,  stands  about  nine  rods 
north  of  the  ''  line "  and  about  three  rods  west  of  the  crest  of  the 
ridge;  and  it  is  possible,  if  not  probable,  that  Hazen  stood  upon 
this  rock  when  he  saw  what  he  describes  in  his  *'  Journal "  under 
April  12,  1741.  The  next  swell  to  the  south  of  this,  and  perhaps 
250  feet  lower,  has  been  well  called  "  Hudson's  Height "  in  memory 
of  Captain  Seth  Hudson,  the  last  survivor  of  the  original  jiroprietors 
of  Williamstown  and  of  the  officers,  and  probably  also  of  the  sol- 
diers, of  Fort  Massachusetts.  He  was  at  one  time,  as  we  shall  see 
by  and  by,  the  surgeon,  and  at  another  the  commander,  of  Fort 
Massachusetts  in  its  decline.  The  third  summit  is  a  beautifully 
rounded  one,  free  from  trees  and  other  obstructions  to  the  view, 
2276  feet  above  the  sea-level,  and  the  only  place  in  the  region  where 
the  primeval  gneiss  rock  comes  to  the  surface,  while  there  are  huge 
boulders  scattered  over  the  entire  ridge,  from  several  of  which,  and 
especially  from  Hazen's  Rock,  almost  the  entire  lines  of  the  town 
and  nearly  its  whole  area  can  be  seen  at  one  view.  Into  the  solid 
rock  on  this  third  height  was  sunk,  many  years  ago,  for  scientific 
purposes,  a  copper  bolt,  and  the  height  itself  has  been  justly  des- 
ignated "  Mount  Emmons  "  by  one  who  was  once  a  pupil  and  later 
a  colleague  and  always  an  admirer  of  the  distinguished  Professor  of 
Natural  History  in  the  College,  Ebenezer  Emmons.  He  was  the 
author  and  founder  of  what  he  named  the  "  Taconic  System  "  in 
geology,  which  became  famous  in  the  annals  of  that  science,  and  he 
used  often  to  take  his  students  to  this  local  point  of  advantage  to 
show  them  the  gneiss  —  the  foundation  rock  of  his  science  —  and 
to  display  to  them  as  best  he  could  the  relations  of  his  "  system '' 
to  the  other  and  then  better  known  geological  strata.  The  south  peak 
of  this  ridge  of  East  ^lountain  has  already  been  spoken  of  as 
"  Smedley  Height,"  so  named  in  honor  of  that  family  which  first 
cleared  up  the  acres  at  its  foot,  and  owned  the  oak  lots  stretching 
up  towards  its  summit,  and  cultivates  to  this  day,  by  some  of  its 
descendants,  a  part  of  these  ancestral  fields.  Smedley  Height  is 
1917  feet  above  tide-water  according  to  hypsometric  measurements 
made  by  John  Tatlock,  then  a  student  in  the  College,  in  1881. 

The   present  view  in  summer-time  from  any  one  of  these  four 
summits,  of  which  the  three  last  named  are  in  the  town  of  Clarks- 


12  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

burg,  is  such  as  to  well  reward  the  zeal  and  sweat  of  the  climber. 
Cultivated  farms  fill  up  the  valley  and  the  lower  uplands  for  the 
most  part,  green  pastures  with  patches  of  second-growth  forest 
occupy  the  mountain  slopes,  the  Hoosac  and  its  main  tributaries 
glance  and  glimmer  in  the  sunlight,  the  scalloped  crests  of  the 
Taconics,  deeply  dented  at  four  points  for  the  passes  over  them,  and 
covered  mostly  with  forest  trees,  bound  the  view  to  the  westward, 
while  the  three  lobes  of  Saddle  Mountain  with  its  spurs  and  the 
finely  rounded  front  of  Stratton  Mountain,  with  a  brook  at  either 
foot,  limit  the  southern  view.  Even  Richard  Hazen  was  struck 
with  admiration,  cold-blooded  mathematician  though  he  were,  and 
unopened  yet  by  axe  or  fire  as  were  the  primeval  forests  of  the  val- 
leys and  the  hillsides,  when  he  and  his  men  came  upon  this  ridge  in 
the  early  springtime.  '•'  At  the  End  of  three  miles  we  Came  upon 
the  top  of  an  Exceeding  High  Mountain  [East  Mountain],  from 
whence  we  discovered  a  large  Mountain  which  lyes  Southwesterly  of 
Albany  [the  Catskills],  as  also  a  Eow  of  large  mountains  on  Each 
side  of  us  bearing  North  and  South  nearest  [Saddle  Mountain  and 
Green  Mountains]  and  a  Eidge  of  exceeding  high  Mountains  three 
or  four  miles  before  us  bearing  the  same  Course  [the  Taconics]  and 
a  fine  valley  betwixt  them  and  us  on  Each  side  of  the  line  [Hazen's 
line]  big  enough  for  Townships  [Hoosac  valley]." 

This  ridge  of  East  Mountain,  to  one  or  all  of  the  rounded  points 
of  which  it  is  much  to  be  hoped  that  a  carriage  road  from  the  valley 
will  sometime  be  laid,  since  by  utilizing  existing  roads  this  may  be 
done  without  too  great  difficulty,  bounds  the  White  Oaks  region  on 
the  east ;  and  it  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  lower  slopes  of  the 
"  Dome,"  the  largest  and  finest  mountain  that  is  in  plain  view  from 
the  valley.  Greylock  is  not  visible  to  the  dwellers  on  the  Hoosac 
and  Green  rivers  and  Hemlock  Brook,  nor  from  either  of  the  villages 
of  Williamstown,  owing  to  the  height  of  Mount  Prospect  and  Bald 
Mountain,  which  together  form  the  western  lobe  of  Saddle  Moun- 
tain; while  the  Dome  rises  gradually  up  in  silent  and  solemn  majesty 
from  the  brink  of  Broad  Brook  to  a  height  of  at  least  3000  feet  above 
the  tides  of  the  sea,  and  is  visible  from  every  quarter  of  the  town, 
and  is,  perhaps,  the  most  striking  feature  of  its  landscape,  which  it 
limits  on  the  north.  The  name  was  most  appropriately  given  to  it 
by  Professor  Hopkins,  from  its  form.  The  most  of  its  mighty  mass 
is  in  Vermont,  and  it  has  companion  piles  to  the  north  and  east  of 
it,  particularly  in  the  "Haystack,"  which  seems  to  overtop  it,  while 
itself  falls  gracefully  down  on  the  south  and  west  in  fertile  swells 
and  charming  fields  to  the  brook  and  to  the  river.     Half-way  down 


SITUATION. 


13 


towards  the  west  a  little  knob,  called  the  "  Domelet,"  protrudes  its 
head,  as  if  to  exhibit  by  way  of  contrast  the  gigantic  proportions  of 
the  other ;  and  still  farther  down  in  the  same  direction  a  wholly 
cleared  and  very  fertile  swell  of  land,  named  "  Mason's  Hill,"  carries 
the  gladdened  eye  clear  down  to  the  Hoosac. 

On  the  southern  foot  of  the  Dome,  at  a  few  yards  above  Broad 
Brook  and  drawing  into  it,  gushes  up  out  of  the  sand,  from  a  clear 
bottom,  a  copious  thermal  spring,  which  has  been  called  the  "  Sand 
Spring  "  from  the  beginning  of  the  town.  Its  w^ater  has  a  mean 
temperature  throughout  the  year  of  71°,  and  is  not  only  warm,  but 
soft  also,  owing  to  the  absence  of  limestone  in  that  locality.  This 
spring  has  something  of  a  history,  and  we  shall  hear  more  about  it 


LuJSit 


le^is**' 


I.   The  Dome. 


2.   The  Don-c  tt 


by  and  by.  There  is  only  one  other  thermal  spring  within  tlie  town 
boundaries,  and  that  is  on  the  other  side  of  the  Hoosac,  about  a  mile 
west  of  this  one  and  on  the  same  parallel,  though  its  mean  tempera- 
ture is  something  like  10°  lower  than  the  Sand  Spring.  Professor 
Bascom,  who  once  owned  this  smaller  spring  and  the  meadow  through 
w^hich  its  water  finds  a  short  way  to  the  Hoosac,  believed  that  its 
average  temperature  for  the  year  was  not  less  than  64°.  In  com- 
parison with  these  thermal  springs,  Professor  Hopkins  found  the 
mean  temperature  of  the  water  of  his  well,  and  presumably  of  other 
ordinary  springs  and  wells  in  the  town,  to  be  47°,  which  he  also 
found  to  be  the  mean  temperature  of  the  air  above  his  well,  as  a 
result  of  personal  observations  made  three  times  a  day  throughout 
an  entire  year. 

Before  leaving  the  "White  Oaks  "for  good  in  this  cursory  descrip- 
tion of  its  physical  features,  we  must  just  note  the  historical  fact 


14  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

that  its  main  road,  following  in  general  the  course  of  the  river  on 
its  north  side,  which  we  shall  call  the  "  Hoosac  Koad,"  since  it  has 
been  so  named  certainly  from  the  time  when  the  captives  of  Fort 
Massachusetts  passed  over  it  in  1746,  is  a  part  of  the  old  Mohawk 
war-path,  by  which  the  Five  Nations  and  the  Canada  Indians  (as 
well)  passed  to  their  raids  and  battles  on  the  Deerfield  and  the  Con- 
necticut. We  must  also  note  the  fact  that  nearly  all  of  the  sandy 
land  in  the  town  is  found  in  this  locality.  Pines  like  the  sand,  and 
while  the  oaks  and  other  deciduous  trees  clung  to  the  sides  of  East 
Mountain  to  its  very  crest,  the  sandy  levels  on  Oak  Hill,  and  patches 
here  and  there  partly  on  Broad  Brook  and  partly  on  the  Hoosac, 
grew  up  originally  to  lofty  pines.  A  special  road  was  very  early 
laid  out,  branching  off  from  the  road  up  Broad  Brook,  which  itself 
left  the  Hoosac  Road  at  right  angles,  "  to  convean  the  pine  lots." 
This  road  ran  up  northeasterly  almost  to  Hazen's  line,  and  stopped 
on  the  last  range  of  pine  lots  which  butted  on  that  line.  Memorials 
of  these  old  pines  appear  at  the  present  day  in  the  beautiful  grove 
in  front  of  the  Sand  Spring  Hotel,  in  the  fine  grove  of  young  pines 
opened  up  in  1883  as  a  pleasure  resort  by  John  M.  Cole,  near  the 
railroad  station,  and  called  the  "  Garden  of  Eden,*'  and  in  clusters  of 
small  pines  scattered  over  almost  the  whole  of  the  old  pine  area. 
Back  from  the  river  land  has  always  been  cheap  in  the  White  Oaks, 
partly  because  it  is  poor  land,  and  partly  because  it  has  always  had 
a  poor  population ;  but  a  sort  of  half-weird  and  half-Hebrew  glory 
was  thrown  over  the  whole  region  by  the  labors,  and  especially  by  the 
recreations,  of  Professor  Hopkins,  who  named,  for  example,  his  own 
farm  on  Broad  Brook  "  Steepacres,"  the  pine  level  of  Oak  Hill  the 
"  land  of  Goshen,"  and  a  huge  rock  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  summit 
of  the  Dome  "  White  Face  " ;  and  whose  inexhaustible  humor  enter- 
tained almost  without  end  the  young  ladies  of  his  "  Alpine  Club," 
SiS  well  as  any  casual  fellow- walker  (reverend  or  gay)  over  his  favor- 
ite tramping-grounds,  with  quaint  names  and  odd  Scripture  allusions 
and  bits  of  old  superstition.  The  very  stones  of  Broad  Brook  assumed, 
through  his  imagination,  strange  shapes  and  took  on  queer  names 
and  preached  grotesque  sermons,  and  the  flora  of  the  hills  became 
redolent  of  far-off  lands,  and  even  the  maples  of  the  spring-time 
reminded  him  of  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  which  were  "  full  of  sap." 

Now  if  we  cross  over  the  Hoosac  on  Hazen's  line,  and  tarry  just 
long  enough  on  the  meadow  where  that  worthy  "  slept  on  ye  bare 
ground"  to  christen  it  in  passing,  and  yet  in  permanence  the 
"  Bascom  Meadow,"  since  John  Bascom,  long  a  citizen  of  Williams- 
town   and  a  successful  teacher  in  the  College  and  always  deeply 


SITUATION.  15 

interested  in  the  history  and  prosperity  of  both,  once  owned  the 
meadow  for  many  years ;  and  if  we  climb  up  the  steep  ascent  abut- 
ting on  the  meadow,  we  shall  shortly  find  ourselves  on  the  crest 
of  North  West  Hill,  one  of  the  four  foot-hills  of  the  Taconic  Range 
in  this  town,  lying  in  a  line  north  and  south  on  the  western  side  of 
the  valley.  North  West  Hill  has  greatly  declined  in  its  importance, 
from  the  early  time,  and  would  hardly  delay  us  at  present  for  much 
description,  were  it  not  that  it  became  then  very  populous,  that  the 
principal  road  to  Bennington  ran  along  its  crest,  and  that  the  land 
and  woods  upon  it  and  upon  the  shallow-dish  valley  that  connects  it 
with  the  much  higher  parent  ridge,  and  upon  that  parent  ridge 
itself  drew  out  again  the  admiration  of  our  "  noted  and  ingenious 
surveyor  of  land"  {Boston  Gazette,  February  19,1754).  liichard 
Hazen  wrote  in  his  "  Journal,"  April  13, 1741,  "  This  Mountain  was 
Exceeding  good  Land,  bearing  beech.  Black  birch,  and  Hemlock, 
some  Bass  wood.  Over  this  Mountain  we  concluded  the  line  would 
run  betwixt  New  York  Government  and  these  whenever  it  should 
be  settled,  and  therefore  nam*^  it  Mount  Belcher  that  it  might  be 
as  Standing  a  Boundary  as  Endicutt's  Tree."  About  in  the  centre 
of  this  broadly  dish-shaped  valley  a  small  brook  rises  in  some  bits 
of  springy  and  swampy  land,  which  holds  its  semicircular  course  of 
about  two  miles  through  deep  glens  for  the  most  part,  and  then 
falls  into  the  Hemlock  Brook,  just  before  the  latter  drops  silently 
into  the  Hoosac.  This  little  brook  is  well  called  the  "  Ford  Brook  " 
in  memory  of  good  old  deacon  Zadock  Ford,  the  edge  of  whose  farm 
w^as  washed  by  it;  and  the  deepest  and  darkest  stretch  of  glen 
through  which  the  brook  bickers  along  is  called  ^'Ford's  Glen.'' 
This  brook  completely  bounds  North  West  Hill  on  the  south.  The 
North  West  Hill  Road,  which  starts  at  right  angles  from  the  west 
end  of  the  Main  Street  and  skirts  along  the  last  house  lot  of  the 
northern  tier,  soon  crosses  Ford  Brook  and  begins  to  climb  the  hill. 
The  hill  is  a  short  two  miles  long  in  Williamstown,  and  then  falls 
abruptly  off  to  the  Hoosac  in  Pownal.  The  original  road  ran  pretty 
straight  over  the  hill  lengthwise,  generally  a  little  to  the  west  of  its 
highest  crest,  but  the  northern  half  of  it  has  been  discontinued  for 
travel  for  many  years,  on  account  of  its  steepness  and  liability  to 
wash  out,  and  the  branch  road,  which  turned  off  to  the  west  to  reach 
the  farms  on  the  flat,  and  then  bent  north  parallel  to  the  old  road 
to  strike  the  Hoosac  by  a  shorter  and  somewhat  less  precipitous 
descent  (though  still  steep)  is  now  the  only  road.  There  are  eiglit 
of  the  original  100-acre  lots,  and  three  of  the  fifty-acre  lots  of  the 
first  division,  on  this  hill  proper;  and  from  time  to  time  several 


16  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

poor  families  have  pushed  quite  ovei^  the  broad  level  upon  the 
sixty-acre  lots  on  the  final  slope  of  the  Taconics. 

Before  Hazen's  line  makes  its  final  mount  to  cross  the  Taconics 
it  runs  up  into  a  hollow  of  the  mountain  side,  which  goes  by  the 
name  of  the  "  Moon  Hollow,"  from  the  name  of  a  poor  family  that 
lived  within  it  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  or  more.  Here 
corner  two  states  flanked  by  a  third.  The  Xew  York  line  that 
Hazen  supposed  would  run  along  the  crest  of  "  Mount  Belcher,"  as  he 
himself  named  the  swell  of  the  Taconics  at  this  point,  as  a  matter 
of  fact  came  further  east  in  1787,  and  runs  across  this  hollow,  so 
that  the  Moon  house  (now  occupied  by  a  man  named  Haley)  and 
a  part  of  the  little  farm  are  in  the  state  of  Xew  York.  A  small 
marble  monument  marks  the  corners  of  Vermont  and  Massachusetts ; 
and  one  of  the  long-legged  Moons  once  slept  in  summer-time  astrad- 
dle of  this  stone,  and  afterwards  boasted  that  he  had  lodged  in  three 
states  the  same  night.  This  monument  has  been  thrown  out  of 
plumb  by  the  roots  of  a  tree  underneath  which  it  stands,  and  has 
otherwise  a  rather  forlorn  appearance ;  but  it  has  served  its  rude 
purpose  for  a  century,  and  deserves  perhaps  this  passing  notice  of 
one  who  has  often  mused  upon  the  spot.  There  is  nothing  special 
to  distinguish  Mount  Belcher  from  the  rest  of  the  noble  ridge  of 
which  it  forms  a  part,  although  the  resuscitation  of  the  name  after 
140  years  of  inanition  in  the  "  Journal "  of  Richard  Hazen  brings 
worthily  to  memory  again  a  remarkable  man  of  the  last  century, 
Jonathan  Belcher,  an  American-born  colonial  governor  of  three 
states,  and  the  real  founder  of  the  College  of  Xew  Jersey  at 
Princeton. 

The  second  of  the  foot-hills  of  the  Taconics  in  order  southward 
has  been  called  '' Buxton"  from  immemorial  time,  probably  from 
Buxton  in  England,  though  what  the  tie  of  connection  be  (if  any) 
has  not  been  ascertained.  Buxton  is  a  much  lower  and  smaller  hill 
than  the  other  three,  and  differs  from  them  also  in  having  been  com- 
pletely cleared  in  every  part  from  forest  trees.  Xorth  West  Hill 
is  about  600  feet  in  its  highest  parts  above  the  Hoosac  at  its  base  : 
Buxton  is  in  no  part  over  300  feet  above  the  two  brooks  which 
almost  completely  encircle  it.  It  has  the  Ford  Brook  on  the  north, 
and  the  Buxton  Brook  on  the  west  and  south.  Buxton  Brook,  a 
beautiful  stream  in  its  whole  course  of  three  miles,  rises  in  the  very 
northwest  corner  of  the  town  in  two  branches,  the  springs  of  both 
being  just  under  the  New  York  line,  one  of  them  in  the  Moon  Hol- 
low, and  the  other  in  a  gorge  a  little  to  the  south  of  it ;  and  these 
small  branches  unite  only  a  few  rods  south  of  the  springy  hollows 


SITUATION.  17 

in  which  Ford  Brook  takes  its  rise,  and  then  flow  on  a  considerable 
stream  flanking  the  Buxton  farms,  receiving  a  small  tributary  called 
"  Birch  Hill  Brook  "  on  the  southern  side,  and  then  striking  the 
northern  tier  of  House  Lots  at  the  west  end  of  the  Main  Street  di- 
vides them  into  two  nearly  equal  portions  till  in  House  Lot  number 
10  it  empties  into  the  larger  "  Hemlock  Brook,"  which  latter  now 
hurries  out  of  the  House  Lots  to  its  junction  with  the  Hoosac.  A 
little  above  the  junction  of  the  Buxton  with  the  Hemlock,  there  is, 
in  the  former,  a  shaded  pool,  which  has  long  gone  by  the  name  of 
"  Diana's  Bath,"  a  designation  so  far  as  this  inappropriate,  that  the 
pool  is  quite  too  small  and  shallow  to  correspond  with  the  person 
of  that  goddess  as  she  is  usually  represented  in  Greek  and  Roman 
art.  No  part  of  the  original  House  Lots  should  be  considered  as  in 
Buxton,  although  a  considerable  part  has  long  been  popularly  so 
reckoned :  only  that  is  Buxton  proper,  which  lies  west  of  the  north- 
ern range  of  House  Lots  and  within  the  two  brooks  so  often  already 
mentioned. 

In  the  angle  between  Buxton  Brook  and  its  small  tributary.  Birch 
Hill  Brook,  there  lies  one  of  the  oldest  farms  in  Williamstown,  com- 
monly called  the  "  Red  House  Farm,"  owned  since  1782  for  a  cen- 
tury by  the  Sherman  family,  and  owned  before  that  by  Joel  Baldwin. 
This  farm  runs  back  towards  the  west  into  a  conical  hill,  which  has 
been  repeatedly  ploughed  to  its  very  top,  though  apparently  never 
seeded  down,  and  which  has  upon  its  summit  about  a  quarter  of  an 
acre  of  level  ground,  whence  may  be  had  in  all  directions  one  of  the 
finest  views  in  Williamstown.  Perhaps  we  may  properly  call  this 
hill  "Joel's  Sentry,"  for  it  overlooks  and  is  a  part  of  Joel  Baldwins 
original  farm,  and  it  overlooks  also  every  part  of  his  later  farm  ad- 
joining on  North  West  Hill,  on  which  he  died  in  1808.  The  Red 
House  Farm  is  not  a  part  of  Buxton,  nor  is  it  strictly  a  part  of  Birch 
Hill ;  it  lies  west  of  the  one  and  north  of  the  other ;  Joel's  Sentry 
is  not  itself  of  suflicient  size  to  be  enumerated  as  a  separate  foot-hill 
of  the  Taconics,  and  it  slopes  down  sharply  to  the  west  into  a  shal- 
low valley  separating  it  from  them.  This  valley  runs  north,  under 
and  parallel  with  the  Taconics,  quite  up  to  North  West  Hill. 
Through  the  entire  length  of  this  narrow  valley  there  ran  a  private 
way  in  old  times  from  the  Petersburg  Road  at  Donahue's  to  the 
North  West  Hill  Road  not  far  from  Baldwin's.  In  this  valley  once 
lived  the  Fowler  family,  and  later  the  Welch  family  intermarried 
with  that,  and  still  later  Russell  Pratt  and  others.  There  are  no 
dwellers  in  that  valley  now,  though  the  Fowler  house  and  a  barn  or 
two  are  still  standing  within  it.     There  are  also  one  or  two  deserted 


18  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

houses  on  the  upper  stretch  of  Buxton  Brook  not  far  off.  By  means 
of  this  "  Fowler  Vale  "  accordingly,  and  especially  by  the  common 
shoulder  of  the  Taconics  in  which  all  the  brooks  here  take  their 
rise,  North  West  Hill  and  Buxton  and  '^  Joel's  Sentry  "  farm  are 
closely  connected  together,  and  are  separated  from  the  hills  to  the 
southward  by  Birch  Hill  Brook  and  by  a  still  higher  shoulder  of 
the  Taconic  range. 

This  strong  shoulder  is  common  to  the  two  remaining  hills  on  the 
western  side  of  the  Williamstown  valley,  namely,  "  Birch  Hill "  and 
"  Bee  Hill,"  the  former  named  from  its  prevailing  forest  tree  (pre- 
vailing now  also,  as  well  as  a  century  ago),  and  the  latter  un- 
doubtedly from  the  abundance  of  wild  honey  found  upon  it  by  the 
early  settlers.  This  shoulder  strikes  out  southeastwardly  from  the 
general  trend  of  the  Taconics,  and  becomes  the  means  of  reaching 
readily  from  this  side  the  first  practicable  X3ass  over  them  into  the 
state  of  New  York.  We  have  seen  that  Surveyor  Hazen  honored 
his  official  superior,  the  governor  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, by  naming  the  northern  reach  of  the  mountain-chain  over 
which  his  own  chain  ran  "  Mount  Belcher,"  but  that  reach  is  all 
the  way  abrupt,  and  gives  no  chance  for  a  road  over  it ;  while  this 
connecting  shoulder  unites  the  mountain  at  a  point  where  itself  is 
considerably  depressed  with  two  comparatively  high  foot-hills,  which 
may  be  gradually  ascended,  and  so  a  relatively  easy  passage  be 
found  over  the  mountain  by  what  may  best  be  called  the  "  Peters- 
burg Pass,"  from  the  name  of  the  New  York  town  on  the  other 
side.  What  we  have  called  the  Petersburg  Road  is  the  continuation 
of  the  main  street  of  the  village  at  its  west  end,  where  the  North 
West  Hill  Eoad  leaves  it  at  right  angles,  and  runs  almost  due 
west  for  about  a  mile,  at  first  up  the  Buxton  Brook,  and  then 
from  its  junction  with  that  up  the  Birch  Hill  Brook  to  Donahue's 
in  the  old  100-acre  lot  number  63.  Both  of  the  small  branches 
of  this  brook  rise  in  that  lot  or  just  over  its  outer  lines  and  unite 
within  it,  so  that  the  brook  and  the  road  that  flanks  it  are  the 
northern  boundary  of  Birch  Hill.  In  common  speech  the  "  Eed 
House "  and  the  Donahue  house  have  always  been  reckoned  as  on 
Birch  Hill,  and  so  they  may  be  well  enough  considered,  for  they  are 
on  the  road  that  follows  up  the  brook  which  itself  is  the  natural 
boundary  between  the  hills.  At  Donahue's  the  road  turns  south  at 
a  right  angle  and  runs  straight  for  more  than  half  a  mile,  to  strike 
the  shoulder  on  which  to  find  a  means  of  exit  at  the  Petersburg 
Pass.  Just  at  the  point  at  which  the  road  turns  northwest  again 
to  pursue  its  gradual  climb  towards  the  Pass,  namely,  on  the  old 


SITUATION.  19 

sixty-acre  lot  iiumuer  ^^4,  wini-ii  is  coiniiioiily  called  the  "Prindle 
Place,"  there  is  a  junction  of  the  road  at  the  corner  with  a  narrow 
and  pretty  steep  valley  running  due  east,  through  all  the  lower 
part  of  which  glides  the  '^  Glen  Brook  "  so-called,  which  fails  into 
the  Hemlock  Brook  only  a  few  rods  south  of  the  southwestern 
quarter  of  the  House  Lots.  This  valley  and  brook,  up  which  a 
broken  road  once  ran,  was  always  called  in  old-fashioned  times  the 
"Gully,"  but  is  now  more  euphoniously  and  appropriately  denomi- 
nated the  ''  Glen,"  and  is  for  our  present  purpose  the  picturesque 
border  line  between  Birch  and  Bee  hills. 

Before  describing  the  latter  we  will  follow  our  Petersburg  Road 
to  the  Pass.  For  a  mile  or  more  now  the  road  runs  strongly  north- 
west, just  under  the  ridge  of  the  shoulder,  for  the  Pass  is  exactly 
due  west  of  Donahue's,  and  the  road  direct  from  his  house  takes  the 
traveller  much  to  the  south  for  the  sake  of  an  easier  and  more 
uniform  climb,  and  this  space  must  be  regained  by  a  northerly 
trend,  which  brings  one  at  length  on  a  level  with  the  Pass  and  oppo- 
site to  it  about  a  half-mile  off.  There  is  at  first,  with  a  sharp  turn  to 
the  west,  a  slight  descent  from  this  final  point  of  the  shoulder,  and 
then  a  little  further  ascent  brings  the  traveller  or  scene-hunter  directly 
upon  the  main  Taconic  in  the  well-rounded  Petersburg  Pass.  This 
is  a  natural  depression  (shaped  just  like  a  saddle)  below  the  general 
height  of  the  main  ridge  in  this  part  of  it  of  perhaps  150  feet;  the 
centre  of  it  is  2075  feet  above  the  sea-level,  the  top  of  "  Leet  Hill " 
directly  to  the  south  of  it  is  459  feet  higher,  the  gap  is  entirely  free 
from  trees  on  both  its  approaches,  so  that  sight  is  unobstructed  for- 
wards and  backwards  ;  the  land  on  both  its  rising  flanks  was  long  ago 
cleared,  and  has  been  of  ten  ploughed ;  the  winds  that  sweep  through 
it  are  such  that  a  new  forest  growth  will  but  slowly  recover  its  hold 
on  the  soil ;  and  the  view  that  one  gains  from  the  centre  of  it  towards 
the  west  is  such  as  baffles  all  description.  Tumbled  hills  just  below 
in  the  valley  of  the  "  Little  Hoosac  "  ;  innumerable  farms  on  and  be- 
tween these  hills;  roads  like  white  ribbands  leading  through  the 
valleys ;  higher  ridges,  broken  and  beautiful,  filling  the  breadth  be- 
tween these  and  the  valley  of  the  Hudson  ;  apparently  rising  grounds 
beyond  that  river,  both  fertile  and  wooded,  lying  "green  and  still," 
and  stretching  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach ;  the  dim  outline  of  the 
Catskills  to  the  southwest  beyond  Albany ;  and  far  to  the  northward 
the  dark  evergreen  peaks  of  the  Adirondacks  mingling  with  the  sky, 
—  are  elements  in  a  view  never  to  be  forgotten  by  those  who  have  seen 
it  even  once  under  favorable  conditions.  The  writer,  who  has  seen 
it  perhaps  twenty  times  in  all  seasons,  was  gazing  on  it  in  company 


20  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

with  a  dear  friend,  July  26,  1879,  when  vast  masses  of  white  mist 
were  seen  gathering  in  the  valley  below,  which  rose  slowly  up  the 
sides  of  the  mountain  and  soon  completely  cut  off  all  vision  to  the 
westward,  and  which,  rising  higher  and  higher,  borne  by  the  usual 
sweep  of  the  winds  up  and  over  the  Pass,  wholly  encircled  and 
covered  the  observers,  bringing  to  them  with  a  damp  and  chill  a 
sense  of  aerial  unsteadiness  and  a  sort  of  wonderment  not  un- 
mingled  with  awe. 

Buckwheat  and  other  grains  were  growing  that  day  (though 
small)  just  over  the  western  brow  of  the  Pass,  and  the  scene  to  the 
west  shows  more  fertile  land  than  that  to  the  eastward ;  but  our  con- 
cern at  present  is  more  with  Massachusetts  than  with  New  York,  and 
more  with  Williamstown  than  with  Petersburg,  a  pleasant  village 
in  the  valley  of  the  '^  Little  Hoosac,'^  which  gives  its  name  to  the 
Pass,  and  down  into  which  the  Pass  road  winds  at  first  abruptly  and 
then  more  gently  between  swelling  hillocks  and  fertile  farms  on 
either  side.  The  resemblance  of  this  great  gap  in  the  Taconics  to 
a  saddle  may  be  carried  out  even  into  details ;  for  there  rises  up  on 
the  north  immediately  from  the  road  a  regular  knob  100  feet  high 
which  may  well  be  regarded  as  the  pommel,  and  on  the  south  a 
gentler,  higher,  more  rounded  arc,  which  well  serves  the  fancy  as 
the  cantel.  This  imaginary  cantel  is  the  actual  northern  face  of 
Leet  Hill,  a  symmetrical  swell  of  the  Taconics  at  this  point,  2534 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  ocean,  at  whose  southeastern  foot  is  a 
mountain  farm  that  was  occupied  uninterruptedly  for  more  than  a 
century  by  four  generations  in  succession  of  one  family  bearing  that 
name.  The  farm  was  sold  out  of  the  family  in  the  spring  of  1885. 
Of  "  poor  old  Jared  Leet,"  who  cleared  up  this  farm  on  the  hillside, 
singing  rude  songs  of  his  own  to  while  away  his  toil,  specimens  of 
which  may  enliven  a  future  page,  a  grandson  of  Governor  William 
Leet  of  Connecticut,  who  befriended  the  regicides  in  their  direst 
need,  we  shall  know  more  in  the  sequel. 

The  scene  to  the  eastward  from  the  summit  of  the  gap,  from  the 
pommel  above  it,  or  from  a  point  in  the  road  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  below  it,  is  essentially  the  same  in  all  its  grand  features, 
and  is  perhaps  the  noblest  view  anywhere  to  be  seen  in  this  region : 
Treadwell  Hollow  widens  out  before  the  eye  like  a  huge  boat,  and 
the  broad  lands  between  the  two  villages  of  Williamstown  seem  at 
that  altitude  like  levels,  and  the  eye  is  carried  forward  in  a  straight 
line  into  the  Hopper  and  up  the  sides  of  Prospect  and  Bald 
mountains  till  old  Greylock  itself  satisfies  while  it  limits  the  vision. 
It  cannot  be  less  than  seven  miles  from  the  Pass  to  the  summit  of 


SITUATION.  21 

Greylock ;  and  it  seems  most  like  stamling  on  the  stern  of  an  enor- 
mous steamer,  whose  sides  swell  out  at  the  centre  to  contract  again 
in  the  distance,  and  whose  prow  is  pressed  up  into  a  gigantic  j)eak 
bearing  streamers  I 

When  David  Dudley  Field,  the  distinguished  legist  and  publicist, 
was  seventy-live  years  of  age,  he  drove  to  this  Pass  in  company  with 
his  classmate  of  1826,  Kev.  Dr.  Durfee,  his  son-in-law.  Sir  Anthony 
Musgrave,  then  British  governor  of  Jamaica,  and  one  of  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  College.  Although  a  graduate,  and  a  frequent  visitor 
to  Williamstown  all  his  life,  he  had  never  before  climbed  to  any 
pass  of  the  Taconics.  He  took  in  the  majestic  scene  right  and  left, 
but  said  little ;  and  then  proposed  to  the  Professor  that  they  clamber 
on  foot  to  the  top  of  the  pommel.  Straight  as  an  arrow,  six  feet 
and  one  quarter  in  height,  showing  few  signs  of  age,  he  reached  the 
top  with  scarcely  quickened  breath.  Though  born  and  reared  in 
New  England,  and  Massachusetts  was  then  his  summer  home,  his 
companion  observed  that  his  quick  glances  towards  the  Hoosacs 
returned  to  linger  fondly  on  the  Adirondacks  and  the  Catskills  and 
the  regions  between  and  beyond  them,  and  down  towards  the  city 
■where  his  more  than  fift}'  j'ears  of  successful  legal  life  had  been 
passed;  and,  with  the  single  expression  on  liis  ]\\\^.  ^'  It  is  the  Enijdre 
State ! "  he  returned  to  his  carriage. 

The  stretch  of  the  Taconics  to  the  north  ot  the  pommel  as  far  as 
Hazen's  line  and  beyond  it,  may  well  be  included  in  the  general 
designation  of  Mount  Belcher,  for  the  reason  already  indicated; 
there  is,  indeed,  much  that  is  distinctive  and  more  that  is  beautiful 
in  this  part  of  the  range,  in  the  way  of  swell  and  fall  and  curve,  till 
the  range  itself  sinks  gradually  down  to  the  intervale  level  at  the 
junction  of  the  Little  Hoosac  with  the  Hoosac  at  North  Petersburg  ; 
and  a  carriage  road  might  run  without  any  great  difficulty  along  or 
near  the  summit  of  the  range  from  the  Pass  itself  to  this  junction, 
following  in  general  the  path  by  which  students  and  others  have 
long  frequented  the  "  Snow-Hole,*'  so-called,  a  rocky  gorge  on  the 
eastern  slope  not  far  from  the  corner  of  the  states,  in  which  snow  is 
usually  found  in  August  and  sometimes  in  September.  In  the  very 
Pass  itself  is  the  point  where  the  New  York  line  of  1787  bisected 
the  original  west  line  of  Williamstown  drawn  in  1749.  South  of 
that  point  is  the  acute  angle  of  the  "  Gore  "  broadening  to  its  base 
of  446  rods  of  the  present  south  line  of  the  town,  and  north  of  it  is 
the  small  triangle  already  described  as  cut  off  from  Williamstown 
by  the  line  of  1787,  and  thrown  into  the  state  of  New  York. 

We  must  now  give  a  moment's  attention  to  the  etymology  of  the 


22  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Indian  name,  by  which  is  designated  this  fine  range  of  hills  that 
forms  the  western  wall  of  the  entire  county  of  Berkshire,  just  fifty 
miles  in  length,  as  well  as  of  its  northwesternmost  town  just  a  little 
over  eight  miles  in  length.  To  the  euphonious  form  '^  Taconics  "  have 
we  finally  curtailed  and  softened  down  the  aboriginal  word  full  of 
consonants.  The  archives  of  Massachusetts  give  about  forty  different 
spellings  to  this  original  Mohegan  word;  nevertheless  its  derivation 
and  signification  are  reasonably  certain,  according  to  J.  Hammond 
Trumbull  of  Hartford,  the  only  trustworthy  authority  in  this  century 
for  the  Mohegan  dialects.  He  says  :  "  There  is  no  interpretation 
which  I  can  affirm  is  certainly  right:  the  least  objectionable  is 
'  forest '  or  '  wilderness,'  the  Delaware  Tachanizen,  which  Zeisberger 
translates  as  'woody,'  'full  of  woods,'  from  Tokone,  'the  woods,' 
literally  'wild  land,'  'forest.'  A  sketch  of  Shekomeko  (Dutchess 
County,  New  York)  by  a  Moravian  missionary  in  1745,  shows  to  the 
eastward  in  the  distance  a  mountain  summit,  recognizable  as  the 
Mount  Washington  group,  marked  ' ICtakanatshari,^  'the  big  moun- 
tain,' a  name  which  resolves  itself  into  Ket-Tdkone-Wadshu,  'great 
woody  mountain,'  that  is,  great  Taconic  mountain." 

So  far  as  these  great  wooded  hills  flank  the  town  of  Williamstown, 
they  are  about  1500  feet  above  the  level  of  the  streams  that  skirt 
their  base,  and  there  are  but  four  passes  leading  over  them  into  the 
valleys  beyond ;  the  range,  however,  is  not  by  any  means  a  sheer 
wall  on  either  side,  but  has  its  spurs  and  spines  and  hollows  on  its 
flanks,  and  peaks  and  gaps  and  plateaus  on  its  top.  As  seen  from 
the  valleys,  its  horizon  line  is  wonderfully  varied,  curved,  and  billowy ; 
as  a  general  thing  it  is  clothed  to  the  very  tops  with  deciduous  trees, 
particularly  birch,  beech,  maple,  and  chestnut ;  and  the  tints  of  the 
spring  and  autumn  foliage  on  these  aspiring,  swelling,  indefinitely 
varied  summits,  invite  inspection  by  so  much  the  more  as  they  cer- 
tainly do  beggar  description. 

Down  such  a  water-shed  as  this  is  many  streams  will  flow  as  a 
matter  of  course,  and  if  there  be  passes  over  it  and  roads  over  them, 
these  will  naturally  follow  up  the  courses  of  the  streams,  —  the 
human  road-makers  finding  that  Nature  has  been  before  them  work- 
ing out  in  long  ages  a  path  for  the  footsteps  of  men.  Such  a  stream 
is  the  northerly  branch  of  Hemlock  Brook,  which  takes  its  rise  just 
over  the  Massachusetts  line,  and  just  south  of  our  Petersburg  Pass, 
and  flows  down  the  whole  length  of  Treadwell  Hollow  to  unite  at 
Brookman's  with  the  southerly  branch  that  rises  also  just  over  the 
New  York  line  at  the  "  Berlin  Pass,"  the  second  of  our  natural  road- 
ways over  the  great  Taconic  wall.     Now,  as  by  much  the  longest 


SITUATION.  23 

stretch  of  stream  under  a  single  designation  within  the  town ;  as 
constituted  by  these  two  branches,  which  descend  respectively  from 
these  two  northern  passes,  over  which  all  the  direct  travel  from 
Williamstown  goes  into  the  state  of  New  York ;  as  helping  by 
means  of  these  branches,  both  of  which  rise  in  that  great  state,  to 
make  easy  friendly  intercourse  between  the  two  states,  by  making 
passable  the  lofty  barrier  that  divides  them ;  and  as  having  many 
secrets  of  the  hills  and  of  the  woods  to  whisper  to  its  companion 
stream,  Buxton  Brook,  at  their  junction  in  the  northwestern  quarter 
of  the  House  Lots,  —  the  Hemlock  Brook,  though  small,  is  lifted 
into  the  region  of  high  respectability.  After  the  junction  of  its  two 
branches  at  the  foot  of  Treadwell  Hollow,  the  stream  runs  southeast- 
wardly  for  a  mile  or  more  around  the  "  Torrey  AVoods,"  and  tlien 
bends  suddenly  northward,  receiving  at  this  point,  as  a  tributary,  the 
"  Sweet  Brook,"  which  comes  down  from  the  "  Kidder  Pass,"  the 
third  of  the  Taconic  gaps,  and  then  flowing  due  north  a  couple  of 
miles  through  the  valley  of  the  "Hemlocks,"  unites  with  the  bicker- 
ing "  Buxton  "  for  another  mile  of  curving  flow  to  find  the  Hoosac, 
having  described  a  nearly  perfect  semicircle  in  a  course  of  six  miles. 
Thus  in  a  few  plain  lines  has  honor  due  been  done  to  a  country 
brook,  which  probably  was  never  suntr  in  DOi'trv.  or  described  before 
in  prose. 

Treadwell  Hollow,  down  which  tumbles,  ironi  tiie  I'ass,  the  north- 
ern branch  of  Hemlock  Brook,  and  up  which  runs  a  second  rude 
and  steep  roadway  to  the  Pass  itself,  swarmed  with  people  at  the 
end  of  the  last  century  and  at  the  beginning  of  this,  constituting 
then  a  large  school  district  with  a  schoolhouse  of  its  own ;  but  after 
1850  it  became  gradually  deserted  of  human  habitations,  and  the 
last  one  of  the  old  houses  within  the  valley  burned  down  March  4, 
1885, — the  inauguration  day  of  President  Cleveland.  This  was 
the  house  of  Agur  Treadwell,  who  gave  his  name  to  the  Hollow, 
and  who  reared  there  a  large  family  of  daughters,  many  of  whose 
descendants  "  are  with  us  unto  this  day."  Abandoned  sites  of  log- 
huts  or  cellars  of  rude  houses  may  still  be  traced  in  considerable 
numbers  on  both  sides  of  the  road  almost  up  to  the  Gap,  while  the 
people  and  their  dwellings  for  the  most  part  disappeared  long  ago. 
At  the  time  the  Treadwell  house  burned  down  there  were  left  but 
thr^e  dwellings  within  the  valley,  and  these  comparatively  modern 
ones.  The  Leet  house  was  one,  just  then  sold  out  of  the  family 
with  the  farm,  which  was  the  original  sixty-acre  lot  numl^er  40,  the 
house  standing  some  distance  to  the  west  of  the  road  and  the 
stream  over  a  rise  of  ground;  the  Brookman  family  kept  watch  and 


24  ORIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

ward  at  the  entrance  of  the  Hollow  from  below,  cultivating  a  quite 
tolerable  hillside  farm,  and  illustrating  the  outward  success  that 
almost  always  keeps  step  with  the  forthputting  of  the  moral  and 
Christian  virtues ;  and  between  these  two,  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  road,  was  one  other  little  homestead,  then  occupied  by  an  Irish- 
man named  Fleming. 

Now  we  come  to  the  fourth  and  last  of  our  secondary  hills  that 
hang  on  the  flank  of  the  Taconics,  namely,  to  "Bee  Hill,"  which  has 
played  first  and  last  no  insignificant  part  in  the  history  of  Williams- 
town.  All  four  of  these  hills  are  really  attached  to  the  main  stem 
by  a  single  shoulder,  that  one  by  which  the  Petersburg  road  winds 
up  into  the  Pass.  The  Glen  Brook,  which,  in  its  due  easterly  fall, 
drains  some  low  and  moist  lands  that  slope  down  from  that  shoul- 
der, divides  Birch  Hill  from  Bee  Hill;  and  the  Hemlock  Brook, 
springing  from  near  the  same  shoulder,  runs  completely  around  the 
base  of  Bee  Hill  on  its  western  and  southern  and  eastern  sides  to 
the  point  at  which  the  Hemlock  receives  the  Glen.  Bee  Hill  is 
shaped  like  an  old-fashioned  sugar-loaf  of  gigantic  size  lying  on  its 
side,  base  towards  the  southeast.  Its  western  slope  rises  up  sheer 
and  lofty  from  the  bottom  of  Treadwell  Hollow ;  its  southern  side 
is  the  Torrey  Woods  skirting  the  brook  lower  down,  and  its  eastern 
acclivity  is  the  "  Hemlocks,"  in  which  lie  the  limestone  quarries. 

The  original  road  over  Bee  Hill  started  from  the  Main  Street  at 
right  angles  near  its  western  end,  and  ran  due  south  along  the  limit 
of  House  Lot  number  29  to  the  bridge  over  the  Glen  Brook,  whose 
place  has  never  been  substantially  changed  from  its  first  building, 
and  then  crawled  over  the  sugar-loaf  just  as  and  where  it  does  now, 
in  the  form  of  a  bow,  to  the  entrance  of  Treadwell  Hollow.  The 
first  part  of  this  road  as  far  as  the  Glen  Bridge  was  long  ago  dis- 
-continued,  and  was  replaced  by  the  hypothenuse  of  the  right-angled 
triangle  beginning  at  the  Mansion  House  and  running  diagonall}^ 
-across  the  House  Lots  to  John  Sherman's,  and  thence  to  the  bridge. 
This  comparatively  new  road  to  the  Glen  Bridge  from  the  Main 
■Street  may  well  be  called  the  "  Glen  Road."  Though  a  belt  of  lime- 
stone edges  the  eastern  base  of  Bee  Hill,  the  hill  as  a  whole  is  a 
slaty  formation,  and  holds  accordingly  much  warm  and  fertile  land, 
that  is  easily  tilled  and  constantly  renewed ;  and  on  this  account  it 
was  occupied  early  by  a  set  of  enterprising  farmers,  and  in  particu- 
lar by  the  Hickox  family,  who  have  owned  and  tilled  first  and  last 
most  of  the  arable  land  of  the  hill,  so  that  it  is  every  way  appropri- 
ate that  its  highest  eminence,  directly  overlooking  Treadwell  Hol- 
low, and  conspicuously  seen  from  every  part  of  the  village  by  those 


SITUATION.  25 

looking  up  through  the  Glen,  should  be  now  christened  and  hereafter 
known  as  '•  Hickox  Height."  That  sightly  point  was  long  owned  by 
the  family,  and  if  an  enterprise  had  prospered  which  they  conceived 
and  set  on  foot  and  partly  carried  out,  they  would  have  deserved 
still  more  a  lasting  memorial  on  Bee  Hill, — one  as  lasting  as  the 
hills  themselves ;  for  at  the  time  when  their  neighbors  of  Birch  Hill 
and  others  were  i)ushing  the  present  Petersburg  road  towards  the 
Pass,  the  Bee  Hill  people  stoutly  claimed  that  a  nearer  and  better 
road  to  the  same  place  could  be  wound  around  their  hill  upon  the 
east  side  of  Treadwell  Hollow ;  and  so  they  set  to  work  with  a  will 
to  make  such  a  way,  and  to  get  it  through  to  the  common  shoulder 
first;  and  one  can  trace  to  this  day  about  lialf-way  up  the  slope  the 
track  of  their  road,  unfinished  because  one  of  the  rude  land-owners 
beyond  them  forbade  the  use  of  his  land  for  that  purpose.  The 
consequent  delay  gave  the  Birch  Hill  fellows  the  victory  in  point 
of  time,  which  was  virtually  the  point  of  victory  in  the  whole  mat- 
ter. Agur  Treadwell  permitted  them  to  cross  his  lot,  but  Amos 
Birchard  put  up  the  bars.  At  Birchard's  boundary,  accordingly,  all 
traces  of  that  road  begun  fade  out  upon  the  hillside.  Henry  Hickox, 
then  an  octogenarian,  related  these  facts  to  the  writer  many  years 
ago,  and  added  that  he  himself  had  rendered  a  small  boy's  help  to 
this  worthy  but  futile  endeavor  of  the  family. 

The  Bee  Hill  road,  already  described  as  reaching  to  the  entrance 
of  Treadwell  Hollow,  became  in  1799  a  part  of  a  public  Turnpike, 
connected  in  North  Adams  with  another  Turnpike  chartered  by  the 
state  two  years  before  to  run  over  the  Hoosac  Mountain  to  the 
Deerfield  Kiver,  making  one  continuous  road ;  so  that  it  became 
necessary  at  that  time  to  repair  and  in  some  parts  to  rebuild  an  old 
road  running  up  the  south  branch  of  the  Hemlock  Brook  from  the 
point  where  it  unites  with  the  Treadwell  Hollow  Brook  to  the  second 
of  the  great  passes  over  tlie  Taconics  ;  namely,  to  the  "  Berlin  Pass," 
long  so-called  from  the  name  of  the  New  York  township  on  the 
other  side  of  the  barrier.  Under  Massachusetts  authority,  accord- 
ingly, the  turnpike  was  completed  to  the  line  of  New  York,  and  was 
then  carried  forward  under  the  auspices  of  that  state  up  to  and 
over  the  Gap  and  down  into  the  valley  of  the  Little  Hoosac,  and 
the  toll-gate  was  located  at  a  house  only  a  few  rods  this  side  the 
line  on  the  "  Gore,"  which  was  then  indeed  a  part  of  Massachusetts, 
and  forty  years  later  was  annexed  to  Williamstown.  This  last 
stretch  of  the  old  turnpike  from  the  forks  of  the  brook,  which  we 
always  call  the  "Berlin  Road,"  though  it  is  continuous  with  the 
Bee  Hill  road,  and  also  with  the  "  Hemlock  Road  "  from  John  Sher- 


26 


ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


man's  up  Hemlock  Brook  to  the  forks,  runs  almost  due  west  and 
pretty  steadily  up  hill  past  three  farms,  each  of  which  has  an  inter- 
esting history,  for  one  mile  and  a  half  in  Massachusetts  and  fully 
another  mile  in  New  York  to  the  Berlin  Pass. 

On  the  right  hand  as  one  trudges  up  this  road  there  rises  a  lofty 
conical  hill,  beautiful  in  outline,  around  whose  base  the  road  winds 
from  the  point  where  the  New  York  line  is  crossed  to  the  spring  of 
water  at  the  foot  of  the  last  ascent  leading  up  to  the  Pass.  This 
almost  mathematically  symmetrical  hill  as  seen  from  a  distance  is 
in  fair  continuation  of  the  much  larger  Leet  Hill,  the  two  together 
filling  up  the  whole  space  between  the  two  passes,  with  the  Leet 


4.    Mount  Hopkins. 


'BERLIN    PASS. 
2.    Dodd's  Cone. 


3.    Leet  Hill. 


farm  nestling  between  the  two  hills.  Among  all  the  varied  summits 
of  the  Taconics  in  this  part  of  their  range  this  particular  cone  is 
unique ;  and  it  has  been  known  for  some  time  to  a  narrow  circle  of 
friends,  and  the  present  writer  strongly  desires  that  it  may  be  known 
for  all  time  in  the  widest  manner,  as  "  Dodd's  Cone  " ;  in  perpetual 
recognition  of  Cyrus  Morris  Dodd  of  the  class  of  1855,  long  Profes- 
sor of  Mathematics  in  the  College,  a  man  of  exact  knowledge,  ele- 
gant taste,  perfect  temper,  Christian  patience,  thorough  kindness  of 
heart,  and  a  genuine  courtesy  of  mien  consequent  upon  that.  As  a 
long-time  colleague  watching  his  fidelity  to  duty,  as  a  trustful  friend 
seeing  him  victor  in  recurring  adversities,  the  writer  pays  with 
heartfelt  pleasure  this  little  tribute  which  may  perhaps  be  remem- 
bered when  both  are  dead. 

There  have  been  times  when  a  tin  cup  might  be  seen  hanging  to 
a  stake  set  by  public  authority  or  private  benevolence  near  the  little 


SITUATION.  27 

spring  that  bubbles  up  at  the  base  of  the  hist  lift  before  the  Pass  is 
reached.  Foot-travellers  and  others  usually  refreshed  themselves 
here  often  in  ways  more  primitive  and  perhaps  more  satisfactory 
than  drinking  from  the  public  cup.  Even  a  leisurely  walker  will  pass 
in  ten  minutes  from  this  point  to  the  desired  summit,  which  is  2192 
feet  above  tide-water.  The  resemblance  to  a  saddle  is  not  so  marked 
in  this  mountain  depression  as  in  the  more  northern  one,  although 
the  land  on  both  sides  the  road,  and  on  both  acclivities  for  a  consid- 
erable distance,  is  completely  bare  of  trees  and  is  smooth  and  culti- 
vable meadow  or  pasture.  Open  and  ploughable  ground  to  the  north 
rises  gradually  up  in  the  rear  of  Dodd's  Cone,  but  there  is  no  knob 
in  it  comparable  to  a  pommel ;  and  similar  land  slopes  up  from  the 
road  on  the  south  towards  Mount  Hopkins,  but  there  is  no  arch  in 
it  at  the  right  distance  which  the  fancy  can  frame  into  a  cantel  But 
the  Pass  is  a  grand  and  noble  spot  on  this  old  earth.  The  scene  to 
the  westward  and  southward  is  broader  and  lovelier  than  at  Peters- 
burg ;  cultivated  fields  and  patches  of  orchard  and  wooded  hilltops 
and  pastures  dotted  with  grazing  cattle  fill  the  nearer  view  in  sum- 
mer time  ;  in  contrast  with  the  green  fields  and  green  M'oods,  the 
country  roads  shimmer  and  glisten  like  long  strips  of  white  rib- 
bands ;  with  the  sun  at  the  proper  angle  in  the  western  sky,  the 
brooks  dancing  from  their  uplands  towards  the  central  valley  gleam 
and  shine  at  intervals  like  ribs  of  molten  silver ;  and  the  observer 
fortunate  in  the  time  of  his  visit  may  say  of  these  quiet  homesteads 
and  long  reaches  of  sleeping  and  beautiful  landscape,  as  Whittier 
said  of  his  lower  years  when  the  height  of  his  life  was  reached,  how 

these  — 

Now  lie  below  me  green  and  still 
Beneath  a  level  sun ! 

Two  or  three  other  characteristic  differences  between  the  Berlin 
and  Petersburg  passes  will  put  us  into  still  better  possession  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  former.  Thus  the  northern  one  is  exactly  in 
the  line  of  the  highest  peaks  of  the  Taconics,  along  its  own  part  of 
the  ridge  both  north  and  south ;  while  the  southern  one  is  out  of 
range  with  its  nearest  summits,  being  decidedly  west  and  back  of  these 
as  one  approaches  from  "William stown.  Moreover,  Petersburg  is 
half  and  half  between  the  two  states,  the  line  crossing  the  very 
ridge  of  the  Pass  ;  while  Berlin  is  wholly  in  Xew  York,  a  full  mile 
west  of  the  line.  Then  two  passable  roads  converge  at  the  former 
gap,  the  onp  running  up  Treadwell  Hollow,  also  the  usual  Petersburg 
road  creeping  along  the  shoulder  of  the  foot-hills ;  while  there  is 
but  one  road  can  take  the  passenger  up  to  and  over  the  Berlin  Pass. 


28  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Also  the  access  to  Petersburg,  whichever  road  be  chosen,  is  through 
woods  and  waste  lands  and  past  uncovered  cellars  and  signs  of  deso- 
lation and  abandonment ;  but  the  Berlin  road  goes  past  pretty  good 
farms  on  either  hand,  and  the  last  one  (the  old  toll-gate  farm) 
became  noted  for  its  productiveness  under  the  ownership  of  Alexan- 
der Walker  and  the  industry  of  his  family,  canny  Scotch  people 
from  Aberdeenshire :  the  parents  married  there  Aug.  1,  1856.  Mr. 
Walker  could  handle  the  fiddle-bow  and  the  surveyor's  instruments 
with  about  equal  facility ;  but  as  the  lines  fell  to  him  in  this  coun- 
try in  prosy  times  and  non-piping  localities,  the  Scotch  reels  and 
strathspeys,  of  which  he  was  a  master  and  even  a  successful  com- 
poser and  publisher,  slumbered  for  the  most  part  upon  the  bridge  of 
his  fiddles,  of  which  he  invented  and  perhaps  patented  a  prized 
improvement.  Nevertheless,  his  residence  at  the  head  of  the  gorge, 
where  the  Fosters  had  lived  for  three  generations,  threw  a  sort  of 
halo  of  music  and  good  cheer  up  and  down  the  valley,  and  proved 
to  many  persons  a  kind  of  subtle  attraction  not  only  for  the  Pass, 
but  also  for  Mount  Hopkins  beyond  it.  Even  the  New  York  land 
to  the  very  top  of  the  gap  has  seen  its  days  of  fertility;  for  Enos 
Briggs,  whose  well-walled  cellar  is  still  conspicuous  on  the  left  of  the 
road  above  the  spring,  was  so  successful  in  the  culture  of  turnips  on 
that  side  hill  during  the  first  two  decades  of  this  century,  that  he  long 
went  by  the  name  of  "Turnip  Briggs  "  ;  and  persons  were  still  living 
in  Williamstown  in  1885  who  remembered  clearly  seeing  this  hum- 
ble vender  of  vegetables  sell  his  savory  wares  along  the  single  vil- 
lage street.  It  is  but  fair  to  add,  that  the  ashes  of  the  heavy  hard 
woods  burned  on  the  clearings  gave  a  quickness  and  strength  to 
that  soil  for  a  time,  of  which  it  was  long  since  deprived.  And 
lastly,  no  wagon  road  leads  from  the  Petersburg  Pass  either  north 
or  south,  though  there  is  a  foot-path  running  north  to  the  Snow- 
Hole  ;  but  from  the  Berlin  Pass  a  comparatively  well-trodden  road 
for  common  vehicles  turns  off  to  the  left  towards  a  notable  and  so 
frequented  objective  which  will  shortly  engage  our  attention  for  a 
little. 

In  the  meantime  let  us  take  our  last  look  from  the  Gap  itself.  To 
the  eastward  and  over  the  entire  valley  of  the  Green  Hiver  stands  in 
almost  startling  distinctness  the  whole  range  of  Greylock,  or  "  Sad- 
dle Mountain,"  as  it  has  long  been,  and  is  also  best,  named.  We 
are  indeed  on  ground  1343  feet  lower  than  the  highest  peak  of  that 
range,  which  is  properly  called  "  Greylock,"  and  411  feet  lower  than 
the  summit  point  of  Bald  Mountain,  and  also  405  feet  below  the 
centre  peak  of  Prospect,  and  yet  all  that  is  most  worth  the  seeing  in 


SITUATION. 


29 


remarkably  isolated  group  that  holds  the  highest  mountain  iu 
Massachusetts  is  quite  under  our  eye  from  the  Hoosac  Kiver  to 
Pontoosuc  Lake.  Saddle  Mountain  may  well  be  compared  to  a 
human  left  lung  with  its  three  distinct  lobes.  If  one  will  conceive 
of  such  a  lung  magnified  to  mountain  size,  and  lying  lengthwise  to 
the  observer  with  the  due  depressions  between  the  lobes,  and  the  top 
of  each  of  these  puckered  up  into  peaks  at  the  proper  points,  and  that 
one  of  the  lobes  nearest  the  beholder  pai-ted  in  the  middle  in  such  a 
way  as  to  display  the  central  and  highest  lobe  from  top  to  bottom 
through  the  cleft,  he  will  have  before  his  mind's  eye  a  fair  image  of 
Saddle  Mountain  as  it  appears  from  Berlin  Pass  and  as  it  is  in  reality. 


;^-wU-,- 

ii 

■THE   HOPPER.'    FROM   BERLIN    PASS. 

1.    Greylock. 

4.    Mount  Moore.                            7.    Bald  Mountain. 

2.    Mount  Williams. 

5.    Mount  Griffin.                            8.    Simonds  Peak. 

3.    Mount  Fitch. 

6.   Slope  Norton.                            9.    Mount  Chadbourne. 

The  western  lobe  of  this  huge  mass  of  correlated  mountain  is  cut 
into  two  parts  by  the  "Hopper"  so-called,  a  sharp-cut  opening 
through  the  middle  of  it  down  to  the  base  of  Greylock  itself,  which 
is  the  majestic  crown  of  tlie  second  and  central  lobe,  so  that  as  seen 
through  the  Hopper  there  is  displayed  to  the  on-looker  from  the 
Taconics  the  imperial  western  front  of  Greylock  from  very  bottom 
to  very  top.  The  northern  half  of  this  first  lobe  thus  bisected  in 
some  great  convulsion  of  Nature  is  "Prospect"  proper;  and  from  the 
Hopper  Brook  that  bathes  the  foot  of  both  the  halves,  the  jagged  past- 
ure and  forest  land  shoots  up  at  an  angle  of  thirty-three  degrees  into 
"Simonds  Peak,"  2600  feet  above  tide-water  more  or  less.  Simonds 
Peak  is  clearly  seen  from  several  of  the  prominent  streets  of  Pitts- 


30  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

field,  and  indeed  it  was  named  thus  in  commemoration  of  our  Revolu- 
tionary colonel  by  the  gifted  historian  of  that  town,  Dr.  Smith. 
From  this  its  highest  point,  Mount  Prospect  declines  towards  the 
north  at  a  pretty  steady  angle  for  a  mile  or  more,  and  then  falls 
sharply  off  into  the  so-called  "  Slope  Norton,"  which  carries  the  hill 
down  gradually  to  that  intervale  of  the  Hoosac  on  which  stood  old 
Fort  Massachusetts.  "  Bald  Mountain  "  heads  the  southern  half  of 
the  western  lobe,  and  lifts  itself  up  from  the  Hopper  Brook  quite 
as  steeply,  though  not  quite  so  high,  as  its  fellow-mount  across  the 
gorge ;  but  the  rest  of  this  part  is  not  quite  parallel  with  the  central 
lobe,  and  is  not  in  strict  continuation  therefore  of  Mount  Prospect, 
but  bends  decidedly  towards  the  west,  and  after  a  long  and  compara- 
tively low  depression  from  the  summit  of  Bald  Mountain,  it  rises 
gracefully  again  and  ends  grandly,  though  not  loftily,  in  "Mount 
Chadbourne."  The  writer  ventures  to  apply  this  name  to  the  beauti- 
fully rounded  and  wooded  height  that  terminates  the  western  lobe 
of  Saddle  Mountain,  in  future  memory  of  the  fifth  president  of 
Williams  College,  with  whom,  as  colleague,  professor,  and  president, 
he  was  intimately  associated  for  thirty  years.  Chadbourne  loved 
the  hills  and  the  trees  and  the  rocks  and  the  flowers.  He  knew 
every  nook  and  corner  of  this  fair  town.  Ko  species  of  plant,  no 
form  of  animal  life,  no  geological  peculiarity,  escaped  his  eye.  Ko 
name  has  ever  before  been  given  to  this  bluff  and  full  yet  human  and 
tender  height.  Shall  we,  then,  friends  living  and  to  come,  call  it 
once  and  for  all  Mount  Chadbourne  ? 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  what  has  just  been  said,  that  at  all 
times  one  can  have  a  clear  vision  through  the  Hopper  to  the  base  of 
Greylock,  even  from  such  an  elevated  lookout  as  the  Berlin  Pass. 
Sometimes  the  Avhite  clouds  fill  up  the  opening  from  top  to  bottom, 
cover  Bald  and  Simonds  with  a  fleecy  mantle  that  never  felt  the 
loom,  rise  and  wholly  envelop  old  Greylock  himself,  or  hang  like 
Burns' s  "  haffets "  on  either  side  of  his  hoary  head,  as  the  name 
implies,  then  float  along  in  rolls  and  folds  (as  they  did  this  morning), 
rising  and  falling,  tarrying  and  hesitating,  concealing  and  then  reveal- 
ing all  the  peaks  of  the  group,  and  at  last  ascend  from  their  transient 
resting-places  between  the  lobes  and  from  along  the  slopes  and  tops 
into  the  sunny  or  starry  sky.  After  such  a  morning  it  often  happens 
that  the  atmosphere  becomes  the  most  transparent,  the  vision  into 
the  Hopper  the  most  penetrating,  and  the  grand  outline  of  the 
mountain  the  sharpest  against  the  opposing  sky.  Sometimes,  again, 
the  summer  shower-clouds  and  the  wilder  storm-clouds  of  rain,  or 
snow,  or  hail  pack  the  Hopper  to  its  fullest  capacity,  and  press  down 


SITUATION.  31 

into  the  shallow  valleys  between  the  lobes,  and  burden  the  broad 
mountain  tops,  till,  like  an  over-cargo  filling  a  ship's  hold,  and  spread 
upon  the  deck  also,  they  seem  to  sink  the  mountain  to  the  water's 
edge  I  Oftener  than  appear  these  cloud  and  storm  effects,  however, 
and  especially  in  the  gala  months  of  June  and  October,  such  a  clear 
and  blessed  light  is  thrown  into  this  hollow  of  hollows  (one  might 
almost  write  holy  of  holies)  that  it  seems  as  if  the  trees  and  even 
the  limbs  might  be  counted  one  by  one  as  they  clothe  the  steep  hill- 
side; and  when  the  early  frosts  have  painted  the  leaves  of  the 
deciduous  trees  in  every  color  of  the  rainbow,  and  the  evergreens 
scattered  everywhere  among  them  set  off  by  way  of  contrast  the 
gorgeous  colors,  to  look  in  upon  the  three  sides  of  the  great  Hopper 
from  the  west,  each  vying  with  the  other  two  in  splendor,  or  to  look 
down  upon  them  all  at  once  from  the  summit  of  Bald  or  of  Simonds, 
is  such  a  sight  that  its  impression  never  fades  out  from  the  mind  of 
any  lover  of  natural  beauty,  and  no  one  seeing  it  ever  expects  to  see 
it  surpassed  this  side  of  the  new  Jerusalem. 

But  our  footing  at  the  Gap  is  exalted  enough  to  overlook  alto- 
gether the  first  parallel  of  Saddle  Mountain,  and  to  enable  us  to  see 
something  of  the  broad  shoulders  and  shallow  valleys  (disjointed  by 
the  Hopper)  connecting  that  line  with  the  second  and  loftier  one, 
and  also  visually  to  take  in  from  end  to  end  the  middle  lobe  of  our 
Titanic  lung.  It  is  at  least  five  miles  as  the  bird  flies  from  Mount 
Williams,  the  northern  height  of  this  central  battlement,  to  the 
point  of  "Mount  Griffin,"  its  southern  height.  The  eye  first  takes 
in  the  meadow  on  which  Fort  Massachusetts  once  stood;  runs  up 
Slope  Hawks,  which  connects  the  site  of  the  fort  with  Mount  Wil- 
liams, itself  a  magnificent  protuberance  of  mountain,  dominating  the 
valley  of  the  Hoosac,  and  the  rampart  on  one  side  of  the  '•  Ther- 
mopylae of  New  England,"  as  that  valley  was  once  called  by  Edward 
Everett ;  glances  on  to  "  Mount  Fitch,"  the  next  and  only  high  peak 
of  that  ridge  to  the  north  of  Greylock,  receiving  its  appropriate 
name  many  years  ago  from  the  Hopkins  Alpine  Club  in  memory  of 
the  first  president  of  the  College ;  rests  then  for  a  little  on  the  tow- 
ering point  of  Greylock,  an  immemorial  name;  then  drops  some- 
what to  an  even  stretch  of  mountain  ridge,  only  broken  by  two 
slight  swells  close  together  with  a  little  rift  between  them,  which 
we  have  called  "  Mount  Moore,"  to  commemorate  the  second  presi- 
dent of  the  College ;  and  at  last  rests  to  return  on  the  southmost 
point  of  the  central  ridge,  which  drops  off  very  sharply  into  the 
foot-hills  encircling  Pontoosuc  Lake,  and  which  has  been  named 
Mount  Griflin,  in  perpetual  honor  of  the  third  president  of  the  Col- 


32  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

lege.  As  fronting  the  Taconics,  old  Greylock  is  grandly  flanked  on 
the  right  by  Fitch  and  AVilliams  ;  on  the  left  by  Moore  and  Grifiin ; 
and  in  his  front  are  Simonds,  Bald,  and  Chadbourne.  Fitch  and 
Moore  are  nearly  eqni-distant  from  Greylock  on  either  hand,  and 
so  again  are  Williams  and  Griffin  nearly  equi-distant  from  the  other 
two  on  either  hand,  and  from  Greylock  itself.  President  Moore,  as 
we  may  perhaps  learn  at  length  on  a  future  page,  was  doubtful 
whether  the  College  could  ever  flourish  in  so  inaccessible  a  place  as 
William stown  then  was ;  and  his  thoughts  wavered  during  the  six 
years  he  was  here,  between  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  and  the 
valley  of  the  Hoosac  as  the  true  position  for  the  College ;  and  he  at 
last  went  to  Amherst  to  become  the  flrst  president  there,  and  took  a 
large  portion  of  the  students  with  him  ;  for  which  reasons  his  por- 
trait is  not  with  the  rest  in  the  gallery  of  this  college,  and  his  name 
has  been  rarely  mentioned  of  late  years  in  connection  with  its  his- 
tory ;  but  it  is  certain  that  he  was  actuated  by  honorable  motives  in 
those  transactions  from  first  to  last,  and  his  name  deserves  respect- 
ful recognition  in  the  memorials  of  this  college,  and  so  far  as  the 
present  writer  can  secure  that  result,  it  will  rest  for  all  time  upon 
the  not  inconspicuous  twin  peaks  already  designated ;  and  any  one's 
fancy  may  play,  if  it  will,  between  the  two  neighboring  peaks  as 
outward  tokens  of  the  mind  of  good  Dr.  Moore  wavering  between 
Berkshire  and  Hampshire. 

"Wilbur's  Pasture"  is  the  mountain  farm,  though  there  were 
never  homestead  buildings  upon  it,  which  occupies  the  shoulder 
uniting  Prospect  with  Mount  Williams,  in  short,  the  seat  of  the 
saddle  that  gave  the  entire  mountain  its  name  to  those  who  trav- 
elled up  and  down  the  Hoosac  by  the  old  path  of  the  Mohawks. 
"  Harrison's  Farm,"  on  the  other  hand,  which  had  upon  it  a  good 
house  and  a  large  barn,  and  was  very  fertile  in  the  early  days,  is 
the  uniting  shoulder  and  valley  between  Bald  Mountain  and  Grey- 
lock; and  rude  and  early  wagon  roads,  that  are  still  travelled  in 
summer-time  more  or  less,  led  from  some  of  the  thoroughfares  of 
Williamstown  to  these  sky  farms.  The  first  circled  around  Mount 
Williams  from  the  "  Notch  Road,"  so  called,  into  Wilbur's  Pasture, 
and  the  other,  starting  from  the  west  side  of  the  mountain,  wound 
through  the  Hopper  and  up  Bald  Mountain  to  Harrison's  Farm ; 
and  these  immense  pastures  and  the  woods  bordering  on  them  fill 
up  for  the  most  part  the  interval  between  the  first  and  second  lines 
of  the  mountain,  and  each  furnished  a  route  to  the  summit  of  Grey- 
lock, but  only  sinewy  pedestrians  or  audacious  horseback  riders 
essayed  this  final  stage  of  the  journey. 


SITUATION.  33 

This  casual  mention  of  the  ••  Notch  Road  ''  may  serve  to  introduce 
that  needs  now  be  said  about  the  third  lobe  of  Saddle  Mountain. 
This  is  the  eastern  parallel  of  the  mountain,  is  much  lower  than 
either  of  the  others,  has  been  called  from  immemorial  time  '*  Raven 
Rock  "  ;  the  Ashuwillticook  or  south  brancli  of  the  Hoosac  washes 
the  whole  length  of  its  eastern  flank ;  the  valley  between  it  and  the 
Greylock  ridge  is  wider  and  more  cultivable  than  the  shoulder 
valleys  on  the  other  side,  and  it  extends  considerably  further  north 
than  the  other  ridges.  Indeed,  it  dips  down  in  "  Furnace  Hill "  to 
the  very  brink  of  the  Hoosac  at  the  junction  of  the  Ashuwillticook 
and  the  Mayunsook.  It  is  over  this  ridge  that  the  sun  rises  in 
winter  to  the  folks  in  the  village  of  Williamstown,  its  height  being 
such  as  to  hide  from  them  the  much  higher  range  of  tlie  Hoosacs ; 
it  also  hides  from  the  same  the  houses  of  their  neighbors  in  North 
Adams ;  and  the  "  Little  Tunnel "  of  the  great  Hoosac  Tunnel  Rail- 
way passes  under  it  just  as  it  loses  itself  on  the  river's  brink.  The 
valley  between  Raven  Rock  and  Greylock  is  the  "  Notch,"  and  the 
southern  end  of  it,  of  remarkable  construction,  is  the  ''  Bellows- 
Pipe."  It  lies  wholly  in  the  old  township  of  East  Hoosac;  the 
farms  within  it  were  early  settled  ;  the  Wilburs,  by  whom  the  past- 
ure above  was  owned  and  cleared,  and  from  whom  it  is  named, 
were  perhaps  the  principal  family  in  the  Notch ;  and  the  graphic 
fitness  of  the  name  "  Bellows-Pipe  "  will  be  seen  when  it  is  said,  that 
the  northern  winds  and  storms  sucked  and  pushed  through  the  long 
and  narrow  Notch  escape  from  it  with  a  bound  and  a  burst  and 
a  howl  over  the  rising  shoulder  at  the  southern  end  (seeking  in  vain 
to  confine  them)  into  the  broad  open  beyond. 

Our  visual  excursions  from  the  Berlin  Pass  are  now  over.  It 
only  remains,  from  this  Pass  as  a  standpoint,  because  the  rude 
road  diverges  here  that  leads  up  to  "Mount  Hopkins,"  to  give  some 
account  of  this  loftiest  bulge  of  the  Taconics  within  sight  of  the 
town  and  the  college,  to  unfold  the  grounds  on  which  it  has  been 
sought  for  many  years  to  attach  an  honored  name  to  this  particular 
mountain,  and  to  commend  in  fair  but  strong  terms  to  all  lovers  of 
natural  scenery  (both  transient  and  resident)  repeated  visits  to 
this  chief  glory  of  the  Taconics  —  this  never-humbled  pride  of  the 
Williamstown  valley  —  before  they  leave  the  region  for  good,  or 
suppose  that  they  have  seen  all  of  its  wonders.  Because  this  Pass 
is  a  mile  back  from  the  general  trend  of  the  Taconics  in  this  part 
of*their  course,  the  road  leading  from  it  to  Mount  Hopkins  must 
regain  that  distance  to  the  eastward  before  this  summit  is  gained, 
which  stands  about  in  line  with  Dodd's  Cone  and  Leet  Hill.     Only 


34  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

stopping  now  to  fling  out  an  exhortation  or  two  to  the  authorities 
that  are  to  be  in  the  future  to  construct  a  good  road  from  the  Pass 
to  the  summit,  and  just  to  say  that  the  present  bridle-path  turns 
first  south  and  then  sharp  southeast  and  east  for  the  mile  and 
a  half  between  the  points,  we  may  find  ourselves  shortly  upon 
a  broad  patch  of  cleared  land  nearly  level,  that  has  often  felt  the 
plough  and  the  harrow  and  the  hoe,  and  doubtless  yielded  full  returns 
to  the  husbandman's  toil  and  sweat,  and  that  is  2790  feet  above  the 
sea-level,  and  2082  feet  above  the  old  astronomical  observatory  on 
the  College  grounds. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Macomber  owned  and  cleared  up  this  land,  and  had  his  dwelling 
and  barn  upon  it,  and  used  to  carry  down  upon  his  back  a  bag  of 
grain  now  and  then  to  a  mill  on  the  Little  Hoosac,  in  or  near 
what  is  now  the  village  of  Berlin,  New  York.  The  mountain  came 
thence  to  be  known  as  the  "  Macomber "  Mountain,  and  was  com- 
monly so  designated  in  Williamstown  during  the  first  quarter  of 
the  century.  If  this  name  had  become  firmly  fixed  to  the  moun- 
tain on  both  sides  of  it,  the  present  writer  would  have  been  the  last 
man  in  the  world  to  try  to  dislodge  it,  for  he  not  only  believes  that 
civilization  rests  on  the  plough,  but  also  that  no  other  man's  name 
is  so  fit  to  be  fixed  on  any  patch  of  ground  anywhere  as  his,  who 
has  subdued  and  replenished  it.  But  Macomber  was  not  so  fortu- 
nate as  this.  Gradually  on  the  other  side  it  came  to  be  called  the 
"Williamstown"  Mountain,  and  on  this  side  (queerly  enough)  it 
came  to  be  generally  named  the  "  Berlin"  Mountain,  neither  of  which 
names  had  any  significance  or  appropriateness  ;  and  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, to  christen  the  height  became  a  lawful  privilege  to  any 
one  who  could  establish  a  claim  to  be  godfather,  either  in  his  own 
behalf,  or  in  that  of  another.  The  turnpike  over  the  Pass  made  the 
place  accessible  from  both  sides ;  Macomber  had  a  sort  of  farm  road 
from  the  turnpike  to  his  homestead ;  doubtless  a  few  students  may 
have  clambered  up  there  from  time  to  time,  but  it  was  not  the 
custom  in  the  early  days  of  the  College,  as  it  has  happily  become 
since,  for  the  students  to  explore  all  the  hills  and  to  dive  into  all  the 
valleys,  —  a  pilgrimage  or  two  to  Greylock  quite  sufficed  the  average 
student  for  his  college  course;  and  so  it  came  about  that  Harry 
Hopkins,  the  president's  eldest  son,  who  was  graduated  in  1858, 
and  who  became  a  fearless  and  efficient  chaplain  in  the  Union 
army  during  the  Civil  War,  discovered,  or  rather  rediscovered,  this 
splendid  outlook  for  west  and  south  and  north  and  east.  He  experi- 
enced the  joy  of  having  found  something  new,  something  at  least 


SITUATION.  35 

practically  unknown  in  his  own  time.  He  went  there  often  him- 
self, and  also  took  his  friends  thither.  Among  others  he  took  up 
his  uncle,  Albert  Hopkins.  The  veteran  naturalist  was  delighted. 
He,  too,  began  to  frequent  the  place  in  his  leisure  hours.  He  even 
extemporized  an  observatory  there  to  broaden,  or  rather  to  deepen, 
the  view  to  the  east ;  but  the  unchecked  winds  dealt  roughly  with 
the  structure,  as  with  so  many  others  of  similar  character  in  the 
neighborhood. 

But  let  the  good  man  himself  describe  a  little,  and  |)ropose  a 
little  in  his  own  words. 

One  peculiarity  in  the  Taconic  range  is  the  spurs  which  it  sends  out.  Look 
at  the  Hoosac  range,  east  of  Adams  ;  how  uniform  it  is.  On  the  other  hand, 
let  one  ride  from  Williamstown  to  Hancock,  and  notice  the  mountains  on  his 
right.  He  is  continually  passing  buttresses  or  spurs,  which  push  their  roots 
out  almost  to  the  highway.  Between  these  he  sees  valleys,  or  perhaps  they 
ought  to  be  called  gorges  or  ravines,  pushing  their  way  far  in  toward  the  back- 
bone of  the  chain.  From  a  foot-path  south  of  the  Berlin  summit,  you  will  emerge 
into  an  open  place,  where  you  will  for  a  time  forget  that  there  is  anything  higher 
or  finer  to  be  sought.  At  this  point  you  have  the  full  effect  of  these  spurs 
which  you  will  now  perceive  are  an  appendage  of  the  west  as  well  as  of  the  east 
flank  of  the  mountain,  and  which  appear  (to  use  rather  a  vulgar  comparison) 
like  hogs'  backs.  The  effect  of  these  sub-chains  as  seen  from  the  point  I  am 
now  speaking  of,  is  heightened  by  the  fact  that  they  jut  out  nearly  at  right 
angles  to  the  general  trend  of  the  mountain  on  whose  crest  we  are  walking. 
Nature  does  not  often  deal  in  right  angles.  Hence  we  are  more  struck  by  an 
appearance  of  geometrical  precision  when  we  observe  it  in  the  grouping  of  nat- 
ural objects.  Having  inserted  our  gimlet  into  a  dead  beech,  and  swung  our 
barometer  with  its  basin  as  nearly  as  possible  on  a  level  with  the  summit,  we 
walked  here  and  there  to  get  the  views.  The  Katskills  could  certainly  be  seen  ; 
though  I  had  great  difficulty  in  convincing  my  friend,  Dr.  N.  H.  Griffin,  of 
the  fact.  He  would  still  insist  that  the  "faint  pencillings"  on  the  sky,  which 
I  pointed  out  to  him  as  terra  finna^  lay  in  cloud  land.  To  me  they  were  masses, 
lofty,  grand,  substantial ;  to  him  they  were  like  the  "  baseless  fabric  of  a 
dream,"  a  mirage,  which  some  change  in  the  atmosphere  would  melt  up,  or 
some  gust  of  wind  would  topple  over.  One  thing  we  saw  whicli  was  remark- 
able. It  was  a  very  bright  light,  evidently  beyond  the  Hud.son,  which  occasion- 
ally flashed  up  and  then  disappeared.  My  explanation  of  it  (perhaps  incorrect) 
was  this  :  the  sky  being  partly  overcast,  the  sun's  rays  fell  at  intervals  on  the 
roof  of  some  glass  structure,  some  greenhouse,  perhaps,  between  Troy  and 
Albany,  and  hence  this  alternating  light.  I  cannot  enter  into  particulars  ;  but 
will  say  in  general  that  the  view  from  this  point  more  nearly  resembles  that 
from  Greylock  than  any  other  in  the  neighborhood.  It  was  first  brought  into 
notice  by  Chaplain  Hopkins,  with  whose  name  I  should  like  to  see  it  associated. 
The  matter  of  names,  however,  is  rather  a  delicate  and  difficult  one.  When  we 
reached  the  usual  summit  crossing  on  our  return,  I  told  my  friend  to  clap  down 
and  look  at  the  landscape  backward  with  his  head  inverted.  The  experi- 
ment seemed  new  to  him,  and  I  introduce  it  here  because,  though  really  an  old 


36  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

experiment,  as  old  at  least  as  the  days  of  my  grandfather  [Curtis],  who  taught 
it  to  me  on  Sky  Lot  [in  Stockb ridge],  yet  the  philosophy  of  it,  I  mean  of  the 
effect,  I  have  never  seen  fully  explained  ;  and  am  in  doubt  whether  it  is  a  ques- 
tion for  the  professors  in  optical  science  or  physiology  to  explain. 

However  much  Chaplain  Hopkins  may  have  been  pleased  with 
this  pleasant  token  of  his  uncle's  good-will,  he  was  too  modest  and 
too  meritorious  a  man  not  to  see  at  once  that,  if  the  name  "Hop- 
kins "  were  to  be  permanently  affixed  to  the  mountain,  it  must  be  on 
the  ground  of  the  merits  of  men  older  and  greater  and  more  con- 
spicuous than  himself.  And  there  were  two  such  men  at  hand 
bearing  the  name,  who  had  spent  long  and  useful  and  far-out-reach- 
ing lives  under  the  shadow  of  the  mountain,  — his  uncle  and  his 
father.  The  former,  the  first  •  proposer  of  the  name  in  behalf  of 
another,  was  on  the  whole  himself  the  most  worthy  to  have  his 
worth  perpetuated  till  the  end  of  time  in  the  name  of  one  of  those 
"  everlasting  hills,"  to  which  he  Avas  so  fond  of  referring  in  talk  and 
sermon.  He  was  an  intense  lover  of  iSTature,  a  more  intense  and 
devoted  lover  of  mankind,  and  a  most  intense  and  consecrated 
lover  of  God.  But  why  not  have  the  name  of  the  mountain 
commemorate  for  all  time  his  brother  also,  and  his  nephew  too, 
as  he  himself  originally  proposed  ?  For  fifty  years  Mark  Hopkins 
was  the  pride  and  the  pillar  of  the  College ;  for  forty  years  Albert 
Ho2:)kins  was  in  holy  charge  of  the  Ark  of  God  both  in  the  College 
and  the  town ;  and  for  many  years  Harry  Hopkins  was  a  Christian 
frontiersman  in  the  valley  of  the  Missouri,  an  efficient  organizer 
and  father  of  new  churches,  a  bishop  indeed  within  that  fold  and 
form  of  Christianity  whose  boast  it  was  and  is  to  be  "a  church 
without  a  bishop  and  a  state  without  a  king."  He  carried  Williams- 
town  ideas  and  Williams  College  influences  into  the  great  valley  of 
the  continent  in  its  germinating  time,  and  scattered  them  there 
widely  and  wisely. 

To  any  one  approaching  the  Taconics  from  the  eastward,  or  look- 
ing at  them  from  any  eminence  on  that  side,  there  are  twin  peaks 
on  this  particular  swell,  of  which  the  northern  one  is  indeed  the 
highest  as  measured  by  the  barometer,  but  the  other  one  appears  as 
high  from  many  points  as  measured  by  the  eye.  It  is,  however, 
one  mountain,  one  Mount  Hopkins,  with  two  predominating  points, 
one  for  each  of  two  brothers,  par  nohile  fratrum,  of  whom  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say  which  were  the  greater,  so  different  were  they  in  their 
temperament  and  in  the  tenor  of  their  lives.  And  between  these 
mountain  peaks,  as  always  in  such  cases,  there  is  a  connecting  link, 
part  valley  and  part  shoulder,  all  one  mountain  still ;  and  so,  why 


SITUATION.  37 

may  not  this  lower  height,  this  link  touching  each  and  uniting  both, 
be  a  fit  symbol  of  the  younger  and  less  gifted,  yet  not  less  loving 
man,  who  reached  his  full  hand  and  great  heart  to  his  bereaved 
uncle  when  the  latter's  only  son  fell  in  battle  for  his  country,  with- 
out withdrawing  one  tittle  of  lilialness  as  the  first-born  son  of  his  own 
father?  So  let  it  be.  One  mountain,  one  name,  three  persons, 
one  family,  no  desigmited  part  to  commemorate  any  particular  one, 
an  earthly  trinity  in  unity,  locally  fixed  and  bound  to  endure. 

It  happened  that  the  writer  was  travelling  a  few  days  ago  in 
Washington  County,  New  York,  and  was  facing  over  what  is  called 
^'  Oak  Hill "  on  the  old  stage  road  between  Albany  and  Whitehall, 
a  few  miles  north  of  Tyashoke  on  the  Hoosac,  and  so  was  enabled 
to  gain  a  fair  view  of  the  northern  Taconics  in  general  and  of  Mount 
Hopkins  in  particular  from  distant  and  elevated  points  to  the  north- 
west. The  truth  is,  the  people  in  the  Williamstown  valley  are  too 
near  the  Taconics  to  be  able  to  appreciate  fully  their  height  and 
their  beauty  and  their  wonderful  variety.  To  see  them  on  their 
New  York  side  and  from  twenty  miles  away  is  to  get  a  new  impres- 
sion of,  and  feel  a  higher  respect  for,  this  mountain  barrier,  that 
has  divided  in  the  minds  of  men  since  1664  the  old  Province  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  the  still  older  Province  of  New  Netherland. 
The  same  remark  may  be  made,  and  with  still  greater  emphasis,  of 
Saddle  Mountain  with  all  its  lobes  and  peaks.  Here,  too,  in  a  cer- 
tain sense  "distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view."  The  high 
road  over  the  Oak  Hill  of  Washington  County,  at  whose  base  flows 
the  old  Dutch  stream  of  Owl  Kill,  up  whose  sluggish  current  lay 
the  weary  march  in  1746  of  the  captives  of  Fort  Massachusetts 
towards  Canada,  also  gives  clear  and  splendid  views  of  Greylock 
and  Williams  and  Fitch  and  Bald  and  Simonds,  as  well  as  of  the 
whole  mass  together  and  of  the  huge  cleft  in  its  western  side. 
Moreover,  Mason\s  Hill,  in  Pownal,  and  Mount  Anthony,  in  Benning- 
ton, offer  superb  views  of  Saddle  Mountain  from  the  north.  The 
old  "  Indian  Path  "  over  the  Hoosacs,  and  the  turnpike  that  crossed 
and  recrossed  that,  hold  out  grand  points  of  view  from  the  east ; 
and  there  are  hills  in  Rowe  and  Windsor  and  Ashfield,  and  doubtless 
many  other  towns  in  Berkshire  and  Franklin  counties  that  are  bold 
enough  to  overlook  the  Hoosacs  sufficientl}'  to  present  to  a  good  eye 
Greylock  certainly,  and  less  distinctly  its  neighbor  peaks  on  either 
hand. 

Since  the  eastern  and  southeastern  foot  of  Mount  Hopkins 
broadens  down  into  some  tolerably  level  land,  on  which  a  part  of 
the  original  second  division  of  fifty-acre  lots  was  laid  out;   and 


38  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

since  John  and  William  Torrey,  brothers,  from  Middletown,  Connecti- 
cut, settled  on  some  of  these  lands  about  1766,  and  numbers  of  their 
descendants  have  been  living  ever  since  upon  the  same  and  neigh- 
boring farms,  we  will  venture  to  call  this  strip  of  land  the  "  Torrey 
Plateau,"  because  this  was  from  the  first  a  family  of  marked  char- 
acteristics, and  deserved  to  have,  as  will  fully  appear  on  later  pages, 
their  name  commemorated  locally  in  the  section  of  the  town  which 
their  toil  helped  to  clear  of  its  primeval  forest.  When  the  Presi- 
dent's house,  that  had  been  formerly  occupied  by  the  Whitmans, 
was  being  repaired  for  the  residence  of  Dr.  Carter,  in  1881,  a  bit 
of  time-stained  paper  was  found  in  the  rubbish,  with  many  other 
similar  ones  of  like  purport  signed  by  other  parties,  inscribed  as 
follows : 

WiLLIAMSTOWN  Aug  20  1803 
Mr  Whitman  Sir  please  to  send  me  by  the  Bearer  two  Quarts  of  your  Best 
rum  and  charge  the  same  to  me  and  in  so  doing  you  will  Oblige  your  friend  and 
humble  Servant 

John  Torrey  Jr 

This  John  Torrey  was  born  Dec.  11,  1774,  on  the  Torrey  Plateau. 
The  handwriting  was  fair,  and  the  spelling  was  good,  but  there  wa& 
an  entire  absence  of  punctuation-marks,  probably  because  he  was  in 
a  hurry  for  his  beverage  ! 

The  next  loop  of  the  Taconics  south  of  Mount  Hopkins  is  "  Mc- 
Master  Mountain"  ;  and  the  Pass  that  divides  the  two,  and  furnishes 
a  way  for  the  third  road  over  the  barrier  and  into  the  state  of  New 
York,  has  now  been  called  for  sundry  years  the  "  Kidder  Pass."  The 
two  earliest  settlers  in  the  southwest  of  Williamstown  were  E-obert 
McMaster  and  Moses  Rich,  both  from  Palmer  or  its  immediate 
neighborhood,  and  both  taking  up  their  lots  near  each  other,  in  the 
spring  of  1763,  on  the  brook  which  flows  down  this  Pass  in  two 
branches,  uniting  just  on  the  original  west  line  of  Williamstown. 
The  Pass  itself,  and  the  road  leading  up  to  it  between  these  two 
branches,  and  the  mountain  to  the  south  of  it,  were  all  on  the 
'•  Gore,"  so  called ;  and  there  were  several  men  living  in  Williams- 
town 123  years  after  McMaster  and  Rich  built  their  first  houses  on 
the  brook  below,  who  remembered  that  in  their  boyhood  this  whole 
hollow,  and  the  mountain  to  the  left  of  it,  was  called  "Mac's 
Pattin."  Among  those  still  living  who  remember  that  designation 
are  James  Smedley,  Eaton  Johnson,  and  B.  P.  Mills.  What  the 
word  "pattin"  meant,  nobody  seemed  to  know  or  care.  That  is  the 
way  the  boys  heard  it,  and  so  the  old  men  pronounce  it.  One  thing 
makes  it  all  clear  :  All  the  town  lots  were  deeded  in  the  ordinary 


SITUATION.  39 

way;  but  this  land  was  on  the  Gore,  and  so  belonged  to  the  Com- 
monwealth ;  and  the  instrument  conveying  rights  of  possession  was 
called  a  '-patent,"  as  proceeding  from  the  sovereign  authority. 
McMaster  was  an  enterprising  farmer,  as  became  a  Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterian,  and  added  to  his  home  lot  lying  in  Williamstown 
a  huge  patch  of  mountain  land  that  had  belonged  to  the  state ;  and 
his  name  has  thus  been  perpetuated  in  connection  with  that  pur- 
chase. "McMaster  Mountain,"  accordingly,  is  well  designated; 
and  we  leave  it  to  our  readers  to  affix  the  name  beyond  all  possi- 
bility of  change. 

This  *•  pattin  "  brook,  after  an  easterly  course  of  two  miles  and 
a  sudden  lurch  to  the  north,  falls  into  the  Hemlock  Brook  just  as 
that,  too,  takes  its  final  bend  northwards.  This  junction  of  the  two 
brooks  is  right  at  the  corner  of  the  "  Torrey  Woods,"  as  these  are 
entered  from  the  Hemlock  road.  There  was  a  road  very  early  laid  out 
to  "  convean"  the  fifty-acre  lots  of  the  second  division,  which  ran  due 
west  in  continuation  of  the  Green  River  road,  when  that  abandoned 
the  stream  at  some  distance  above  the  "Krigger  Mills  "  and  passed 
over  Stone  Hill,  crossing  the  old  county  road  at  right  angles  and 
forming  ''Woodcock's  Corner,"  so  called,  and  then  dropped  down 
into  the  valley  of  this  brook  and  up  the  stream  towards  the  Pass. 
Most  of  the  way  the  present  road  follows  this  old  line  into  the 
northern  end  of  "  Oblong  Road,"  so  called,  while  the  Kidder  Pass 
road,  now  but  little  travelled,  is  a  much  later  extension,  continuing 
the  old  road  over  the  Taconics  and  down  into  the  village  of  Berlin, 
New  York.  The  best  house  along  this  old  road  was  built  in  1804 
by  a  family  of  the  name  of  "  Sweet,"  and  it  was  long  occupied  by 
them,  but  towards  the  end  of  the  century  was  long  owned  and  lived 
in  by  Dan  Phelps.  The  name  of  the  proprietor,  through  whose 
farm  the  brook  flowed,  became  gradually  and  properly  attached  to 
the  brook  itself,  and  so  it  is  and  always  will  be  called  the  "  Sweet 
Brook." 

McMaster  early  opened  a  farm  road  up  between  the  two  little 
branches  of  Sweet  Brook  into  his  patent  on  the  Gore.  In  process 
of  time,  two  or  three  small  and  rude  farms  worked  themselves  out 
of  the  forest  into  the  light  upon  the  side  hills  along  these  brooklets. 
Although  the  cellar  of  the  homestead,  one  of  the  most  indestructible 
memorials  of  human  habitation  in  such  places,  is  still  visible  enough, 
the  lowest  of  these  farms  was  long  ago  abandoned  to  a  forlorn  past- 
ure ;  but  the  upper  one,  near  the  summit  of  the  Pass,  is  still  more 
or  less  cultivated,  and,  indeed,  has  been  divided  into  two,  and  two 
poor  houses,  or  rather  shanties,  one  on  either  side  of  the  road,  send 


40 


ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


up  from  time  to  time  their  smoke  into  the  sky.  George  Kidder  and 
his  wife,  after  whom  the  Pass  is  named,  lived  in  one  of  these  shan- 
ties forty  years  and  more.  She  was  the  widow  of  James  Eichards, 
who  died  here  in  a  January  when  the  Pass  was  terribly  drifted,  and 
lies  buried  near  the  shanty  beneath  an  unlettered  headstone.  Shall 
we  give  a  moment  here  to  the  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor  ? 
George  Kidder,  a  native  of  Townsend,  a  carriage  painter  by  trade, 
found  his  way  to  Troy,  New  York ;  he  had  lost  his  wife,  and  having 
a  bad  felon  on  his  finger,  and  supposing  he  had  lost  the  use  of  his 
hand,  wandered  rather  than  went  to  the  village  of  Berlin ;  and  com- 
ing over  the  Pass  one  day,  he  found  Mrs.  Eichards  trying  to  gather 
in  her  corn  all  alone ;  he  took  hold  and  helped  her  what  he  could 


I.    Martin's  Mount. 


"JOHNSON    PASS 
2.    Connstock  Heights. 


KIDDER    PASS. 
3.    Mount  Mills. 


4.    McMaster  Mountain. 


*'with  the  gleanings,"  as  he  said;  he  got  dirt  into  his  sore,  she 
washed  it  out  and  dressed  it;  "she  told  me  she  had  this  little 
place,  —  some  debt  on  it  then,  —  we  paid  it  up,  and  we've  lived  here 
ever  since."  Kidder  was  three  years  in  the  late  war  as  a  private 
soldier  in  the  37th  Massachusetts,  Colonel  Eichards,  was  ruptured 
in  the  service,  wore  a  truss  ever  after,  "  never  got  any  pension,  —  if 
Dr.  Duncan  had  lived,  he  would  have  helped  me  get  it."  The 
Kidders  had  no  children,  but  they  adopted  and  brought  up  a  boy, 
Albert  Brooks,  to  whom,  when  he  married,  they  gave  twenty  acres 
of  poor  land  near  their  own  place,  and  he  built  a  shanty  there  for 
himself.  "  Two  children  and  well  on  for  another,"  Kidder  once  told 
the  writer,  in  reference  to  the  new  family.  "  Albert  is  working  now 
on  t'other  side  the  mountain,  getting  out  ash  for  Wood's  mowers 
and  reapers  at  Hoosac  Palls.     The  oldest  boy  used  to  come  over 


SITUATION.  41 

here  last  summer  a  good  deal,  —  I  sot  tC'-ijUKtcj  un  imn."  An  amus- 
ing incident  is  well  authenticated  in  connection  with  the  marriage 
of  Albert  Brooks :  he  brought  his  girl  to  a  minister  here  in  the  vil- 
lage, of  a  Sunday  evening,  and  paid  him  one  dollar  for  performing 
the  ceremony ;  a  shower  having  sprung  up,  he  borrowed,  to  protect 
his  bride,  an  umbrella  that  had  just  cost  two  dollars:  the  umbrella 
was  not  returned,  which  may  be  said  to  have  made  the  whole  ser- 
vice unprofitable  to  the  minister  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view.  To 
portray  the  Kidders  truthfully,  it  must  be  added,  that  the  husband 
became  increasingly  intemperate  after  the  w^ar ;  and  the  last  time 
the  writer  saw  the  pair  together,  he  was  lying  on  the  bank  of  the 
Sweet  Brook,  nearly  insensible,  while  the  faithful  wife  sat  in  the 
shade  of  a  neighboring  tree,  waiting  till  he  should  recover  enough 
to  climb  with  her  the  steep  and  rough  path  to  their  home. 

As  the  Gore  was  annexed  to  Williamstown  in  1837,  and  as  the 
summit  of  this  Pass  is  within  the  west  line  of  the  Gore,  while  the 
summits  of  the  other  three  are  all  in  a  neighboring  state,  we  may 
perhaps  claim  the  "Kidder"  as  a  peculiar  possession  of  our  own, 
and  justify  the  long  digression  over  its  name.  It  is  also  noteworthy 
as  being  in  a  special  sense  face  to  face  with  Greylock,  which  is 
here  disclosed  through  the  Hopper  from  its  high  crown  to  its  broad 
roots ;  and  there  are  those  who  think  that  the  very  best  views  of 
the  valley  and  the  range  are  to  be  gathered  from  this  lofty  and  tor- 
tuous path ;  and  it  is  certain  that  no  one  has  ever  seen  either  to  its 
absolute  perfection  who  has  not  climbed  on  foot  or  horseback  to  this 
particular  spot,  and  turned,  as  he  rested  a  little  from  stage  to  stage, 
to  take  long  and  wide  glances  backward. 

One  more  touch,  and  we  leave  the  Taconics  as  a  range,  to  return 
to  them  not  again  in  further  description.  The  last  of  the  four 
passes  in  Williamstown,  and  about  like  the  others  in  height,  follows 
up  a  little  brook  between  the  southern  end  of  McMaster  Mountain 
and  the  next  main  loop  of  the  Taconics,  of  which  the  high  northern 
face  is  named  "  Mount  Mills."  The  Pass  itself  has  long  been  called 
the  "Johnson  Pass,"  in  commemoration  of  Lieutenant  David  John- 
son, of  whom  we  shall  hear  a  good  deal  in  the  sequel,  a  man  of  note 
among  the  early  settlers,  whose  farm  and  home  lay  at  the  foot  of 
the  Pass,  and  who  helped  to  construct  the  rude  road  over  it  (still 
travelled  somewhat)  in  1813.  The  farm  adjoining  Johnson's  was  at 
th^t  time  owned  by  Charles  Sabin,  son  of  Lieutenant  Zebediah 
Sabin,  who  was  a  comrade  of  Johnson's  in  Arnold's  famous  expedi- 
tion up  the  Kennebec  in  1775,  and  who  lost  his  life  upon  that  expe- 
dition ;  and  the  farm  adjoining  Sabin's  on  the  Oblong  road,  and  also 


42  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

adjoining  on  the  north  Lieutenant  Sabin's  farm,  then  occupied  by 
his  grandsons,  was  owned  by  Captain  Samuel  Mills.  These  three 
men.  Mills  and  Johnson  and  Sabin,  were  the  prime  movers  in  the 
building  on  this  side  of  the  road  up  tlie  hollow  and  over  the  water- 
shed ;  and  some  of  the  enterprising  farmers  of  Berlin  did  their 
share  of  the  work  at  the  same  time  by  building  the  road  from  that 
village  up  the  New  York  slope  to  the  summit.  In  fact,  all  the 
roads  over  the  three  southern  passes  enter  that  village,  as  the  road 
over  the  northern  Pass  enters  the  village  of  Petersburg. 

It  throws  a  clear  and  pleasant  light  on  the  state  of  things  in  this 
region  at  that  time,  that  one  motive  on  both  sides  for  building  the 
road  over  the  Johnson  Pass  was  to  accommodate  Dr.  Samuel  Porter, 
who  lived  then  on  Stone  Hill,  a  famous  doctor  and  bonesetter  of 
his  day,  who  had  patients  in  a  wide  circuit  of  country.  So  far  as 
Captain  Mills  was  concerned,  it  was  another  ground  of  interest  in 
the  road,  that  it  opened  up  a  large  tract  of  land  belonging  to  him 
(and  still  owned  by  his  grandson),  out  of  which  he  had  already 
developed  a  sort  of  mountain  farm,  which  after  his  death,  in  March, 
1814,  was  carried  on  for  many  years  by  Walter  Converse,  who  had 
previously  been  an  inmate  of  his  family.  The  barn  is  still  standing 
in  the  hollow ;  and  the  cellar  wall  of  the  house  close  by  the  road, 
the  only  house  ever  built  in  that  mountain  valley,  serves  to  remind 
the  passer-by  that  life  and  love,  parents  and  children,  seed-time  and 
harvest,  at  one  time  relieved  the  otherwise  utter  desolateness  of  those 
steep  slopes  and  dismal  woods.  Olive  Converse,  afterwards  the  wife 
of  Justin  Torrey,  was  born  in  that  house ;  and  Harriet  Converse, 
later  the  wife  of  Myron  Torrey,  spent  the  first  dozen  years  of  her 
life  there,  except  a  few  months  of  its  opening;  and  she  told  the 
writer  in  1885,  that  their  nearest  neighbors  on  the  one  hand  Avere 
the  Comstocks,  who  lived  in  the  last  house  in  Williamstown  on  the 
Hancock  road,  and  on  the  other  hand,  Henry  Green's  family,  who 
lived  in  a  deep  gorge  of  McMaster  Mountain,  corresponding  in  many 
respects  to  their  own.  The  farm  lay  wholly  on  the  Gore,  and  the 
family  made  special  arrangements  for  the  schooling  of  the  children 
in  the  Sherwood  district  in  Williamstown  proper. 

Prom  the  summit  of  the  Johnson  Pass,  of  which  a  wide  strip  Avas 
long  ago  completely  cleared  of  woods  to  feed  the  capacious  maw  of 
a  charcoal  kiln  whose  foundations  still  crown  the  highest  point,  any 
one  may  see  distinctly  and  grandly,  looking  to  the  north,  the  much 
higher  and  smoother  and  more  rounded  Berlin  Pass,  with  its  neigh- 
bors, Dodd's  Cone  and  Leet  Hill,  overtopping  it  as  perpetual  senti- 
nels.    Much  nearer  by  may  be   seen  the  place  where  the  Kidder 


I 


SITUATION.  48 

Pass  also  overcomes  the  range ;  but  that  road,  both  on  the  summit 
and  on  the  sunset  slope,  is  concealed  from  this  point  of  observation 
by  thick  woods.  The  Johnson  top  is  considerably  further  west  than 
the  Kidder,  and  a  little  further  west  than  the  Berlin,  and  gives,  of 
course,  no  such  broad  views  in  any  direction  as  does  the  latter ;  for 
this  is  comparatively  a  humble  Pass,  and  commemorates  as  its  pro- 
moters and  the  users  of  its  road  comj)aratively  humble  men,  though 
Johnson  and  [Mills  and  Sabin  were  all  brave  soldiers  on  the  right 
side  in  the  battle  of  Bennington,  and  on  other  fields  besides  of  patri- 
otic fight.  The  finely  arched  northern  brow  of  the  mountain  to  the 
south  of  the  Pass,  which  is  in  plain  sight  from  the  colleges  and  from 
most  of  the  lifting  points  within  the  valley  of  Williamstown,  we 
desire  to  have  called  in  perpetuity  "  Blount  Mills,**  because  it  over- 
looks the  good  captain's  valley-farm  now  deserted,  and  the  entire 
road  on  either  slope  on  which  he  and  his  neighbors  wrought  for  the 
public  good  and  their  own. 

The  late  Dr.  Henry  L.  Sabin,  who  died  in  February,  1884,  aged 
fourscore  years  and  three,  once  told  the  writer  that  he  himself,  a 
boy  of  thirteen,  carried  refreshments  to  his  uncle,  Charles  Sabin, 
and  others,  while  they  were  at  work  building  the  road  up  this  Pass. 
What  these  refreshments  were  in  the  detail  did  not  at  that  time 
transpire,  except  that  they  w^ere  the  ordinary  "  baiting "  or  dinner, 
accompanied,  of  course,  by  the  then  customary  stimulus,  of  which 
Charles  Sabin  and  his  two  sons,  who  then  carried  on  the  old  Sabin 
place,  were  quite  too  fond.  The  constant  prominence  of  this  family 
in  the  town,  however,  and  especially  the  sturdy  patriotism  of  Lieu- 
tenant Zebediah  Sabin  and  the  excellent  character  of  Anna  Dwight, 
his  wife  and  widow,  and  the  high  position  of  their  descendants  here, 
make  it  every  way  fitting  that  this  name  be  affixed  to  some  one  of 
those  rock-ribbed  hills  at  whose  feet  their  life  work  was  done.  Ac- 
cordingly, will  present  contemporaries  and  coming  posterity  unite 
to  make  current,  that  the  twin  egg-shaped  hills  projecting  above  the 
general  level  of  the  Taconics  to  the  south  of  [Mount  INIills  and  near 
the  south  line  of  the  town  be  called  "  Sabin  Heights "  hereafter  ? 
These  close-nestling  hills,  too,  may  be  seen  from  many  parts  of  the 
main  village,  in  whose  homes  Dr.  Sabin  also  made  himself  dear  by 
fifty  years  of  medical  ministry. 

May  it  please  the  reader,  we  will  now  retreat  from  the  Taconic 
peaks  and  ravines,  which  have  detained  us  perhaps  too  long  already, 
by  the  old  road,  of  which  the  Johnson  Pass  road  was  but  a  western 
continuation,  which  led  straight  from  the  New  Ashford  road  on  the 
east  to  the  Hancock  road  on  the  west,  between  the  southern  tier  of 


44  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  50-acre  lots  of  the  second  division  and  the  adjoining  100-acre 
lots.  The  part  of  this  road  eastward  from  Austin  Blair's  has  been 
of  late  years  discontinued.  Beginning  at  the  end  of  the  long  Ob- 
long, it  passed  over  the  gentle  and  fertile  slope  of  Stratton  Moun- 
tain, giving  at  first  the  traveller  going  east  a  fine  view  on  his  right 
of  "  Point  Young  "  and  "  Martin's  Mount "  and  the  other  peaks  of 
Jericho  Ridge,  which  is  the  western  side  of  the  mountain  mass  of 
which  Stratton  Mountain  is  the  northern  front.  The  whole  is  a 
huge  wedge  thrust  into  the  Williamstown  valley  from  the  south, 
and  flanked  on  the  east  by  the  Ashford  Brook  and  on  the  west  by 
the  Hancock  Brook,  which  two  unite  at  South  Williamstown  to  form 
Green  River.  The  town  of  Hancock  in  the  olden  time  was  called 
"Jericho";  and  Martin's  Mount  is  so  designated  in  order  to  com- 
memorate Martin  Townsend,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that  town, 
and  one  of  its  sturdiest  and  most  picturesque  citizens.  Williams- 
town has  no  claim  upon  him,  though  the  two  towns  have  had  many 
points  of  interesting  contact ;  but  his  son,  Nathaniel,  born  in  1781, 
spent  a  long  and  honored  life  here ;  and  his  three  grandsons,  Rufus 
M.,  Martin  I.,  and  Randolph  W.,  are  all  graduates  of  the  College, 
in  '30,  '33,  and  '36,  respectively.  Martin's  Mount  is  the  highest 
peak  on  Jericho  Ridge,  and  is  nearly  opposite  the  old  farm  in  the 
valley,  which  Martin  Townsend  and  Susannah  Allen,  his  wife,  (mar- 
ried in  1773,  when  he  was  seventeen  and  she  but  fourteen),  cleared 
and  cultivated,  and  upon  which  they  grew  rich  and  old.  They 
spread  their  first  meal  in  their  new  home  on  the  top  of  a  barrel,  and 
their  lodging-place  at  first  was  more  primitive  than  was  usual  for 
white  folks  even  in  these  forests  primeval.  He  was  a  loyalist  in 
the  Revolution,  as  he  had  a  right  to  be,  and  so  were  several  others 
of  the  chief  men  of  Jericho.  It  stands  upon  a  town  record  of  Oc- 
tober, 1777,  that  eleven  men,  of  whom  he  was  the  first  named,  "  have 
all  of  them  returned  from  the  enemy,  with  whom  they  have  been  in 
battle  against  us."  The  reference  is  to  the  battle  of  Bennington ; 
but  it  has  never  been  exactly  cleared  up,  and  never  will  be,  precisely 
in  what  capacity  or  in  what  degree  of  active  toryism  they  were  in 
or  near  that  battle.  Townsend  died  on  his  farm  in  May,  1848.  On 
his  tombstone  are  these  words  :  '^  Incomprehensible  Infinity  !  In 
Him  all  is  right." 

Passing  over  this  cross-road,  accordingly,  to  the  Ashford  road  at 
Aaron  Deming's  old  place,  and  up  the  Ashford  road  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  or  so,  we  come  to  an  old  road  on  the  left  hand  that  goes  up 
alongside  ''Roaring  Brook"  (so  called  from  immemorial  time). 
Roaring  Brook  falls  into  the  Ashford  Brook  on  the  right  of  the 


SITUATION. 


45 


main  road  a  few  rocls  above  this  turn.  The  brook  and  its  many 
branches  drain  a  wide  hill  country  to  the  south  of  Greylock  and 
Bald  ^fountain.  As  this 
brook  road  is  one  way  to 
reach  the  "  Heart  of  Grey- 
lock,"  as  it  was  called  by 
Professor  Hopkins  and  his 
Alpine  Club,  a  place  on 
the  upper  reaches  of  the 
brook,  where  tliree  of  its 
tributaries  pour  down  in- 
to a  wonderfully  hidden 
recess  in  the  depths  of 
Saddle  Mountain,  we  will 
follow  up  the  road  as  far 
as  it  goes  towards  that 
objective  point.  For  vehi- 
cles, at  present  the  road 
ends  at  the  junction  on 
the  left  of  the  first  large 
tributary  with  the  main 
brook,  or,  as  it  has  been 
called  for  a  half  century 
or  more,  at  "  Goodell's  " ; 
although  formerly  one 
road  extended  up  from 
this  point  the  steep  flanks 
of  Bald  Mountain,  to  the 
Harrison  farm  between 
that  summit  and  Grey- 
lock,  and  another  followed 
up  the  main  stream  some 
distance  further.  About 
1830  there  were  seven  or 
eight  poor  houses  along 
this  road  and  brook,  and 
nearly  the  same  number 
on  nearly  the  same  sites 
about  1890.  Daniel  Kin- 
ney, a  substantial  citizen, 
early  made  his  home  near  the  entrance  to  the  brook  road  on  the  left- 
hand  side  of  it.     This  is  still  called  the  "  Kinney  Place."     It  is  on 


46  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  100-acre  lot  No.  24.  One  of  his  daughters  married  a  Com  stock, 
and  they  had  a  home  in  East  Street,  and  became  the  parents  of  the 
late  Mrs.  Eeed  Mills.  Zenas  Koberts,  born  Sept.  21,  1781,  son  of 
Ard  Eoberts  and  Miriam,  lived  in  one  of  these  houses  on  the  brook 
before  and  after  1830.  The  elder  Eoberts,  whose  name  is  on  many 
a  Eevolutionary  muster-roll,  and  who  was  in  the  battle  of  Benning- 
ton, and  who  used,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  to  spay  sows 
and  render  other  like  services  to  his  neighbors,  lived  on  the  Ashford 
road  a  few  rods  above  the  turn,  on  100-acre  lot  No.  25,  a  place  still 
occupied  by  his  descendants.  Starling  Daniels,  of  whom  we  shall 
hear  more  by  and  by,  lived  during  the  last  part  of  his  life  in  one 
of  these  houses  up  Eoaring  Brook,  and  his  widow  and  children  after 
him.  Some  one  or  more  families  of  the  name  of  Goodell  have  lived 
on  that  road  during  most  of  the  present  century.  Mrs.  Thompson,  a 
lady  of  excellent  Christian  character,  lived  on  the  Kinney  Place,  with 
her  son-in-law,  for  many  years,  about  1880.  Beautiful  house-plants 
adorned  the  windows  of  that  old  house  during  her  residence  in  it. 

At  Goodell's  a  considerable  tributary  falls  into  Eoaring  Brook  on 
the  left  hand  as  one  goes  up,  and  this  branch  it  is  that  drains  the 
whole  region  between  Bald  Mountain  and  Mount  Chadbourne,  and 
the  southern  flanks  of  both  of  these.  We  may  call  this,"  if  we  please, 
"Goodell  Brook."  Then,  following  up  the  main  stream,  at  first 
along  what  was  once  a  wagon  road,  and  afterwards  along  steep  banks 
without  any  sign  of  path,  we  come  into  a  rough  and  wild  and  dark 
gorge,  adown  which  pours  over  rocks  and  old  roots  and  fallen  trunks 
our  roaring  brook,  "and  hears  no  sound  save  his  own  dashings." 
The  thick  woods  on  the  high  hillsides  right  and  left  have  been 
repeatedly  cut  off,  to  be  burned  into  charcoal  to  feed  the  furnace  fires 
of  the  Lanesboro  Iron  Company.  But  woods  in  such  places  renew 
their  youth  like  the  eagle's.  Some  trees  are  always  left  standing  on 
account  of  their  inaccessibility,  and  some  on  account  of  their  com- 
parative uselessness  for  furnace  purposes ;  the  soil  is  dank,  and  is 
annually  enriched  by  leaves  falling  thick  on  the  spot  and  blown  in 
from  the  upper  hillsides ;  sprouts  and  saplings  of  all  kinds  push  up 
with  vigor  under  these  circumstances,  and  it  is  but  a  few  years  after 
:a  cutting  when  the  whole  scene  seems  as  dense  and  wild  as  it  did 
before  the  woodman's  axe  echoed  at  all  up  and  down  the  hollow. 
Less  than  two  miles'  ascent  brings  one  from  Goodell's  into  the  "  Heart 
of  Greylock,"  well  so  called ;  that  is,  into  an  elongated  basin  tipped 
at  an  angle,  in  the  depths  of  the  forest ;  into  this  there  tumbles  first 
on  the  left  hand,  from  some  sixty  feet  above,  a  strong  stream,  white 
with  friction  from  its  rocks ;  a  couple  of  rods  ahead  there  falls  into 


SITUATION.  47 

the  same,  from  the  right-hand  side,  a  larger  brook,  though  from  a 
lower  height,  that  has  drained  in  its  course  a  part  of  the  "  Berry 
Patch,"  that  is,  the  lower  western  slopes  of  mounts  ^Moore  and 
Griffin;  while  just  in  front,  the  main  brook  dashes  down  the  steep 
rocks  some  thirty  feet  or  more  into  the  upper  quarter  of  the  basin, 
having  drained  from  a  longer  distance  the  upper  and  more  marshy 
flanks  of  the  same  mountains.  Here,  then,  is  the  "  Heart."  This 
the  receptacle  and  reservoir  of  the  life-blood  of  this  giant  mass  of 
mountain. 

A  dialogue  between  Albert  Hopkins  and  one  of  the  young  ladies 
of  his  Alpine  Club,  written  out  by  him  afterwards,  and  doubtless 
somewhat  replenished  and  embellished  beyond  the  actual  conversa- 
tion had  on  the  spot,  will  give  the  reader  a  deeper  and  jjleasanter 
impression  of  the  seclusion  and  grandeur  of  the  place  than  any  pos- 
sible words  of  the  present  writer.  It  is  the  lady  who  opens  the 
dialogue,  and  the  respondent  is  the  Professor  himself. 

How  still  it  is  !  I  have  not  dared  to  whisper  since  we  came  here.  I  suppose 
this  is  the  Heart  of  Greylock. 

If  great  Nature  is  silent,  we  may  well  be. 

Does  not  this  remind  you,  sir,  of  that  place  we  read  of,  —  "which  the 
vulture's  eye  hath  not  seen  "  ? 

I  was  thinking  of  that  other  pasjiage,  —  "  the  earth  with  its  bars  is  about  me 
forever."  It  is  something  to  be  confronted  by  great  rocky  strata,  as  we  are 
here. 

Since  you  have  spoken,  another  passage  has  occurred  to  me,  —  "  The  strength 
of  the  hills  is  His  also." 

You  may  well  be  reminded  of  that ;  and  also  of  the  place  where  it  says,  — 
"  If  I  speak  of  strength,  lo !  He  is  strong."  When  we  see  great  rocks  inter- 
lammated,  and  twisted  together  like  these,  we  feel  our  littleness ;  we  are  sure 
that  He  who  disposed,  cemented,  and  piled  them  so  high  above  us,  could  "take 
no  pleasure  in  the  legs  of  a  man  or  the  strength  of  a  horse." 

I  wish,  sir,  you  would  repeat  to  me  the  rest  of  that  passage  from  Job  ;  for  I 
have  forgotten  it.     I  think  I  should  better  understand  its  meaning  here. 

I  will  repeat  the  commencement  of  it.  It  needs  to  be  read  with  a  com- 
mentary ;  not,  as  you  suggest,  that  of  learned  critics  or  theologians,  but  of  vast 
objects  such  as  we  see  around  us.  The  passage  would  bear  to  be  read  by  the 
seaside,  or  by  starlight,  as  you  will  see  before  I  have  finished  repeating  it :  — 

"  He  is  wise  in  heart  and  mighty  in  strength  ;   who  hath  hardened  himself 

against  Him,  and  prospered  ? , 
Which  removeth  the  mountains  and  they  know  not ;  which  overtumeth  them 

in  his  anger ; 
Which  shaketh  the  earth  out  of  her  place,  and  the  pillars  thereof  tremble  ; 
Which  commandeth  the  sun  and  it  riseth  not,  and  sealeth  up  the  stars ; 
Which,  alone,  spreadeth  out  the  heavens,  and  treadeth  upon  the  waves  of 

the  sea  ; 


48  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Which  maketh  Arcturus,  Orion,  and  Pleiades,  and  the  chambers  of  the  south  ; 
Which  doeth  great  things  past  finding  out ;  yea,  and  wonders  without  number.'* 

I  do  not  think,  sir,  I  ever  heard  that  passage  before. 

Probably  not.  You  had  heard  it  read  from  a  dry  wooden  desk;  and,  per- 
haps, by  some  lily-fingered  clergyman,  who  never  went  into  the  Heart  of 
Greylock,  or  into  the  heart  of  anything.  But  you  will  confess  to  me  now  the 
value  of  a  good  commentary. 

Let  me  ask  you,  sir,  whether  you  think  my  reference  to  the  passage  which 
speaks  of  the  "  vulture's  eye  and  the  lion's  whelps  "  was  out  of  place  ? 

Perhaps  not,  though  some  critics  refer  that  passage  to  the  operations  of  the 
miner ;  which  were  on  a  grand  scale  anciently,  as  now. 

I  will  give  you  another  translation  ;  and  to  interest  you  the  more  in  it,  I  will 
tell  you  that  it  is  by  a  lady  [Louisa  Payson  Hopkins] ,  —  one  who  once  looked 
upon  Greylock,  and  also  ascended  it.  At  the  top  of  the  manuscript  is  written 
in  pencil,  "very  literal"  ;  and  though  no  Hebraist  myself,  I  have  reason  to 
believe  the  translation  very  exact.  You  will  notice  that  in  this  translation  the 
poetical  form  of  the  original  has  been  preserved,  which  has  not  been  done  by 
our  translators. 

"  As  to  the  earth,  out  of  it  cometh  bread, 
And  under  it  is  turned  up  as  it  were  fire. 
Her  stones  are  the  place  of  sapphires, 
And  her  dust  is  gold  for  him  (man),  (or  gold  is  dust  for  it,  —  the 

sapphire). 
The  bird  of  prey  knoweth  not  the  path  to  it, 
And  the  vulture's  eye  hath  not  seen  it. 
The  sons  of  pride  (wild  beasts)  have  not  trodden  it, 
The  lion  hath  not  passed  over  it. 
(Man)  layeth  his  hand  upon  the  flint. 
He  upturneth  mountains  from  their  roots, 
He  causeth  streams  to  break  out  among  the  rocks. 
And  his  eye  seeth  every  precious  thing. 
He  restraineth  streams  from  trickling  (in  the  mines), 
And  that  which  is  hid  he  bringeth  to  light." 

I  had  hardly  supposed  so  grand  a  description  could  refer  to  the  works  of 
man. 

So  it  might  seem.  Yet  you  remember  when  I  showed  you  into  the  Tunnel 
the  other  day,  we  reached  a  place  which  no  vulture's  eye  could  ever  have  seen, 
nor  lion's  whelps  could  ever  have  passed.  Whereas,  here,  methinks,  I  can  even 
now  hear  a  vulture  screaming  over  us  !  Did  I  tell  you  that  in  a  chasm  near 
by,  or  rather,  overhanging  us,  there  is  a  golden  eagle's  nest  ? 

I  should  think,  too,  the  wild  beasts  might  congregate  here  in  the  night  season. 
And  as  to  the  Tunnel,  I  am  sure  it  seemed  to  me,  when  we  were  "there,  that  the 
work  was  almost  superhuman.  It  was  frightful,  too,  so  that,  if  we  had  not  had 
the  chief  engineer  to  pilot  us  in,  I  should  never  have  dared  to  attempt  it.  But 
probably  in  Job's  day  they  knew  little  of  such  excavations. 

I  am  not  sure  of  that.  Think  of  that  vast  channel  or  tunnel  forty  leagues  in 
length,  300  feet  wide,  and  part  of  it  at  least  cut  through  the  solid  rock,  cut,  too. 


SITUATION. 


49 


in  Job's  clay,  perhaps.  If  our  engineers  can  undertake  and  perform  almost 
superhuman  things,  so  could  those  of  King  Moeris. 

I  think  there  is  one  thing,  however,  which,  if  Job  went  to  visit  King  Moeris, 
as  according  to  your  suggestion  he  may  have  done,  to  see  his  hydraulic  works, 
the  engineers  of  the  king  could  not  liave  shown  him. 

I  see,  I  presume,  what  you  are  about  to  say,  but  go  on. 

I  think  they  could  not  have  shown  him,  as  Mr.  Granger  and  Mr.  Stowell 
showed  us,  how  to  blast  rocks  by  gunpowder  and  touch  off  the  blasts  by  light- 
ning. 

To  say  nothing  of  drilling  by  compressed  air.  Well,  no  doubt  science  has 
made  great  strides  since  then.  But  human  labor  was  cheap  in  old  times  ;  and 
they  pecked  away  till  they  accomplished  in  longer  time  the  same  things  which 
we  do.    But  are  you  sure  it  is  so  still  here  ? 

I  thought  it  was  perfectly  still.  But  I  think  I  can  hear  the  wind  in  those 
spruces,  though  they  are  so  high  up.  I  fancy  no  birds  are  ever  heard  here, 
unless  it  may  be  owls  or  whippoorwilLs. 

You  are  mistaken  in  that.  We  should  not  expect  to  hear  meadow  larks  or 
bobolinks  in  this  deep  gulf ;  but  had  we  made  our  visit  a  few  weeks  since,  we 
should  have  heard  several  sweet  singers, —  among  them  the  solitary  thrush. 

I  should  like  to  hear  the  note  of  the  thrush  now.  It  chimes  in  so  well  in 
great  solitudes  like  these. 

I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  distinguish  the  notes  of  birds  ;  even  of  those  that 
are  not  very  familiar.  I  do  not  suppose  there  are  half  a  dozen  young  ladies  in 
Williamstown  or  Adams,  and  I  might  go  on  to  Cheshire,  Pittsfield,  and  so  on 
down  the  County,  who  ever  heard  a  solitary  thrush  ;  or  what  amounts  to  the 
same  thing,  who  know  that  they  ever  heard  one. 

Do  not  speak  so  disparagingly,  sir,  of  us. 

Of  course,  I  make  you  an  exception  ;  and  a  few  others,  whose  education  has 
been  conducted  on  something  like  rational  principles. 

ExciLse  me,  sir,  please,  but  there  are  a  thousand  things  here  I  am  eager  to 
examine,  and  I  see  the  afternoon  is  wearing  away. 

You  are  afraid  of  the  wild  beasts,  perhaps,  who  might  be  prowling  around,  if 
nightfall  should  overtake  us  here.  But  I  must  detain  you  a  little  while  longer; 
for  this  subject  of  the  abuses  of  what  is  popularly  termed  "  education"  has  been 
running  lately  in  my  mind,  and  must  have  vent  somewhere. 

Allow  me,  sir,  to  say  that,  if  we  can  ever  climb  back  over  these  frightful 
♦'  bars  "  as  you  call  them,  the  same  good  things,  which  I  know  you  wish  to  say, 
might  be  spoken  before  a  larger  audience. 

And  a  more  appreciative  one,  I  fancy.  Very  well,  we  will  not  break  friend- 
ship ;  especially  here  in  the  "  Heart "  of  Greylock.  But  look  !  How  the  shadows 
lengthen  !  Is  it  possible  that  is  the  sun,  which  we  see  through  the  gap,  so  near 
to  the  summit  of  the  Taconics  ?  These  "bars  "  cannot  be  let  down,  so  we  must 
hasten  and  scramble  over  them,  or  the  "sons  of  pride"  will  be  upon  us  before 
we  catch  a  glimpse  of  Williamstown  or  White  Oaks. 

Like  the  Professor  and  his  fair  band,  we,  too,  must  now  beat  a 
retreat  from  the  Heart  of  Greylock ;  but  as  belonging  to  a  younger 
generation  than  they,  we  will,  like  Wolfe's  men  at  the  Heights  of 
Abraham,  scramble  up  the  almost  perpendicular  banks  of  the  brook 


50  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

already  described,  that  pours  itself  foamy  into  the  left  auricle  of 
the  Heart ;  because  that  route,  though  rough,  will  bring  us  directly 
up  to  the  now  famous  Camping-Ground,  that  lies  on  the  skirts  of 
the  Harrison  farm  upon  the  high  shoulder-valley  between  Bald 
Mountain  and  Greylock.  The  head  spring  of  this  brook  is  on  the 
flank  of  Greylock,  a  little  north  of  the  camping-place,  and  a  little 
east  of  the  cleared  ground  of  the  farm ;  and  a  small  tributary  of  it 
rises  in  another  spring  that  gushes  up  within  the  beat  of  the  camp 
itself;  and  here  on  Williamstown  ground,  ever  after  about  the  year 
1870  till  the  present  writing,  various  parties  from  the  leading 
families  of  this  village  have  spent  a  month  or  two  in  the  summer- 
time, camping  out  on  one- or  the  other  of  the  tiny  tines  of  this  fluent 
fork ;  outdoor  life  at  such  an  elevation  and  amid  such  wonders  and 
solitudes  of  Nature  is  found  to  be  at  once  restful  and  exhilarating ; 
all  the  points  of  interest  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  camp,  and  in 
the  great  Hopper  to  the  north  of  it,  have  been  constantly  visited, 
and  appropriately  christened,  and  often  vividly  described,  by  these 
parties,  consisting  about  equally  of  young  ladies  and  gentlemen; 
the  "Vista,"  for  example,  to  the  north  of  the  camp,  situated  near 
the  watershed,  whence  the  head  stream  of  the  "Bacon  Brook" 
flows  north  into  the  Hopper,  and  that  of  the  "Camp  Brook"  also 
rising  close  by  flows  south  into  the  Heart,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
is  one  of  the  chief  points  of  interest,  whence,  adown  between  Bald 
Mountain  and  Simonds  Peak,  a  distant  and  enchanting  view  is 
gained  across  the  whole  Williamstown  valley  in  a  northwest  direc- 
tion, and  so  across  the  west  end  of  the  village  in  the  line  of  the 
Mansion  House  and  the  Kappa  Alpha  Lodge,  and  so  on  towards  the 
"  Golden  Gate,"  —  the  point  at  which  the  Hoosac  lapses  into 
Vermont ;  although  it  is  said,  that  of  late  years  the  undergrowth 
near  to  the  Vista  has  shown  more  vigor  in  shooting  up  so  as  to 
obstruct  the  view,  than  the  thews  of  the  young  men,  namely,  the 
successive  guardians  and  champions  and  laborers  of  the  camp,  have 
shown  in  cutting  it  down,  and  so  keeping  the  long  and  weird  view 
open. 

The  Harrison  farm,  to  which  reference  was  just  now  made,  has 
been  connected  in  its  history  with  two  of  the  early  and  prominent 
families  of  the  town,  namely,  the  Harrison  and  Bacon  families.  Jacob 
Bacon,  son  of  Nathaniel  2d,  both  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  came 
here  a  young  yeoman  about  1766,  perhaps  a  little  later ;  his  father 
had  given  him  some  lots  of  land  in  Lanesboro  as  early  as  1761,  and 
he  himself  bought  land  there  in  June,  1766;  Aaron  Bacon  and 
Daniel  Bacon,  from  Middletown,  believed  to  be  his  brothers,  were 


SITUATION 


51 


landowners  here  in  17G6,  holding  first  division  fifty-acre  lots  61 
and  63 ;  and  Jacob  Bacon  at  any  rate  became  an  important  citi- 
zen here,  and  died  in  December,  1819,  in  his  eightieth  year. 
His  daughter,  Jerusha,  married  Almon  Harrison,  son  of  Titus 
Harrison,  another  well-to-do  citizen ;  and  while  the  Bacons  had 
previously  held  land  in  or  near  the  Hopper,  Harrison  bought, 
towards  the  end  of  the  last  century,  of  a  great  land-grabber  in  his 
day,  Ephraim  Seelye,  1300  acres,  including  the  whole  high  plateau 
between  the  Bluffs  of  Bald  Mountain  and  the  present  camping- 
grounds.  The  purchase  mone}-  was  $1000.  The  present  Bacon 
farm  in  the  Hopper  had  been  settled  very  early  by  Elkanah  Parris, 
an  old  soldier  of  Fort  Massachusetts ;  and  Harrison  now  pushed  a 
rude  road  past  that  place,  perhaps  wholly  upon  his  own  land,  up 
the  steep  flank  of  Bald  Mountain  and  across  the  flat  to  the  point 
where  the  camps  are  now  pitched.  He  cleared  the  land  on  the  top, 
burnt  the  timber,  raised  at  first  great  crops  of  wheat,  built  a  log- 
house  for  tenants  by  the  side  of  Camp  Brook,  the  cellar  and  under- 
pinning stones  of  which  are  plainly  visible  to  this  day ;  and  built 
a  large  barn  also  to  the  north  of  the  house,  all  signs  of  which  have 
long  been  obliterated.  It  has  been  credibl}^  transmitted  to  our  own 
times,  however,  that  there  were  men  enough  present  at  the  '•  rais- 
ing "  of  the  barn  to  lift  the  big  beams  into  place  by  sheer  human 
strength.  It  must  have  been  a  day  of  interest  and  probably  of 
jollification  to  the  men  in  the  valley  below,  who  were  summoned 
to  the  old-fashioned  raising  amid  the  half-burned  stumps  of  the 
mountain  top;  for  there  was  not  then,  and  never  has  been  since, 
a  framed  building  within  two  miles  of  the  spot;  and  there  must 
have  been,  accordingly,  a  novelty  about  it,  a  sort  of  prospective 
elevation  of  spirits,  that  made  that  particular  call  to  a  "raising" 
popular  in  the  farmhouses  along  Green  River  and  its  branches. 
There  was  indeed  no  fee  or  reward  for  such  a  service  rendered  by 
one's  neighbors ;  but  the  summoner  was  expected  to  furnish  "  re- 
freshment "  while  the  tug  of  the  lifting  was  going  forward,  and 
especially  when  the  beams  and  rafters  were  all  in  position,  and  the 
white  oak  pins  had  been  well  driven  in  ;  it  was  the  part  of  the 
boys  that  were  present  at  a  raising  to  distribute  the  pins;  and 
Almon  Harrison  -vvas  not  a  man  to  grudge  the  entertainment  usual 
on  such  occasions  in  this  locality,  which  was  "good  old'^  St. 
Croix  rum  ;  he  liked  it  himself ;  and  it  throws  a  little  shading  over 
the  pleasant  picture  of  the  barn-raising  beneath  the  Bluffs,  —  a 
shading  that  real  life  often  gives  to  its  apparently  most  joyous 
scenes,  —  that,   a  decade   or  two    later,   when   cider-brandy   stills 


52  OKIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

became  the  style  in  Williamstown,  Harrison  set  up  one  on  the 
banks  of  Green  River  near  "  Taylor's  Crotch,"  that  he  became  a 
drunkard,  and  that  the  Judge  of  Probate  appointed  Deacon  Levi 
Smedley  guardian  over  his  old  age,  lest  he  should  squander  the 
patrimony  of  his  children. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  Harrisons  sold  the  1300  acres  to 
Stephen  Bacon,  son  of  Jacob  Bacon,  and  brother-in-law  of  Almon 
Harrison,  who  paid  for  the  property  about  the  same  as  Harrison 
had  paid  for  it  before,  improved  the  former  Hopper  road  to  the 
mountain  farm,  while  about  the  same  time  a  second  road  had  been 
run  up  to  it  from  Goodell's  on  the  other  side,  continued  to  cultivate 
the  land  there  for  many  years,  thus  and  otherwise  permanently 
attached  the  name  of  Bacon  to  the  region  of  the  Hopper,  and  left 
to  his  son,  Stephen  Bacon  2d,  born  in  1804,  to  pass  the  whole  of 
a  long  life  on  or  near  the  paternal  acres,  though  the  Harrison  farm 
had  gone  meantime  into  other  hands.  Tenants  by  the  name  of 
Valet,  and  Cottrell,  and  others,  occupied  in  succession  the  log-house 
by  Camp  Brook.  At  length  Stephen  Bacon  3d,  great-grandson  to 
Jacob,  rather  through  purchase  than  inheritance  from  his  father, 
came  to  be  a  large  landowner  and  successful  farmer  within  the 
Bacon  circuit,  living  in  the  last  third  of  the  century  in  the  old  house 
of  Elkanah  Parris,  of  which  the  remark  was  often  made  that  its 
beams  were  of  white  oak,  of  which  not  a  tree  was  ever  found  in  the 
Hopper  or  within  two  or  three  miles  of  it,  leaving  the  fair  implica- 
tion that  Parris  hauled  the  frame  of  his  house  from  the  White  Oaks 
proper.  These  general  facts  justify  the  designation  of  what  is 
now  a  poor  pasture  annually  growing  smaller  by  the  crowding  in  of 
the  woods  all  around  its  outskirts  as  the  "  Harrison  Farm  "  ;  and 
they  also  fully  justify  the  naming  of  the  brook  and  its  branches  that 
rises  near  the  Vista,  and  drains  the  whole  south  side  of  the 
Hopper,  as  "Bacon  Brook."  The  Bacon  and  Harrison  families 
occupied  the  same  pew  in  the  old  village  meeting-house,  built  in 
1796,  and  the  two  are  likely  always  to  be  associated  in  the  traditions 
and  history  of  the  Hopper.  An  anecdote  well  authenticated,  that 
comes  down  to  us  from  the  beginning  of  the  century,  throws  some 
light  on  the  state  of  things  in  Williamstown  at  that  time,  and  on 
the  degree  of  intelligence  then  had  among  the  common  cultivators 
of  the  soil :  —  When  Schuyler  Putnam,  son  of  the  General,  was  the 
landlord  of  the  Mansion  House,  a  travelling  showman  brought  a 
single  tiger  to  be  exhibited  there  for  so  much  a  sight.  Among 
many  others  who  came  to  see  this  small  fraction  of  a  menagerie, 
and  duly  paid  their  money,  came  Jacob  Bacon  and  his  wife  Lois. 


SITUATION. 


53 


After  looking  at  the  animal  as  long  as  they  liked,  the  wife  said  to 
the  husband,  "  Come,  Jacob,  go  get  your  money  back,  and  let's  go 
home  ;  it's  nothing  but  a  tiger-cat  I  " 

Before  we  finally  leave  the  Harrison  farm  and  its  associations 
to  descend  into  the  Hopi)er  by  the  Bacon  Brook,  we  may  do  our- 
selves the  pleasure  of  quoting  and  reading  a  fine  passage  descrip- 
tive of  Bald  Mountain  and  the  Hopper,  from  the  pen  of  Albert 
Hopkins :  — 

The  spot  to  which  I  refer  is  Bald  Mountain  in  Williamstown,  near  the  Ash- 
ford  line.  This  mountain,  as  a  whole,  resembles  a  lion  couchant,  with  his  head 
to  the  east,  guarding  seemingly  the  outlet  of  the  Hopper.  The  sentinel  is  quite 
in  keeping  with  the  passage  or  gap,  which  he  seems  to  protect.  In  fact  his  huge 
shoulder  and  mane  form  one  side  of  the  gap  itself.  If  I  have  been  rightly 
informed,  Bald  Mountain  must  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  celebrated 
Rock  of  Gibraltar.  The  material,  however,  of  which  it  is  composed,  is  less 
beautiful  than  the  Gibraltar  stone.  Like  most  of  the  group  to  which  it  belongs, 
it  is  slate,  talcose,  and  mica,  with  modules  of  white  or  milky  quartz  intermixed. 

Our  mode  of  ascent  (keeping  up  the  figure  of  the  lion)  was  on  foot,  and  up 
the  middle  of  the  back.  And  if  your  readers  will  bear  in  mind  the  difference 
between  a  lion  couchant  and  a  lion  dormant,  they  will  see  what  we  found  to  our 
cost  to  be  true,  that  when  we  had  reached  the  top  of  the  monster's  back,  the 
greater  part  of  the  climbing  remained  to  be  done.  However,  we  stood  about 
twelve  o'clock  on  his  bald  pate.  And  had  we  not  been  prepared  for  the  view  by 
having  repeatedly  seen  it  before,  we  should  have  been  lost  in  absolute  astonish- 
ment. But  though  there  was  less  of  astonishment,  there  was  not  less  of  wonder, 
as  we  gazed  at  the  immense  mountain  masses  which  upheaved  themselves  before 
us.  In  fact  we  enjoyed  an  advantage  which  would  have  been  secured  by  no 
other  approach  to  the  look-off,  —  that  of  emerging  suddenly  from  the  inconven- 
iently thick  and  tangled  covering  of  our  fancied  animal,  into  an  open  space 
where  all  that  Greylock  has  of  grandeur  stood  confronting  us  in  a  moment. 

I  will  indicate  a  few  points  of  interest,  in  the  first  place,  in  regard  to  the 
"  Hopper,"  as  the  pioneers  of  Fort  Massachusetts  memory  agreed  to  call  this 
remarkable  and  unique  indentation  in  the  Greylock  chain, — a  "Clove"  it 
would  be  called  among  the  Catskills.  It  would  seem  as  if  some  tremendous 
throe  of  Nature  in  the  primitive  ages  essayed  at  this  point  to  break  the  chain  in 
two,  but  only  succeeded  with  the  weaker  or  western  half  of  the  link.  Not  con- 
tent with  this,  it  would  seem  that  this  primeval  force  directed  its  fury  eastward, 
determining  to  grapple  with  the  strength  of  Greylock  itself ;  and  how  nearly 
successful  it  was  in  this  audacious  and  almost  impious  attempt,  those  can  testify 
who  have  penetrated  into  the  true  Hopi)er,  or  Hopper  within  the  Hopper,  as  it 
might  be  called,  a  point  not  visible  to  the  traveller  as  he  passes  up  from  Pittsfield 
by  the  usual  route. 

Overlooking  this  frightful  chasm,  an  eagle  has  built  his  nest.  Here  the  slant- 
ing rays  of  the  sun  scarcely  penetrate,  even  at  noon.  In  this  gloomy  fissure 
clouds  have  broken  at  times,  so  tradition  reads,  and  so  the  people  believe.  Here 
are  landslides  1000  feet  high,  one  of  them  fresh,  and  apparently  the  result  of 
tliat  immense  and  unexampled  burden  of  snow,  which,  during  the  past  winter. 


64  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

loaded  our  mountain  sides.  Certain  lady  readers  will  doubtless  turn  pale  at  this 
part  of  my  letter.  Nothing  would  tempt  them  to  set  their  feet  in  so  awful 
a  place.  To  such  let  me  say  that  the  Alpine  Club,  composed  mostly  of  ladies, 
have  not  only  penetrated  here,  but  actually  made  the  ascent  to  Greylock  up  this 
nearly  vertical  escarpment. 

Prospect  Mountain  appears  nowhere  so  finely  as  from  Bald  Mountain.  It 
abuts  out  in  a  most  imposing  manner.  Higher  than  Bald,  it  cuts  off  the  horizon 
on  the  northeast ;  but  it  more  than  compensates  for  what  it  conceals  by  its 
grand  pyramidal  outline  ;  and  also  by  the  fact,  that  it  makes,  with  Mount 
Williams  opposite,  a  superb  setting  for  a  beautiful  landscape  which  appears 
between,  contrasting  finely  in  its  azure  tinge  with  the  deep  green  of  the  nearer 
mountain  slopes.  This  picture  has  for  its  floor  that  lofty  table-land  known  as 
Wilbur's  Pasture,  —  now  growing  up,  by  the  way,  into  a  fine  evergreen  park, 
worth  being  seen. 

Through  a  gap  in  the  opposite  direction  appear  the  Catskills.  It  is  well  for 
us  here  in  the  valleys  to  get  our  heads  lifted  up,  at  least  once  a  year,  high  enough 
to  see  the  outline  of  these  ever  to  be  admired  summits.  If  I  had  spoken 
my  mind  freely,  I  should  have  said  at  least  once  a  month.  Another  point  of 
interest  is  the  view  southward.  Here  we  see  the  Pittsfield  valley,  with  its 
western  lake,  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water  ;  and,  'what  interested  us  particularly, 
Monument  Mountain,  in  Stockbridge,  not  projected,  as  from  Greylock,  like 
an  undulating  thread  along  the  flank  of  Taconic,  and  hence  not  recognized 
from  there  except  by  those  well  posted  up  in  south  county  scenery,  but  here 
Monument  Rocks  stand  out  distinctly  against  the  sky.  I  thought  I  could  see 
a  rock  called  the  "  Haystack"  under  Bald  Peak,  but  may  have  been  mistaken. 
Monument  Rocks  are  famous,  having  been  immortalized  by  Bryant,  and  it 
is  rather  a  nice  point  to  see  them  from  this  distance.  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
pointing  them  out,  a  few  weeks  since,  to  a  party  of  ladies,  from  a  point  still 
more  distant,  in  Clarksburg,  where  we  spent  a  night  pleasantly  on  the  Green 
Mountain  range  ;  and  were  able,  after  watching  Greylock  bathing  himself,  or 
clothing  himself,  in  sunlight,  —  a  process  which  required  more  than  half  an  hour 
to  perform,  — after  this  we  could  see  not  only  Monument  Rocks,  but  could  actu- 
ally detect  their  white,  chalk-like  tints  as  seen  from  Stockbridge  Plain. 

I  cannot  close  this  brief  sketch  of  a  pleasant  day's  ramble  on  Bald  Mountain, 
without  referring  to  my  last  visit  there.  It  was,  perhaps,  twenty  years  since, 
in  company  with  a  party,  among  whom  was  Miss  Catherine  Sedgwick.  It  was 
in  the  fall  of  the  year,  a  little  earlier  than  I  should  have  chosen  to  visit  the  spot 
for  the  sake  of  the  autumnal  scenery.  But  Miss  Sedgwick  had  selected  that 
time  purposely ;  because  she  preferred  the  woods  when  the  green,  if  it  did  not 
preponderate  over  the  more  brilliant  colors,  was  at  least  fairly  represented  ;  and 
her  preference  was  justified  by  the  view,  than  which  nothing  could  be  finer, 
since  the  forest  immediately  under  Bald  Mountain,  on  the  east,  and  in  front,  is 
composed  mostly  of  deciduous  trees. 

Miss  Sedgwick  was  a  native  of  Stockbridge,  and  a  great  admirer  of  its 
beautiful  scenery,  but  she  owned  the  power  of  our  loftier  mountains  and  more 
ample  forests ;  and  would  often  bring  her  distinguished  friends  here,  to  have 
pointed  out  to  herself  and  them  what  could  not  be  found  in  the  more  quiet 
landscapes  and  woodlands  of  Southern  Berkshire. 

No  one  admired  the  scenery  of  our  county  more  appreciatively  than  Miss 


SITUATION.  55 

Sedgwick,  so  no  one,  not  even  Bryant,  has  done  more  to  turn  the  eyes  of  others 
towards  it.  It  happened  to  her  to  reach  a  period  in  life  when  the  outward 
senses  are  less  keen,  and  impressions  from  Nature  less  vivid ;  but  her  sensi- 
bilities were  never  more  wakeful  to  suffering  than  during  her  latter  years.  Her 
patriotism  and  her  charities  were  conspicuous  during  the  war ;  and  since  then 
she  has  been  full  of  sympathy  with  every  good  work.  Among  her  latest  gifts 
were  some  valuable  books,  in  the  title-page  of  one  of  which,  entitled  "The 
Charities  of  Europe,"  she  wrote  a  few  lines,  closing  with  the  prayer  *'that  it 
may  be  blessed  on  its  holy  mission  to  the  Dear  Boys  in  the  White  Oaks.''* 

One  may  descend  to  the  Hopper  from  Bald  Mountain,  whence  and 
in  relation  to  which  these  striking  observations  by  Professor  Hopkins 
were  made,  either  by  the  Harrison  farm-road,  or,  if  he  be  firm-footed, 
by  the  Bacon  Brook,  which  unites  its  water  near  the  bottom  of  the 
vast  gorge  with  "  Money  Brook,"  so-called,  another  stream  tliat  drains 
with  its  branches  all  the  northern  sides  and  recesses  of  the  Hopper, 
as  Bacon  Brook  draws  the  drainage  of  its  southern  sides.  In  one  of 
the  deep  and  dismal  gorges  far  up  on  this  northern  side  of  the  Hop- 
per, where  the  roots  of  Mount  Fitch  and  Simonds  Peak  and  the  Wil- 
bur Pasture  all  intertwine,  remote  and  inaccessible,  where  the  foot 
of  man  in  any  age  has  but  very  seldom  trod,  and  will  tread  but  sel- 
dom till  the  end  of  time,  a  small  gang  of  counterfeiters,  not  long  after 
the  year  1800,  had  a  concealed  den  by  the  side  of  the  brook  for  their 
work  of  fraud.  Tradition  still  tells  many  a  tale  about  these  crim- 
inals, which  the  prudent  man  will  receive  with  caution,  or  not  at 
all ;  but  the  main  fact  rests  on  firm  historical  grounds,  and  has  very 
properly  given  a  euphonious  name  to  the  mountain  brook.  Griles  B. 
Kellogg,  of  Troy,  a  native  of  the  town  and  a  graduate  of  the  College, 
in  his  old  age  repeatedly  told  the  writer,  and  afterwards  put  the 
statement  into  writing  for  its  better  authentication,  that,  when  he 
was  a  boy  in  his  father's  house,  there  was  an  old  chest  in  one  of  the 
chambers  that  contained  the  tools  and  other  apparatus  of  these  coun- 
terfeiters, which  had  been  found  in  the  Hopper,  and  brought  to  his 
father  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  to  be  used  as  evidence  against 
the  men  in  case  they  could  be  apprehended.  The  gang  had  either 
abandoned  their  work  and  tools,  or  at  least  had  escaped  the  officers ; 
but  one  man  was  arrested  on  suspicion  that  he  had  belonged  to  it, 
and  was  brought  before  Justice  Samuel  Kellogg ;  there  was  no  legal 
evidence  against  the  accused,  and  the  court  broke  up,  when  a  single 
witness  had  appeared  and  testified,  that,  as  he  was  hunting  in  the 
Hopper,  he  had  heard  the  sound  of  hammering,  —  "  Kling,  kling, 
kling!"  and  then  turning  to  the  prisoner,  the  witness  exclaimed, 
"  That  was  you,  Michael,  hammering  out  the  dollars  ! " 


56  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

No  reader  of  these  pages  would  ever  forgive  the  present  writer, 
nor  would  he  ever  forgive  himself,  if  he  should  purposely  omit  to 
quote  at  this  very  point,  and  pretty  fully  too,  the  alleged  dialogue 
between  Professor  Hopkins  and  one  of  the  lady  members  of  his 
Alpine  Club,  ostensibly  held  between  the  two  as  the  club  were  climb- 
ing Money  Brook  in  June,  1869,  and  as  the  dialogue  was  written  out 
from  memory  for  publication  by  the  former  a  few  days  after  the 
jaunt.  Some  lines  on  "Wawbeek  Falls"  will  also  be  appended, 
although  the  name  of  their  student  author,  then  a  member  of  the 
club,  will  be  prudently  withholden,  since  it  is  not  certain  that  he 
would  now  be  willing,  after  such  an  interval  of  time,  to  father  the 
poem,  which  he  might  now  deem  to  be  wild  and  crude.  The  names 
of  the  two  "  falls  "  in  Money  Brook  referred  to  in  the  conversation 
have  a  strong  South  Berkshire  flavor,  and  emanated  undoubtedly 
from  the  memory  of  the  Professor,  whose  early  life  in  Stockbridge 
and  vicinity  beautifully  colored  his  later  life  in  Williamstown. 

It  seems  fortunate,  does  it  not,  sir,  that  the  Wawbeek  Falls  should  be  discov- 
ered just  as  the  Cascade  was  losing  something  of  its  former  prestige  ? 

It  was  quite  a  timely  discovery  ;  since  the  Cascade,  even  in  its  palmiest  days, 
could  not  compete  with  these  new  falls. 

There  will  be  quite  a  quarrel  about  the  honor  of  discovering  them,  I  sup- 
pose. 

Undoubtedly.  It  is  already  whispered  round  that  a  bear  hunter  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century  came  across  them.  And  more  recently  it  is  said  that 
they  have  been  heard  in  the  distance  by  some  foresters. 

On  the  other  hand,  sir,  the  honor  of  making  this  fine  discovery  belongs,  I 
claim,  exclusively  to  the  club.  I  well  remember  as  we  were  returning  last 
autumn  from  the  Heart  of  Greylock ;  we  came  over  Bald  Mountain  ;  and  you 
took  occasion  from  there  to  point  out  to  us  a  shoulder  in  the  group  of  mountains 
opposite,  saying  at  the  same  time  that  that  must  be  among  the  earliest  explora- 
tions of  the  spring.  You  said  you  had  an  idea  that  there  was  something 
worth  seeing  there.  Any  one  who  went  there,  you  said,  would  find  a  "  huge 
world. ' ' 

I  recollect  the  circumstance  ;  still  a  mere  proposal  to  visit  a  spot  so  wild  and 
difficult  of  access  did  not  make  us  discoverers.  It  was  only  when  we  had  pene- 
trated into  it,  it  was  only  when  our  eyes  had  actually  seen  the  recesses  of  the 
gorge,  when  we  stood  confronted  by  the  great  abutment  which  closes  it  in,  and 
saw  in  place  of  dry  ledges,  as  we  feared,  or  at  most,  ledges  covered  with  moss, 
a  beautiful  ribbon  of  foam  let  down  in  festoons  from  one  shelf  to  another, — then 
it  was  that  we  might,  as  we  did,  regard  ourselves  as  real  bona  fide  dis- 
coverers. 

Do  you  recollect,  sir,  who  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  falls  first  ? 

Modesty  forbids  me  to  answer  that  question,  but  I  accord  to  you  the  credit  of 
being  the  second  to  see  them.  In  fact,  had  you  been  in  front,  you  might  have 
seen  them  first. 


SITUATION.  57 

I  shall  not  soon  forget  the  impressions  made  by  my  first  glimpse  of  them,  nor 
the  pleasure  we  had  as  we  ascended  the  steep  mountain  side  opposite  and  ob- 
served them  from  aloft  at  a  distance.  What  a  curious  effect  it  has  to  watch 
them  through  the  opera-glass,  reclining  so  as  to  bring  one  eye  directly  over  the 
other. 

That  glass  has  an  immense  field  of  view ;  and  your  respect  for  it  will  be 
increased,  when  I  inform  you  that  rays  of  light  from  the  sunnnit  of  Chimborazo 
and  the  cone  of  Cotopaxi  have  passed  through  its  lenses.  Let  me  now  ask  you 
how  high  you  judged  the  falls  to  be  ? 

Full  seventy  feet,  were  they  not  ?  Through  the  glass  they  seemed  hundreds 
of  feet.  Do  you  imagine  them  to  be  permanent,  sir,  or  like  the  March  cataracts 
in  the  Hopper  which  are  visible  only  when  the  snow  is  melting  ? 

As  Money  Brook,  to  which  the  stream  from  these  falls  is  a  principal  tributary, 
is  permanent,  no  doubt  the  falls  are  so  likewise.  There  are  seasons,  you  know, 
when  our  western  friends  are  ashamed  to  exhibit  even  the  Father  of  Waters. 
But  I  must  now  tell  you,  what  I  did  not  tell  you  afterwards,  nor  do  any  of  the 
club  know  it,  that  there  are  beautiful  falls  higher  up.  You  noticed,  no  doubt, 
that  I  did  not  join  the  returning  party  till  they  had  reached  the  falls  half  or  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  below.  The  cause  of  my  delay  was  a  device  to  explore  the 
stream  still  farther  up.  And  I  was  well  rewarded  for  my  pains  ;  for  a  fifth  of  a 
mile,  perhaps,  above  the  falls  was  another  cascade  scarcely  yielding  in  beauty  to 
the  one  below.  The  quantity  of  water  was  less,  for  in  the  interval  the  stream 
had  forked  again  ;  but  it  dashed  along  over  a  succession  of  benches  after  a 
fashion  to  have  drawn  many  exclamations,  had  the  rest  of  the  party  been  able 
to  ascend  so  far.    These  falls  are  probably  about  1800  feet  high. 

Are  you  in  earnest,  sir  ? 

I  am.  This  cascade  is  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  Harrison  farm  on  Bald 
Mountain,  and  must  be,  therefore,  seventeen  or  eighteen  hundred  feet  above  the 
valley.  From  this  point  the  ground  slopes  back  gently  towards  Mount  Fitch  on 
the  east,  and  towards  the  rim  of  the  Hopper  on  the  south.  I  think  I  will  ask 
you  to  guess  the  name  of  these  upper  falls. 

Sky  Falls  ! 

You  are  correct.  They  are,  no  doubt,  the  highest  falls  in  the  State.  We 
should  not,  however,  pronounce  certainly  on  the  point  till  we  have  explored 
more  thoroughly  the  sources  of  Money  Brook.  At  least  one  of  the  club  has 
volunteered  to  undertake  that  exploration,  and  it  should  be  done  at  once  ;  for 
the  forthcoming  book  of  Washington  Gladden  will,  no  doubt,  attract  swarms  of 
tourists  in  this  direction.  Whatever  laurels,  therefore,  the  club  expects  to  win 
in  the  line  of  discovery,  it  behooves  them  to  gather  soon. 

Do  you  not  think,  sir,  that  some  more  feasible  route  might  be  devised  to  reach 
the  Wawbeek  Falls  ?  Otherwise,  I  fear  that  few  outside  the  club  will  ever  see 
them. 

They  might  be  reached  by  the  way  of  Wilbur's  Pasture.  Tourists  from  the 
East  would  find  this  way  the  most  convenient.  They  would  then  commence 
their  explorations  at  the  top  of  Sky  Falls,  and  follow  the  stream  downwards. 
But  we  are  not  to  expect  that  ordinary  tourists  will  do  any  such  thing,  simply 
for  the  reason  that  it  would  be  impossible.  The  falls  are  real,  yet  they  are  in  a 
dell  so  deep  and  lonely,  and  so  at  right  angles  to  everything,  that  to  most  persons 
they  are  destined,  no  doubt,  to  remain  forever  among  the  myths  of  Greylock. 


58  OKIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 


WAWBEEK  FALLS. 

Nature  tripping  over  Greylock, 
Threw  her  velvet  mantle  down, 

And  clasped  its  green  folds  on  his  shoulder 
With  a  jewel  from  her  crown. 

A  gem  with  the  diamond's  lustre, 

And  the  opal's  fitful  light, 
Which  blended  the  pearl's  soft  iris 

With  the  shadowy  chrysolite. 

And  the  mountain's  giant  sentries. 
Round  the  priceless  treasure  fold, 

As  the  dragons  in  the  garden, 
Watched  the  fabled  fruit  of  gold. 

Gently  as  a  maiden's  tresses 
Brush  against  her  rounded  cheek. 

O'er  the  time-worn,  moss-grown  boulders 
Glide  the  waters  of  Wawbeek. 

Dancing  on  the  sloping  sunbeams, 
Sadly  sweet,  yet  weirdly  strong, 

Thro'  earth's  emerald  arched  temple, 
Floats  its  mystic,  dreamy  song. 

Breaks  it  first  in  filmy  silver 
Like  a  bride's  soft  veil  of  lace. 

Crowned  with  flowers  made  fairer,  purer. 
By  the  roses  of  her  face. 

Then  bubbling,  laughing,  sighing,  singing, 
Pours  it  from  the  glittering  ledge. 

Gleaming  like  a  Naiad's  tresses. 
Silvered  with  the  kiss  of  age. 

As  the  sun  rolls  down  towards  evening 

O'er  it  steals  a  golden  glow. 
Like  a  conflagration  sweeping 

Thro'  a  forest  thick  with  snow. 

And  the  gold  blends  with  the  ruby 
Till  the  water  seems  like  wine. 

As  if  Bacchus  on  the  mountain 
Had  o'erturned  his  cup  divine. 

Then  calmer,  slower,  softer,  clearer. 
Glides  it  o'er  the  argent-sand, 

Like  some  life,  its  youth's  joy  ended, 
Sweeping  toward  the  Better  Land. 


SITUATION.  ^^^V       59 

Money  Brook  and  Bacon  Brook  join  their  streams  in  murmuring 
acquiescence  on  one  of  the  lower  slopes  of  the  huge  Hopper,  and  so 
form  the  Hopper  Brook,  which,  after  a  devious  course  of  two  miles 
or  so,  falls  into  Green  Kiver  at  Taylor's  Crotch. 

It  now  only  remains,  to  complete  this  opening  cliapter  on  the 
"Situation"  of  Williamstown,  to  devote  a  few  elementary  para- 
graphs to  its  geology,  its  diversities  of  soil,  its  natural  productions, 
and  its  unique  beauty  as  a  whole. 

The  central  valley  of  the  town  is  underlaid  throughout  by  lime- 
stone. This  is  true  in  general  of  the  narrow  east  and  west  portion 
along  the  Hoosac,  and  more  exactly  true  of  the  broader  valley  north 
and  south  along  the  courses  of  the  Green  River  and  the  Hemlock 
Brook.  Now  limestone  is  a  good  rock  for  all  practical  purposes.  It 
seems  to  give  the  right  proportion  of  "grit"  to  both  the  men  and 
the  beasts  who  live  above  and  ui3on  it.  The  Blue  Grass  region  in 
Kentucky,  which  is  a  limestone  section,  breeds  horses  of  the  best 
bottom  and  the  greatest  speed  of  any  in  the  United  States;  and 
Vermont,  which  is  also  full  of  limestone  rock,  stands  next  after 
Kentucky  in  that  regard.  We  shall  see  on  many  a  sequent  page, 
that  the  men  of  Williamstown  at  any  rate,  whether  the  same  be  true 
of  other  localities  or  not,  have  shown  from  the  very  first  good 
courage  and  firm  stamina  in  five  successive  wars,  as  well  as  in  many 
a  moral  conflict.  It  is  probably  true,  accordingly,  that  a  bit  of 
limestone  in  one's  daily  bread  does  no  harm  to  the  digestion,  or 
the  subsequent  action  of  mind  and  body ;  and  limestone  water  also, 
to  those  who  are  well  used  to  it,  is  the  most  wholesome  water  in 
the  world. 

An  excellent  quarry  of  limestone  lies  along  the  lowest  edge  of 
Bee  Hill  by  the  Hemlock  Brook,  and  the  ledge  extends  diagonally 
across  the  brook  and  reappears  in  masses  on  the  southern  slopes  of 
Stone  Hill.  The  materials  for  the  building  of  the  second  College 
chapel  in  1859  came  from  this  quarry,  and  then  Goodrich  Hall  was 
built  from  the  same  in  1861,  next  Clark  Hall  in  1880,  then  Morgan 
Hall  in  1882,  and  the  new  Gymnasium  also  in  1885.  These  and  all  the 
other  College  buildings,  without  exception,  have  as  their  underlying 
foundation,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the  living  limestone  rock.  Previous 
to  the  erection  of  the  first  College  chapel  in  1827,  now  called  Griffin 
Hall,  masses  of  this  rock  rose  up,  ragged  and  twice  as  high  as 
a  man's  head,  on  the  main  street  in  front  of  that  building.  These 
masses  were  broken  down  by  gunpowder  and  thrown  into  the  foun- 
dations of  that  building,  and  the  ground  in  front  was  smoothed  off 
much  as  it  is  at  present ;  but  when  the  trees  were  planted  there, 


60  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

about  1850,  earth,  was  brought  from  a  distance  to  cover  to  a  suffi- 
cient depth  for  their  growth  the  then  almost  naked  limestone  rock, 
which  even  now  appears  here  and  there  above  the  surface.  The 
Eecords  of  the  Trustees,  under  date  of  August  3,  1785,  which  was 
the  second  meeting  of  that  body,  reveal  the  fact,  that  there  had  been 
long  before  a  lime-kiln  near  where  the  Soldiers'  Monument  now 
stands ;  because  they  passed  a  vote  at  that  time  to  erect  their  first 
building  for  the  Free  School  either  "upon  the  eminence  south  of 
Mr.  William  Horsford's  house  [where  the  West  College  now 
stands],  or  upon  the  eminence  further  east  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  Captain  Isaac  Searle's  lot  [where  Clark  Hall  now  stands],  oppo- 
site the  old  lime-kiln,  as  the  Corporation  shall  hereafter  determine." 

At  present  the  only  place  in  the  village,  or  near  it,  in  which  the 
native  rock  stands  out  boldly,  is  directly  in  the  rear  of  the  chapel, 
where. the  western  wall  of  the  hill  itself  is  a  picturesque  and  perpen- 
dicular mass  of  limestone  about  fifteen  feet  high,  full  of  scars  and 
cracks  and  crevices  and  old  geologic  wrinkles. 

In  the  autumn  of  18§4  the  writer  had  the  pleasure  and  profit  of 
studying  this  limestone  formation  carefully,  under  the  personal 
instruction  of  Professor  Dana,  of  Kew  Haven,  then,  and  for  a  long 
time  previous,  the  foremost  geologist  in  the  United  States.  He 
exhibited  the  proofs  on  the  spot  and  in  detail,  that  this  bed-rock 
not  only  covers  all  the  central  valleys  of  Williamstown  at  no  great 
depth  beneath  the  surface,  but  also  that  it  crowds  up  into  the  clove 
of  the  Hopper,  and  there  dips  under  the  range  of  Greylock,  and 
reappears  upon  the  other  side  in  the  town  of  Adams,  where  the 
inclination  is  towards  the  west,  while  the  dip  on  this  side  is  pretty 
uniformly  towards  the  east. 

"Most  limestones  have  been  formed  from  shells  and  corals  ground 
up  by  the  action  of  the  sea,  and  afterwards  consolidated.  The  com- 
position is  usually  the  same  as  carbonate  of  lime,  except  that 
impurities,  as  clay  or  sand,  are  often  present.  Carbonate  of  lime 
is  one  of  the  most  universal  of  minerals.  It  is  the  ingredient  of  a 
very  large  part  of  the  limestones  of  the  world,  and  these  include 
the  various  true  marbles.  When  free  from  impurities,  it  consists 
of  carbonic  acid  forty-four  parts,  and  limestone  fifty-six  parts.  In 
common  limestone,  oxygen  is  forty-eight  per  cent  of  the  whole." 
(Dana.)  These  simple  facts  of  science  account  for  much  in  the 
soil,  and  for  something  in  the  history,  of  central  Williamstown. 
The  soil  of  course  is  calcareous,  that  is,  a  soil  full  of  lime,  and  there 
is  also  much  iron  in  it,  partly  because  there  is  iron  in  the  limestone, 
and  partly  because  there  is  a  large  deposit  of  iron  ore,  which  was 


SITUATION.  61 

once  profitably  worked  on  the  slope  of  Mdunt  Williams,  and  such 
ore  was  doubtless  more  or  less  diffused  in  the  region.  The  presence 
of  oxygen  and  iron  and  lime  in  and  uix)n  the  rock  frets  it  contin- 
ually. Oxidation  is  followed  by  disintegration,  and  gives  rise  to  the 
reddish-brown  dust  which  always  covers  the  limestone  boulders 
embedded  in  the  soil,  and  which  constantly  enriches  and  strengthens 
_it  for  the  purposes  of  agriculture.     This  our  limestone  soil,  conse- 

lently,  is  good,  has  a  body  to  it,  takes  kindly  to  other  fertilizers, 

)ws  unsurpassed  grasses  and  vegetables,  and  though  for  some 
reason  no  longer  favorable  to  wheat,  is  still  as  good  for  corn  as  any 
land  in  the  world. 

Carbonic  acid  is  two  parts  oxygen  and  one  part  carbon.  All  that 
is  needful  in  order  to  burn  pure  limestone  into  lime,  is  to  throw 
off  the  carbonic  acid  by  heat,  which  leaves  a  pure  lime.  Tlie  lime- 
stone here,  however,  has  too  many  of  the  impurities  spoken  of  above 
to  make  a  good  lime ;  and  this  is  undoubtedly  the  reason  why  the 
"lime-kiln"  in  the  main  street,  spoken  of  as  "old"  even  in  1785, 
was  abandoned. 

The  rock  next  in  importance  to  this  limestone  of  our  valleys, 
which  itself  extends  uninterruptedly  to  the  north  and  becomes 
the  great  central  marble  belt  of  Vermont,  is  the  mica  schist  of 
all  our  encircling  hills.  The  Taconics  and  their  lower  eminences 
towards  the  valley,  the  whole  mass  of  Saddle  Mountain  in  every 
part  of  it,  and  for  the  most  part  the  East  Mountiiin  also,  with  its 
four  uplifts  already  described,  are  composed  of  this  slaty  and  schis- 
tose and  most  useful  rock.  Its  constituents  are  the  same  as  those 
of  granite  and  gneiss,  containing,  however,  relatively  more  quartz 
and  more  mica  and  less  feldspar  than  these.  Since  common  clay 
is  a  mixture  of  powdered  feldspar  and  quartz,  and  is  composed  of 
just  one-half  of  oxygen,  and  the  sand  which  comes  from  quartz  is 
more  than  one-half  of  oxygen,  and  feldspar  only  a  little  less  than 
one-half,  these  two  things  follow  as  a  matter  of  course  from  the 
great  abundance  and  lofty  place  of  mica  schist  in  all  the  mountains 
round  about;  namely,  first,  that  clay  must  be  a  large  ingredient  in 
the  soil  of  all  the  contiguous  valleys  and  farms ;  and  second,  that 
substances  so  largely  composed  of  oxygen  as  clay  and  sand  are,  will 
easily  burn  and  fuse,  and  consequently  that  common  bricks  have 
naturally  been  burned  and  built  with  in  almost  every  part  of  this 
town  from  the  first.  All  the  early  College  buildings,  for  example, 
as  well  as  many  farmhouses  and  other  dwellings,  were  built  of  brick 
burned  out  of  the  clay  and  sand  of  the  immediate  localities. 

In  the  course  of  ages,  vast  beds  of  clay  have  slipped  down  from 


62  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  sides  and  gorges  of  these  schistose  mountains;  for  example, 
adown  the  three  sides  of  the  Hopper  and  the  slopes  of  Mount  Pros- 
pect and  Mount  Williams  :  and  there  they  lie  to-day,  underneath  the 
farms  and  roads  of  a  large  part  of  our  territory.  One  such  deposit 
of  clay  from  the  cleft  between  Williams  and  Prospect,  and  which 
lies  near  the  Baker  Bridge  and  the  east  line  of  Williamstown,  fur- 
nished for  nearly  a  century  materials  for  brick-burning,  and  for  a 
time  also  for  a  coarse  pottery  work  made  at  the  east  end  of  the 
village  by  a  Mr.  Faxon,  of  Hartford.  Clay  roads  are  uncomfortable 
in  the  springtime  when  they  are  heaved  up  by  the  frost,  and  some- 
times even  dangerous  by  means  of  breaking  through  the  lifted  crust ; 
but  for  the  summer  and  autumn  they  are  the  best  roads  in  the  world, 
—  hard  and  smooth,  Nature's  own  aluminated  pavement. 

These  slaty  slopes  and  hilltops,  reinvigorated  by  the  constantly 
disintegrating  rocks  above  them  and  underneath  them,  make  very 
early  and  very  fertile  land.  S'ometimes  the  very  plough  manures 
the  soil  as  it  traces  the  furrow.  The  farms  on  Bee  Hill,  for  example, 
and  on  the  slopes  of  Prospect  south  of  Blackinton,  are  perhaps  a 
week  earlier  in  springtime  than  the  colder  calcareous  lands  along  the 
river  bottoms ;  but  the  latter  are,  after  all,  a  stronger  and  heartier 
soil,  —  lime  and  iron  are  good  for  the  land,  —  while,  nevertheless, 
these  rough  and  slaty  uplands  grow  warm  in  the  sun,  drain  easily, 
partially  renew  themselves  from  the  fretting  rock  beneath;  and, 
when  the  clays  are  not  too  stiff,  are  worked  without  difficulty,  and 
bountifully  reward  the  farmer's  toil  by  all  the  crops  adapted  to  such 
a  soil. 

There  is  but  one  other  native  rock  in  Williamstown  besides  these 
two,  and  that  is  confined  to  a  narrow  belt  along  the  north  side  of 
the  Hoosac  Eiver,  and  to  a  still  narrower  section  upon  the  highest 
parts  of  Stone  Hill,  namely,  quartzite.  There  are  quartzite  boulders 
of  all  sizes,  locally  called  "  hardheads,"  scattered  all  over  the  area  of 
the  town,  even  to  the  tops  of  the  highest  hills,  and  these  were  doubt- 
less brought  hither  from  a  distance  in  the  period  of  the  glaciers ; 
but  quartzite  in  situ  is  only  now  to  be  found  in  the  two  places  just 
indicated.  Dana  defines  quartzite  as  "a  hard,  compact  rock,  con- 
sisting of  quartz  grains  or  sand,  and  usually  either  white,  gray,  or 
grayish  red  in  color.  It  is  but  a  step  removed  from  ordinary  sand- 
stone, and  owes  its  peculiarities  to  metamorphic  agencies."  When 
the  railroad  was  built  west  from  North  Adams  through  Williams- 
town, it  became  needful  to  make  a  deep  cut  at  Braytonville  through 
this  hard  quartzite,  and  several  successive  contractors  are  said  to 
have  been  ruined  through  gross  underestimates  of  its  hardness  and 


SITUATION.  63 

difficulty  in  working.  Long  afterwards,  however,  the  broken  rock 
from  this  cutting  and  from  other  cuttings  instituted  for  the  purpose, 
was  found  to  be  the  most  useful  material  obtainable  for  ballasting 
the  entire  road. 

Quartzite  is  especially  associated  with  sand,  as  mica  schist  is  with 
clay,  and  nearly  all  the  sandy  land  in  Williamstown  is  found  to  the 
north  of  the  Hoosac,  and  in  more  or  less  connection  with  this  species 
of  rock.  There  are,  however,  no  great  deposits  in  town  of  white 
sand,  once  disintegrated  from  this  rock,  or  once  the  source  whence 
the  rock  was  formed,  whichever  of  the  two  views  be  the  right  one 
in  geology,  as  there  are  in  the  neighboring  towns  of  Lanesboro  and 
Cheshire,  where  such  deposits  have  long  been  utilized  in  the  manu- 
facture of  glass  products  on  the  spot,  and  been  exported  also  for  that 
purpose  to  great  distances  and  in  immense  quantities.  It  is  probable 
that  there  may  be  a  small  deposit  of  white  sand  in  some  connection 
with  the  quartzite  somewhere  in  the  White  Oaks,  because  the 
''Ballous,"  a  noted  family  there,  brought  sand  into  the  street  for 
scrubbing  purposes  for  several  generations ;  and  when  one  or  another 
were  asked  where  they  got  it,  their  half-witted  answer  commonly 
was,  "Oh!  we  fine  it!"  But  it  has  been  the  opinion  of  many  that 
they  rather  pounded  it  from  the  partially  pulverized  rock,  than  found 
it  free  in  any  special  deposit,  which,  if  it  exist,  was  never  reported 
as  seen  by  other  inhabitants  of  that  locality. 

Much  more  local  interest  attaches  to  this  odd  "  Ballou "  family, 
pronounced  as  if  it  were  "  Blue,"  whitish  mulattoes,  as  some  have 
said,  very  dark  whites,  as  has  been  asserted  by  others,  extremely 
dirty  in  either  case,  than  whether  there  be  free  white  sand  in  some 
corner  of  the  White  Oaks.  "  Are  the  Blues  blacks,  or  blue-blacks  ?  " 
has  been  a  long-standing  conundrum  with  the  generous  and  inquisi- 
tive people  of  Williamstown. 

Aaron  Ballou  was  a  poor  cripple  nearly  doubled  together,  his 
head  almost  between  his  legs,  who  was  often  seen  in  the  street 
selling  sand,  or,  more  rarely,  begging,  and  who  died  on  Oak  Hill, 
May  30,  1876.  His  brother  Amasa,  with  others,  was  frozen  to 
death  in  the  road  over  the  Petersburg  Pass  the  night  of  the  16th 
of  April,  1857.  A  brother  of  these  two  was  named  after  good 
Deacon  Deodatus  Noble;  and  that  the  whole  family  have  been 
underwitted  may  be  illustrated  by  what  was  said  to  him  by  another 
brother  of  still  a  third  one :  "  Date,  Dan's  sick  as  hell,  —  can't 
live,  'fore  mornin'."  Another  member  of  the  family,  an  uncle  of 
these  just  mentioned,  so  far  as  relationships  can  be  made  out  in  a 
family  given  to  miscegenation,  a  strong  man,  used  to  do  little  jobs 


64  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

in  the  street  as  occasion  offered.  Old  Christopher  Penniman,  a 
wholesale  butcher,  who  dealt  in  salt  and  salted  meat  as  well  as 
cattle,  sometimes  employed  him.  One  day  a  load  of  salt  in  bags 
had  to  be  taken  from  the  wagon ;  and  Harvey  and  Chester  Penni- 
man, sons  of  the  proprietor,  and  young  bucks  of  the  town,  mounted 
the  wagon  to  lay  on  the  stout  shoulders  of  the  White  Oaker  the 
heavy  bags.  Tossing  one  in  sport  pretty  vigorously  to  its  destina- 
tion, they  were  rewarded  by  this  ejaculation  sputtered  out  from 
between  gritted  teeth,  "  I,  gy !  more  buk  there  'n  heft ! " 

Notwithstanding  its  great  abundance  only  a  few  miles  to  the  south, 
there  is  comparatively  little  pure  sand  to  be  found  within  the  town's 
limits,  and  it  has  sometimes  proven  difficult  to  procure  sand  even 
good  enough  and  abundant  enough  for  the  purposes  of  the  stone 
mason  and  plasterer.  The  Sand  Spring,  as  its  name  implies,  bubbles 
up  profusely  through  fine  sand ;  and  it  was  along  the  course  of 
Broad  Brook,  which  flows  near  to  this  spring,  that  the  only  pine 
timber  of  consequence  was  found  by  the  early  settlers,  so  close  is 
the  native  affinity  between  pines  and  the  sand ;  and  pines  of  a  later 
growth  are  starting  up  again  at  present  over  a  sandy  hill  along  the 
Hoosac,  north  and  east  of  the  mouth  of  that  brook,  where  two  pine 
lots  were  located  in  1765,  and  to  some  extent  in  other  places  north 
of  the  Hoosac ;  and  there  is  a  large  sandy  hill  east  of  the  Green 
River  and  over  against  Water  Street,  and  another  on  Hemlock  Brook 
near  the  west  end  of  the  village,  and  there  is  some  sandy  or  rather 
gravelly  soil  between  the  two  main  tributaries  of  Green  River  at  the 
south  part  of  the  town ;  and  some  of  the  alluvial  land  along  the 
Hoosac  may  perhaps  be  called  sandy,  as,  for  instance,  on  the  old  Kel- 
logg farm,  now  owned  by  F.  G.  Smedley,  whence  of  late  years  some 
sand  has  been  brought  to  the  village  for  use  in  making  mortar. 

From  the  three  species  of  native  rock,  to  which  attention  has  now 
been  called,  the  materials  of  the  soil  have  been  so  well  mixed  to- 
gether by  Nature,  —  the  clay  and  sand  and  lime  and  iron  have  been 
so  well  adjusted  into  loam,  —  that  the  land  is  generally  productive, 
and  might  be  made  far  more  so  than  it  is,  by  a  more  skilful  and 
laborious  husbandry.  The  lower  slopes  of  North  West  Hill,  as  they 
approach  Birch  Brook  and  Hemlock  Brook,  have  always  been 
esteemed  among  the  best  lands  in  the  town  :  the  farm  cleared  up 
by  Joseph  Tallmadge,  and  now  owned  by  Colonel  A.  L.  Hopkins,  has 
generally  been  regarded  the  best  grain  farm  in  town  ;  while  the 
farm  along  the  Green  River,  which  began  to  be  cleared  by  Ichabod 
Southwick  as  early  as  1763,  and  is  now  owned  and  tilled  by  Deacon 
Stephen  Hickcox,  may  hardly  be  reckoned  under  his  efficient  culture 


SITUATION.  65 

inferior  to  the  best.  There  is  more  of  excellent  land  on  the 
southerly  slope  of  Stone  Hill,  and  the  northerly  slopes  of  Prospect, 
on  the  slaty  rolls  of  Birch  and  Bee  hills,  as  well  as  on  the  lime- 
stone levels  of  the  central  uplands  and  the  alluvial  levels  of  the  two 
main  rivers.  ^ 

Now,  as  the  soil  in  general  is  good,  so  the  seasons  are  commonly 
favorable  to  the  crops  cultivated  in  this  region.  Indeed,  the  spring 
season  opens  earlier  than  one  would  suppose  from  the  looks  of 
things  here  in  midwinter;  for  on  the  first  day  of  April,  1868, 
Albert  Hopkins  found  in  bloom  the  trailing  arbutus  (epigera),  the 
silverleaf  (hepatica),  the  aspen,  and  the  alder.  This  was  a  little 
earlier  than  is  usual,  while  in  the  course  of  that  month  blossoms  are 
always  found  on  the  elm,  the  soft  maple,  the  willows,  the  leather- 
wood,  the  coltsfoot,  the  bloodroot,  the  spring-beauty,  the  wake-robin, 
and  the  violets.  The  birds,  too,  come  early,  the  bluebirds  within 
a  day  or  two  of  March  15,  the  robins  in  considerable  numbers  about 
the  same  time,  the  sparrows  and  blackbirds  and  meadow  larks  in  the 
last  days  of  March  or  first  days  of  April. 

There  is  usually  no  lack  and  no  excess  of  rain  for  the  best 
purposes  of  agriculture.  Occasionally  a  season  will  be  so  dry  as  to 
have  the  term  "drought"  applied  to  it  by  those  who  cultivate  the 
more  sandy  or  gravelly  lands ;  sometimes,  too,  the  springtime  will 
seem  to  be  wet  and  backward,  as  when,  for  instance,  the  average  tem- 
perature of  the  11th  of  June,  1869,  was  as  low  as  fifty-two  degrees ; 
but  a  late  spring  does  not  import  a  deficient  harvest,  because  Nature 
has  the  knack  of  making  up  for  lost  time ;  and  all  these  matters  of 
heat  and  moisture  seem  to  be  attempered  to  the  average  needs  of 
our  soil  and  crops.  Wheat  is  no  longer  much  raised  on  the  farms 
in  Williamstown,  nor  rye ;  com,  oats,  buckwheat,  and  barley  are  the 
principal  cereals,  while  grass,  potatoes,  and  the  edible  roots  pretty 
much  round  out  the  circle  of  the  agriculture;  as  orchards,  small 
fruits,  and  garden  vegetables  are  the  main  items  of  the  horticulture. 
It  is  true  that  an  impatient  farmer  in  haying-time,  or  a  gardener 
whose  weeds  are  getting  the  start  of  his  plants,  may  sometimes  take 
up  the  burden,  if  not  the  words,  of  Shakspeare,  —  "  And  the  rain  it 
raineth  every  day " ;  but  in  the  whole  upshot  of  the  season  it  is 
generally  allowed  by  all,  that  the  climatic  influences  of  all  sorts  are 
wisely  ordained,  even  in  reference  to  the  requisites  of  the  average 
products  of  the  soil ;  and  in  all  kinds  of  seasons,  early  or  late,  dry 

1  See  the  Lowell  Lectures  entitled  "Agriculture,"  of  Deacon  Alexander  Hyde  ; 
Chester  Dewey,  in  Introduction  to  Field's  Berkshire ;  and  I  liave  derivetl  information 
as  to  soils  from  my  colleague,  Chadbourne,  and  my  father-iu-Iaw,  James  Smedley. 


66  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

or  wet,  warm  or  cold,  it  is  the  joy  of  the  springtime  to  watch  the 
vegetation  creep  slowly  up  the  sides  of  the  mountains  to  their  top. 
Mount  Williams,  for  example,  rises  about  2400  feet  directly  up  from 
the  Hoosac  and  the  meadow  on  which  Eort  Massachusetts  once 
stood ;  and  there  is  room,  accordingly,  for  many  zones  of  vegetation 
between  the  valley  and  the  summit,  and  in  a  late  season  the  foliage 
on  the  trees  at  the  very  top  is  not  visible  in  the  valley  before  the 
8th  of  June. 

Ephraim  Williams,  Senior,  who  officially  traversed  many  parts  of 
the  present  town  of  Williamstown  in  1739,  then  in  its  primeval 
wildness,  in  obedience  to  a  Resolve  of  the  General  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts, did  not  put  upon  record  in  his  report  to  that  body  any 
detailed  description  of  its  territory,  or  any  transcript  at  length  of 
his  own  impressions  in  regard  to  it ;  and  just  about  the  same  may  be 
said  of  Richard  Hazen,  surveyor  for  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, who  looked  down  upon  its  area,  certainly  with  admiration,  from 
what  we  now  call  Mount  Hazen,  two  years  later  than  that,  in  1741 ; 
still  we  fortunately  possess  from  the  polished  pens  of  three  gentle- 
men of  times  long  subsequent  to  theirs,  all  of  them  comparatively 
strangers  to  the  place,  and  each  of  them  differing  widely  from  the 
others  in  social  position  and  general  standpoint,  their  personal 
impressions  received  by  casual  views  of  our  valley  and  of  its  envi- 
ronment ;  and  this  initial  chapter  of  our  book  on  Williamstown  will 
now  be  brought  to  a  conclusion  by  the  use  of  a  quotation  from  each 
of  these  three  gentlemen,  of  whom  but  one  was  a  native  of  this 
country,  and  one  of  the  other  two  only  a  transient  traveller  through 
it  in  1883,  recording  afterwards  in  a  pleasant  volume  what  he  saw 
and  what  he  thought  about  it  at  the  time. 

James  McCosh,  a  Scotchman  till  1868,  then  a  long  time  president 
of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  and  resident  of  Princeton,  wrote  of 
Williamstown  as  follows :  "  It  is  placed  on  a  knoll  in  the  heart  of 
a  capacious  hollow,  surrounded  with  imposing  mountains.  It  struck 
me  as  a  spot  at  which  the  Last  Judgment  might  be  held,  with  the 
universe  assembled  on  the  slopes  of  the  encircling  hills." 

Daniel  Pidgeon,  F.G.S.,  an  English  tourist,  with  a  sharp  eye  in 
his  head  for  natural  objects,  and  with  an  uncommon  faculty  for 
interpreting  the  social  conditions  of  the  New  World,  thus  frankly 
jots  down  his  own  impressions  :  — 

A  charming  stage  ride  of  four  miles,  following  the  Hoosac  River  past  the  foot 
of  Greylock,  brought  me  to  Williamstown,  which  peaceful  and  academical  vil- 
lage lies  buried,  like  Adams,  among  mountains,  here  enclosing  a  lovely  triangular 
valley,  where  the  Green  River  joins  the  Hoosac  in  its  course  to  the  Hudson. 


SITUATION. 


67 


The  town  is  built  on  a  boldly  undulating  plateau  of  limestone,  which,  rising  to  a 
considerable  height  from  the  lower  ground,  affords  magnificent  views  of  the 
encircling  hills,  whose  forest-covered  crests  tower  to  heights  of  tliree  and  four 
thousand  feet.  The  valley  is  wholly  settled  by  farmers  ;  there  is  not  a  manu- 
factory and  hardly  a  retail  shop  in  the  village,  whose  pretty  white  bungalows 
rise  from  park-like  and  elm-shaded  stretches  of  turf,  while  the  undulating  main 
street  is  bordered  at  intervals  by  the  halls,  chapel,  museum,  and  library  of  Wil- 
liams College.  The  college  buildings  are  for  the  most  part  plain  and  without  any 
academic  air,  but,  spite  of  a  chapel  like  the  conventicle  of  an  English  country 
town,  a  very  unpretentious  library,  and  a  number  of  barrack-like  "  halls"  where 
the  men  live,  its  romantic  situation,  park-enfolded  homes,  and  peaceful  atmos- 
phere, place  Williamstown  easily  ahead  of  every  other  New  England  village  for 
beauty.  The  *♦  secret  societies"  are  nothing  more  than  students'  clubs,  which 
affect  a  little  mystery  in  their  organization,  and  are  distinguished  by  crypto- 
gramic  titles,  whose  meaning  is  only  known  to  the  members.  Thus  the  letters, 
A,  A,  *,  carved  on  the  facade  of  the  meeting-room  of  one  of  the  largest  socie- 
ties, may  possible  signify  aev  5eivoi  <payeiv  (always  terrible  eaters),  although  noth- 
ing beyond  examples,  it  is  said,  supports  this  view  of  the  case.  Some  of  these 
clubs  are  wealthy  institutions  ;  old  members,  who  have  succeeded  in  life,  delight- 
ing to  bring  liberal  offerings  to  the  lares  and  penates  of  their  college  days,  so  that 
many  of  them  are  now  housed  in  spacious  and  handsome  temples. 

The  Sabbath  evening  was  still  and  peaceful,  and  I  sat  on  the  veranda  of  the 
hotel,  looking,  by  turns,  up  to  the  wooded  summits  of  East  Mountain,  the  Dome, 
and  Greylock,  already  tinged  with  sunset  pink,  around  upon  the  white,  lawn- 
bordered  homes  of  farmers  and  professors,  or  down  the  dusty  Iloosac  valley, 
where  a  silver  thread  of  water  wound  about,  and  was  finally  lost  sight  of  in  the 
folds  of  Taconics'  forest  robe.  In  the  porch  of  the  *' terrible  eaters'"  lodge, 
just  opposite,  a  group  of  students,  picturesquely  disposed,  was  singing  the  evening 
hymn  in  harmony,  while  above  the  great  gray  hills  a  rising  moon  hung  her 
silver  shield  against  the  sunsefs  crimson.  Thus  the  May  night  fell,  lightly  as 
sleep,  upon  a  scene  of  singular  beauty  and  purity,  closing  a  day  made  delightful 
to  me  by  rest  from  labor  and  labor  questions,  by  some  pleasant  glimpses  of 
American  youth,  and  by  the  bright  anticipations  for  its  manhood  to  which 
ftiose  glimpses  gave  rise. 

The  last  quotation  is  from  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  written  in 
1838,  when  he  described  himself  as  "  the  obscurest  man  of  letters  in 
America."  He  became,  perhaps,  the  most  illustrious  man  of  letters 
in  America.  At  any  rate  he  was  an  American,  in  birth,  in  train- 
ing, in  sympathies,  in  atmosphere,  in  everything. 


Greylock  was  hidden  in  clouds,  and  the  rest  of  Saddle  Mountain  had  one 
partially  wreathed  about  it;  but  it  was  withdrawn  before  long.  It  was  very 
beautiful  cloud  scenery.  The  clouds  lay  on  the  breast  of  the  mountain,  dense, 
white,  well-defined,  and  some  of  them  were  in  such  close  vicinity  that  it  seemed 
as  if  I  could  infold  myself  in  them  ;  while  others,  belonging  to  the  same  fleet, 
were  floating  through  the  blue  sky  above.  I  had  a  view  of  Williamstown,  at 
the  distance  of  a  few  miles, — two  or  three,  perhaps,  — a  white  village  and  steeple 


68  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

in  a  gradual  hollow,  with  high  mountainous  swells  heaving  themselves  up,  like 
immense,  subsiding  waves,  far  and  wide  around  it.  On  these  high  mountain- 
waves  rested  the  white  summer  clouds,  or  they  rested  as  still  in  the  air  above  ; 
and  they  were  formed  into  such  fantastic  shapes  that  they  gave  the  strongest 
possible  impression  of  being  confounded  or  intermixed  with  the  sky.  It  was 
like  a  day-dream  to  look  at  it ;  and  the  students  ought  to  be  day-dreamers,  all 
of  them,  —  when  cloud-land  is  one  and  the  same  thing  with  the  substantial  earth. 
By  degrees  all  these  clouds  flitted  away,  and  the  sultry  summer  sun  burned  on 
hill  and  valley, 


CHAPTER  II. 


FORT    MASSACHUSETTS. 


'  My  sentence  is  for  open  war ;  of  wiles 
More  unexpert,  I  boast  not :  them  let  those 
Contrive  who  need,  or  when  they  need,  not  now." 


—  Milton. 


In  the  summer  of  1609  remarkable  historical  events  took  place 
a  little  to  the  west  and  northwest  of  the  Hoosac  valley,  events  that 
served  to  color  its  after  history  throughout,  and  that  became  in  the 
way  of  preparings  and  developments  the  ground  and  occasion  of  the 
long-subsequent  building  of  Fort  Massachusetts.  On  the  one  hand, 
Henry  Hudson,  an  Englishman  sailing  under  Dutch  authority,  was 
navigating  that  summer  the  river  since  called  by  his  name,  in  a 
small  yacht  christened  the  "  Half  Moon/^  as  far  up  as  the  present 
site  of  Albany ;  one  of  his  boats,  moreover,  running  up  further  to  the 
upper  mouth  of  the  Mohawk,  where  the  old  town  of  "  Half  Moon  " 
still  commemorates  the  name  of  the  craft  that  lay  anchored  below. 
The  mouth  of  the  Hoosac  is  about  ten  miles  still  further  up  the 
river  upon  its  other  bank.  Before  the  yacht  turned  to  descend  the 
stream,  never  till  then  touched  by  the  keel  of  white  men,  Hudson 
handsomely  entertained  on  board  his  ship  the  chief  men  of  the 
Indians  of  the  region,  especially  of  the  Iroquois  or  Six  Nations,  who 
then  inhabited  and  controlled  both  banks  of  the  main  stream  to 
a  good  distance  inland,  and  also  of  its  tributaries,  the  Hoosac  and 
the  Batten  Kill.  The  story  of  this  feast  lingered  clear  in  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Iroquois  for  two  hundred  years,  and  for  nearly  as  long 
a  similar  tradition  was  current  among  the  Mohegans,  whose  chief 
seat  in  historical  times  was  at  Schodack  at  the  mouth  of  Kinder- 
hook  Kill,  somewhat  lower  down  the  river. 

Three  at  least  of  the  white  men  on  board  the  Half  Moon  kept  a 
sort  of  journal  of  events,  and  some  of  these  also  note  the  fact,  that 
Hudson  gave  the  chiefs  "  much  wine  and  aqua  vitije"  ;  that  then  first 
the  northern  Indians  saw  a  drunken  man ;  that  the  rest  "  did  not 

C9 


70  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

know  how  to  take  it,"  thinking  the  man  bewitched,  and  bringing 
their  charms  to  save  him  from  the  strangers'  arts ;  and  that  when 
the  old  chief  promptly  recovered  the  next  day,  after  "  sleeping  all 
night  quietly,"  and  professed  himself  much  delighted  with  the 
experience,  they  held  the  whites  in  high  honor  and  made  Hudson 
"  an  oration  "  after  their  well-known  manner  in  later  times. 

Among  the  results  of  this  fortunate  discovery  and  exploration 
of  the  "  Great  River  of  the  Mountains,"  as  the  Indians  called  it,  was 
the  gradual  establishment  of  the  province  of  New  Netherlands  by 
the  Dutch,  a  fort  and  the  beginnings  of  a  settlement  on  Manhattan 
Island,  dating  from  1613,  and  Fort  Orange  and  a  settlement  on  the 
present  site  of  Albany,  dating  from  1623.  In  1650,  under  the  Dutch 
governor  Stuyvesant,  the  beginnings  of  a  boundary  line  between 
New  Netherlands  and  New  England  were  determined  on  at  Hart- 
ford ;  namely,  to  start  on  the  west  side  of  Greenwich  Bay  about  four 
miles  from  Stamford,  the  line  to  run  thence  up  into  the  country 
twenty  miles,  provided  it  did  not  come  within  ten  miles  of  the 
Hudson  River,  the  Dutch  agreeing  not  to  build  within  six  miles  of 
such  line.  When  the  English  took  forcible  possession  of  the  New 
Netherlands  in  1664,  and  rechristened  the  province  "  New  York,"  and 
Fort  Orange  "Albany,"  after  the  two  titles  of  the  King's  brother, 
later  James  the  Second,  to  whom  the  province  had  been  assigned  by 
Charles  the  Second,  there  was  a  meeting  between  commissioners  of 
Connecticut  and  parties  representing  the  Duke  of  York  and  Albany 
in  relation  to  a  permanent  boundary  line  between  the  two  provinces. 
Good  feeling  prevailed  on  both  sides,  and  a  general  understanding 
was  reached  and  maintained,  that  the  line  should  be  run  about 
twenty  miles  to  the  east  of  Hudson  River.  Nothing  was  expressly 
stipulated  about  the  line  further  north,  as  between  Massachusetts 
and  New  York,  but  the  impression  strongly  prevailed  in  the  former 
colony  that  the  latter  had  virtually  agreed  to  extend  the  same  line 
northwards,  and  so  to  make  the  west  line  of  Massachusetts  also 
about  twenty  miles  from  the  Hudson.  Unfortunately,  however, 
more  than  a  century  elapsed  before  this  boundary  was  definitely 
established  in  1787,  and  in  the  mean  time  mutual  fears  and  jealousies, 
conflicting  claims  and  bafiled  negotiations  often  attempted,  became 
one  main  reason  for  the  building  of  Fort  Massachusetts  in  1745. 
The  Dutch  had  kept  the  good-will  of  the  Six  Nations  for  the  most 
part,  and  transferred  the  same  with  the  province  to  the  English,  a 
circumstance  that  had  a  controlling  influence  upon  historical  events 
for  a  century,  that  is,  until  the  end  of  the  French  and  Indian 
wars. 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  71 

On  the  other  hand,  during  this  same  summer  of  1609,  Samuel 
Cham  plain,  who  the  year  before  had  laid  the  first  foundations  of 
Quebec,  in  the  name  of  King  Henry  IV.,  of  France,  was  sailing 
further  up  the  St.  Lawrence  under  a  royal  commission,  in  company 
with  about  sixty  Indian  warriors  from  the  neighborhood  of  Quebec, 
and  from  the  Ottawa  and  its  tributaries, —  Montagnais  and  Algon- 
quins  and  Hurons,  —  and  then  to  the  south  up  the  river  Richelieu 
into  the  beautiful  lake  then  first  named  by  himself  '<  Champlain." 
His  motive  was  exploration,  description  to  his  king,  and  the  exten- 
sion to  the  southward  of  the  dominion  of  France  ;  and  their  motive 
was  now  to  attack  to  better  advantage,  with  the  help  of  Champlain 
and  his  two  French  companions,  each  of  the  three  armed  with  the 
arquebus,  a  weapon  then  utterly  unknown  in  the  wilderness,  their 
hereditary  and  traditional  enemies,  the  Iroquois  of  central  New 
York.  The  first  time  Champlain  had  entered  the  St.  Lawrence  in 
1603,  he  had  found  encamped  near  the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay, 
at  Tadousac,  a  large  number  of  these  northern  savages,  estimated 
at  a  thousand,  who  had  just  returned  from,  and  were  celebrating 
a  great  victory  over,  the  Iroquois,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Richelieu; 
and  he  had  learned  in  the  mean  time,  and  indeed  was  never  after- 
wards allowed  to  forget,  that  the  region  of  that  stream  and  of  the 
lake  that  drains  through  it  to  the  St.  Lawrence  was  and  had  been 
for  many  generations,  perhaps  for  many  centuries,  the  neutral  and 
uninhabited  battle-ground  between  these  ever  hostile  tribes  and  races 
on  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  northern  and  western  tributaries,  and 
those  tribes  on  the  Mohawk  and  the  lakes  back  of  it  and  the  Hudson 
above  it,  where,  in  all  probability,  on  each  returning  summer  they 
met  in  deadly  conflict,  with  alternating  successes  and  defeats.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  for  this  time,  the  summer  of  1609,  the  battle 
took  place  upon  that  rounded  point  at  the  junction  of  the  waters 
of  Lake  George  with  those  of  Lake  Champlain,  where  nearly  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  afterwards  the  French  built  their  little  fort  Carillon, 
and  the  British  their  famous  and  gigantic  fortress  Ticonderoga. 
The  Mohawks  numbered  two  hundred  and  the  northern  Indians  but 
sixty,  yet  the  presence  of  the  three  Frenchmen  with  firearms  more 
than  made  up  the  difference;  and  the  tumultuous  joy  of  the  latter 
over  their  victory  that  ensued,  issuing,  as  usual,  in  nameless  cruelty 
to  their  captives,  is  set  in  the  graphic  pages  of  Champlain  over 
against  the  sudden  flight  and  utter  dismay  of  the  former  at  the 
strange  and  deadly  weapons  of  their  foes. 

Again  and  yet  again  in  later  years  Champlain  accompanied  similar 
war  parties  of  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins  and  Montagnais  against 


72  ORIGINS  IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

their  brave  and  more  civilized  enemies  of  the  Five  Nations  of  New 
York,  the  second  time  in  1610,  to  a  battle  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Richelieu,  whence  not  a  single  Mohawk  returned  to  tell  the  tale 
of  disaster  and  death;  and  the  third  time  in  1615,  after  an  immense 
circuit  with  a  host  of  savages  up  the  Ottawa  and  by  Lake  Nipissing 
and  Georgian  Bay  and  Lake  Ontario,  to  a  wholly  unsuccessful  attack 
on  the  central  stronghold  of  the  Iroquois,  probably  located  near  the 
foot  of  Seneca  Lake  at  what  is  now  Perry ville,  New  York;  and,  as 
Hudson  gained  for  the  Dutch  and  English,  by  kind  treatment,  tha 
lasting  friendship  of  the  Mohawks  and  their  allies,  so  Cham  plain  and 
his  French  successors  acquired  the  lasting  enmity  of  the  same,  just 
about  in  proportion  to  their  remarkable  success  in  holding  firm  the 
confidence  and  allegiance  of  the  Indians  of  Canada.  In  all  the 
great  wars  that  followed  between  England  and  France,  so  far  as 
their  respective  colonists  in  America  took  part  in  them,  the  Iroquois 
almost  uniformly  sided  with  the  English,  and  the  great  northern 
tribes  cast  in  their  lot  for  better  and  worse  with  the  French,  even  after 
the  fall  of  Quebec  in  1759,  and  until  the  death  of  Pontiac,  the  great 
Ottawa  chief,  in  1769. 

1.  The  first  of  these  wars  is  commonly  called  "King  William's 
War."  It  began  when  the  news  of  the  English  Ee volution,  and  the 
continued  recognition  of  James  II.  nevertheless  by  Louis  XIV., 
reached  the  wilderness  in  1689 ;  and  it  was  terminated  by  the  Peace 
of  Ryswick  in  1697.  In  August  of  the  first-mentioned  year  fifteen 
hundred  of  the  Iroquois  surprised  the  French  town  of  Montreal 
at  break  of  day,  set  fire  to  the  houses,  and  engaged  in  indiscriminate 
massacre.  In  September,  commissioners  from  New  England  held 
a  conference  with  the  Mohawks  at  Albany,  and  asked  for  an  alliance 
and  for  help  in  fighting  the  Abenakis  of  Maine.  "  We  have  burned 
Montreal,"  they  replied ;  "  we  are  allies  of  the  English ;  we  will 
keep  the  chain  unbroken."  But  they  would  not  consent  to  invade 
the  Abenakis.  On  the  other  hand,  in  a  vain  attempt  to  gain  the 
esteem  of  the  Five  Nations  by  a  display  of  prowess,  to  win  them 
to  neutrality  at  least,  if  not  to  friendship,  Frontenac,  the  French 
governor  of  Canada,  planned  and  executed  a  triple  descent  of  French 
and  Indians  into  the  English  provinces ;  one  of  which  struck  Sche- 
nectady at  midnight,  with  the  usual  horrors  of  warwhoop  and  massa- 
cre and  conflagration;  another,  Salmon  Falls,  on  the  Piscataqua, 
where  women  and  children  to  the  number  of  fifty-four  were  either 
murdered  or  carried  captive ;  and  the  third,  the  fort  and  settlement 
in  Casco  Bay,  further  to  the  eastward.  So  it  went,  back  and  forth, 
to  the  weary  close  of  this  great  war. 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS. 


73 


2.  The  next  of  these  colonial  struggles  has  long  been  named 
"  Queen  Anne's  War."  It  arose  in  1703,  and  subsided  with  the  Peace 
of  Utrecht  in  1713.  Vaudreuil,  now  governor  of  Canada,  resolved 
to  conciliate  the  Five  Nations  for  this  war  at  any  cost,  and  so  made 
a  formal  treaty  with  the  Senecas,  which  was  commemorated  by  two 
strings  of  wampum ;  and  to  prevent  any  rupture  of  this  agreement, 
he  determined  to  send  no  war  parties  against  the  English  on  the 
side  of  New  York  at  all,  so  that  it  was  the  province  of  Massachusetts 
that  was  chiefly  desolated  this  time  by  savage  forays  from  Canada. 
Deerfleld  had  been  warned  by  friendly  Mohawks  that  danger  would 
hang  over  it  in  the  winter  of  1704 ;  and  thereafter  there  was  not  a 
niglit  but  the  sentinel  was  abroad,  not  a  house  but  was  fortified  by 
its  little  circle  of  palisades ;  when,  on  the  morning  of  the  first  day 
of  March,  the  snow  lying  four  feet  deep  and  crusted,  a  war  party  of 
200  French  and  142  Indians  who  had  come  on  the  crust  all  the  way 
from  Canada,  after  the  unfaithful  sentinels  had  retired  at  the 
approach  of  dawn,  raised  their  iufernal  yell,  set  the  village  on  fire, 
so  that  only  the  church  and  one  dwelling  escaped,  killed  outright 
forty-seven  of  the  people,  and  made  captives  of  112,  including  the 
minister  and  his  family.  <^  The  Redeemed  Captive,"  written  by  this 
minister,  John  Williams,  after  his  return  from  Canada,  became 
famous  and  acquainted  everybody  in  the  colonies  before  the  next 
war  broke  out  with  a  touching  tale  of  Indian  manners  and  atrocities. 
Four  years  later,  the  destroyer  of  Deerfield,  Hertel  de  Rouville,  led 
a  similar  horde  of  French  and  Indians  to  a  second  and  more  ruthless 
sack  of  Haverhill  on  the  Merrimac,  which  had  also  suffered  similarly 
in  the  previous  war.  No  wonder  the  brave  Peter  Schuyler,  of  Albany, 
sent  the  following  message  to  Governor  Vaudreuil :  "  I  hold  it  my 
duty  towards  God  and  my  neighbor  to  prevent,  if  possible,  these 
barbarous  and  heathen  cruelties.  My  heart  swells  with  indignation 
when  I  think  that  a  war  between  Christian  princes,  bound  to  the 
exactest  laws  of  honor  and  generosity,  which  their  noble  ancestors 
have  illustrated  by  brilliant  examples,  is  degenerating  into  a  savage 
and  boundless  butchery.  These  are  not  the  inetliods  for  tt'iniinating 
the  war." 

3.  "King  George's  War,"  with  which  our  present  chapter  is 
specially  concerned,  commenced  in  1744,  and  was  provisionally 
interrupted  rather  than  definitively  concluded  by  the  Peace  of  Aix 
la  Chapelle  in  1748.  During  this  interval  the  line  of  forts  between 
the  Connecticut  and  the  Hoosac  was  established  and  constructed. 
Fort  Massachusetts  was  the  westernmost  and  chiefest  of  the  whole 
line ;  and  all  were  built  and  manned  under  the  authority  and  at  the 


74  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

expense  of  the  General  Court  of  the  colony.  In  this  brief  interval 
also  the  particular  fort  just  mentioned  was  besieged  and  taken  by 
the  French  and  Indians,  was  then  burnt  by  them,  its  entire  garrison 
taken  captive  to  Canada,  and  then  afterwards  rebuilt  and  regarri- 
soned  by  the  colony,  more  indeed  as  it  turned  out  for  actual  service 
in  the  following  than  in  the  present  war.  By  much  the  greatest 
event,  however,  in  King  George's  War  was  the  capture  from  the 
French,  chiefly  by  Massachusetts  troops,  of  the  Fortress  of  Louisburg 
on  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  in  1745.  This  fortress  had  been  pro- 
nounced by  competent  engineers  to  be  impregnable.  It  was  even 
called  the  "  Gibraltar  of  America."  Obtaining  in  the  General  Court 
a  majority  of  but  one  vote  in  favor  of  the  enterprise,  William 
Shirley,  royal  governor  of  the  colony  from  1741  to  1756,  projected 
and  organized  and  carried  through  under  the  immediate  command 
of  William  Pepperell,  of  Maine,  an  expedition,  comprising  men  of 
the  New  England  colonies  and  a  few  from  the  middle  colonies; 
which,  under  a  motto  suggested  by  Whitefield  for  the  purpose,  — nil 
desperandum  Christo  duce, — completely  reduced  the  renowned  French 
fortress  in  less  than  two  months,  when,  at  the  hearing  of  the  news, 
Boston  bells  rang  out  their  thankful  peals,  while  the  people  humbly 
exclaimed,  "  God  has  gone  out  of  the  way  of  his  common  providence 
in  a  remarkable  and  most  miraculous  manner."  As  we  shall  see  in 
the  sequel,  the  story  of  the  taking  of  Louisburg  connects  itself 
intimately  with  the  story  of  the  line  of  forts  in  western  Massachu- 
setts, insomuch  as  William  Williams,  the  builder  of  Fort  Shirley, 
and  the  rebuilder  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  the  commander  of  the 
line  of  forts,  enlisted  men  out  of  its  garrisons  to  take  them  as 
soldiers  to  Louisburg  at  Shirley's  command,  though  he  arrived  there 
too  late  to  be  of  service  in  the  reduction. 

4.  The  last  and  most  decisive  of  the  great  wars  carried  on  in  the 
wilds  of  America  between  France  and  England,  with  some  parts  of 
which  our  coming  story  will  be  intimately  blended,  is  best  named 
in  America,  also  what  it  has  long  been  called  in  Europe,  the  "  Seven 
Years'  War."  It  was  not  precisely  the  same  seven  years  in  the  two 
cases,  but  it  was  the  same  war,  and  carried  on  with  largely  the  same 
motives  in  the  double  participants  on  each  side.  France  and  Canada 
were  Catholic  and  Jesuit,  England  and  the  colonies  were  intensely 
Protestant ;  besides,  for  a  century  and  a  half  the  two  powers  had 
been  contending  by  sea  and  by  land  for  territorial  supremacy  in 
America.  In  1613  Captain  Argall,  from  Virginia,  had  broken  up  the 
French  settlement  on  the  island  of  Mt.  Desert,  which  gave  rise  to 
an  intercolonial  war  on  the  Atlantic  at  the  very  time  Champlain  was 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  75 

operating  against  the  Five  Nations  from,  his  base  of  Quebec.  As 
early  as  1535,  Cartier  had  sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence  as  far  as 
Montreal,  which  he  named.  The  French  had  a  valid  claim  by- 
exploration  certainly,  and  in  a  partial  sense  by  Christianization  also 
to  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  present  United  States  east  of  the 
^lississippi,  and  they  controlled  that  river  to  its  mouth,  and  its 
northern  tributaries  to  their  sources.  The  Seven  Years'  War  began 
on  this  side  the  water  in  the  valley  of  the  upper  Ohio  in  May,  1754, 
when  Washington,  bearing  a  commission  from  the  governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, captured  a  French  detachment  under  Jumonville  and  killed 
the  commander ;  while  indeed  the  war  was  not  openly  declared  in 
Europe  between  the  two  great  powers  till  1756;  and  the  Peace  of 
Paris  in  1763  closed  the  war  for  good  and  all,  so  far  as  French  claims 
in  America  went,  by  the  surrender  of  Canada  and  the  great  West  to 
Great  Britain,  and  made  peace  for  many  years  in  Europe  also  as 
between  the  two  main  combatants.  Now  it  is  curious  to  notice  that 
the  chief  campaigns  in  this  war,  beginning  in  1755,  were  fought  out 
on  the  old  neutral  battle-ground  of  the  Iroquois  and  Algonquins. 
The  upper  Hudson  and  Lake  George  were  a  war-path  for  the 
English  and  Mohawks  to  Lake  Champlain  and  Canada,  and  the 
Richelieu  and  upper  St.  Lawrence  were  routes  for  French  and 
Indians  to  Lake  George  and  Oswego.  It  is  these  immemorial  routes 
and  battle-grounds  of  the  Indians,  and  later  of  their  civilized  con- 
federates on  the  one  side  and  the  other,  that  connects  the  valleys 
of  the  Hoosac  and  the  Deerfield  and  the  line  of  forts  flanking  the 
two  with  the  vast  events  and  issues  of  the  last  two  French  wars. 

At  the  outbreak  of  King  George's  War  in  1744,  to  which  we  now 
turn  back  to  take  up  causes  and  effects  in  their  historical  order,  the 
colony  of  Massachusetts  was  naturally  enough  intensely  anti-French 
and  zealously  anti-Catholic.  Father  Rale,  a  Jesuit  priest,  a  man  of 
much  vigor  and  scholarly  cultivation,  had  been  established  in  a 
French  mission  among  the  Abenakis  at  Norridgewock,  on  the  upper 
Kennebec,  as  early  as  1695.  He  accompanied  these  Indians  on  their 
hunting  and  fishing  excursions,  and  obtained  a  large  influence  over 
them.  Many  of  them  became  neophytes  and  counted  their  beads 
and  said  their  Ave  Marias.  And  he  was  believed  by  the  New 
Englanders  to  have  instigated  various  Indian  forays  against  the 
settlements  along  the  coast.  The  whole  network  of  Jesuit  missions 
on  the  St.  Lawrence,  on  the  Chaudi^re,  and  on  the  Kennebec  excited 
a  fearful  animosity  in  Massachusetts,  whose  people  ascribed  all 
Indian  hostilities  to  their  machinations.  Rale  was  specially  singled 
out  for  vengeance,  and  a  price  was  set  upon  his  head.     His  forest 


T6  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

chapel  at  Norridgewock  was  burned  down  in  1705 ;  a  second  expe- 
dition in  1722  pillaged  his  cabin  and  chapel,  which  had  been  in  the 
meantime  rebuilt,  carrying  off  among  other  papers,  which  certainly 
confirmed  the  English  suspicions,  his  dictionary  compiled  by  himself 
of  the  Abenaki  language,  now  preserved  as  invaluable  in  the  library 
of  Harvard  College  ;  and  at  last  in  1724  another  English  party  sur- 
prised the  place,  killed  the  priest  at  the  foot  of  his  mission  cross, 
disgracefully  mutilated  his  body,  killing  also  seven  chiefs  who  had 
tried  to  protect  his  sacred  body  by  covering  it  with  their  own.^ 
Twenty  years  later,  accordingly,  when  the  next  formal  war  broke 
out  between  England  and  France,  Massachusetts  carried  into  it  not 
only  an  hereditary  enmity  against  Frenchmen,  but  also  a  fierce  cru- 
sading spirit  against  Catholics  and  Jesuits. 

An  entirely  distinct  set  of  causes  from  these,  however,  contributed 
to  the  great  exertions  made  by  Massachusetts  throughout  King 
George's  War,  and  especially  to  the  building  of  the  line  of  forts  west- 
ward from  the  Connecticut  River.  The  original  charter  of  Massa- 
chusetts extended  the  limits  of  the  colony  to  a  point  "three  miles 
north  of  the  Merrimac  River."  But  what  part  of  Merrimac  Eiver  ? 
The  colony  claimed  that  it  meant  any  part  of  that  river,  and  that  the 
river  was  known  by  that  name  from  the  point  of  junction  of  its  two 
main  branches  in  what  is  now  Franklin,  New  Hampshire;  but 
the  colony  of  New  Hampshire,  which  had  been  mostly  united  with 
Massachusetts  under  one  government  from  its  first  settlement  in 
1623  to  its  final  separation  in  1741,  claimed  in  general  that  the  char- 
ter intended  a  point  three  miles  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  river; 
and  a  great  deal  of  acrimony  attended,  from  first  to  last,  this  contro- 
versy about  the  boundary  line.  New  Hampshire  was  still  feeble  and 
poor,  and  had  declined  to  assume  the  expenses  of  an  independent 
administration  of  government ;  and  yet,  looking  forward  to  that  goal, 
steadily  pushed  its  claim  to  jurisdiction  over  many  townships  which 
its  southern  neighbor  had  founded  and  defended  on  the  territory  in 
dispute.  Unluckily,  as  this  boundary  question  pressed  towards  its 
final  solution  through  all  the  manifold  phases  that  always  attend 
such  controversies,  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  became  odious 
to  the  home  government  in  England  for  persistently  refusing  to  vote 
a  stated  salary  to  the  governors  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  other 

1  The  bell  of  Rale's  chapel  has  been  preserved  in  a  wonderful  way,  and  is  exhib- 
ited in  the  rooms  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society  in  Portland.  It  was  probably 
caught  in  its  fall  from  the  little  tower  when  the  chapel  was  burned,  by  the  crotch  of 
a  pine  tree,  which  gradually  grew  into  it  and  over  it  and  almost  covered  it,  and  thus 
preserved  it  till  it  was  discovered  in  a  log  rafted  to  market  and  about  to  be  sawed.  I 
saw  it  at  Brunswick  some  years  ago  in  a  transverse  section  of  the  log. 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  77 

similar  reasons,  and  New  Hampshire  sent  unscrupulous  agents  to 
England  who  well  knew  how  to  inflame  the  jealousy  that  had  long 
existed  and  was  now  intense  between  the  Crown  and  the  larger 
colony.  It  might,  therefore,  have  been  easily  foreseen  that  the 
Privy  Council,  to  which  the  boundary  matter  had  been  referred  for 
final  settlement,  would  favor  New  Hampshire  in  their  award.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  their  decision,  which  was  ultimate,  took  away  from 
Massachusetts  a  strip  of  territory  fourteen  miles  in  width  and  fifty 
in  length,  jxissing  it  over  to  New  Hampshire,  although  that  colony, 
in  the  previous  controversy,  had  never  dared  even  to  advance  such  a 
claim. 

Both  colonies  would  probably  have  C(ni4»i..iiiised  with  tolerable 
content  on  a  point  three  miles  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  ^lerrimiu', 
and  a  line  drawn  thence  due  west  till  it  met  the  west  line  of  New 
York ;  but  ignorance  of  geography  on  the  part  of  the  l*rivy  Coun- 
cillors, the  ill  repute  of  Massachusetts  with  the  home  government, 
and  the  lack  of  conscience  in  the  New  Hampshire  agents,  conspired 
to  bring  in  the  atrocious  award,  which  was  never  afterwards  modi- 
fied, namely,  that  neither  the  head  nor  mouth  of  the  river,  but  its 
very  southernmost  bend  at  Pawtucket  Falls  (now  Lowell),  was 
meant  in  the  charter,  and  the  boundary  line  should  run  due  west 
from  a  point  "  three  miles  north  "  of  that  particular  spot.  Accord- 
ingly, Jonathan  Belcher,  then  governor  of  both  provinces,  ordered  a 
surveyor  named  Richard  Hazen  to  run  the  line  thus  in  the  spring  of 
1741,  and  it  was  done,  and  the  boundary  has  remained  unaltered  to 
this  day.  This  wretched  affair  bore  such  fruits  of  ill-will  as  between 
the  two  provinces,  and  of  consequent  embarrassments  to  the  Crown, 
that  Belcher  was  recalled  from  his  double  government,  and  New 
Hampshire  became  a  separate  province,  receiving  Benning  Went- 
worth  as  first  royal  governor  in  1741. 

Under  this  condition  of  sore  feeling  towards  the  neighbor  colony 
and  the  mother  country,  under  the  acute  sense  of  having  been 
grossly  wronged  by  them  both,  the  magnanimity  of  Massachusetts 
towards  them  both  at  the  time  King  George's  War  broke  out  three 
years  later  is  beyond  all  praise  and  all  precedent.  New  Hampshire 
professed  herself  pecuniarily  unable  to  defend  the  towns  and  man 
the  forts  on  the  newly  gained  territory  against  the  French  and 
Indians,  and  appealed  to  Massachusetts  to  continue  to  do  in  these 
mJitters  just  as  she  would  were  the  territory  still  her  own,  and  the 
General  Court  responded  to  this  request  promptly  and  liberally,  not 
only  throughout  this  war,  but  through  the  next  also.  Massachu- 
setts had  built  for  the  defence  of  her  towns  in  the  valley  of  the 


78  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Connecticut  in  1724,  in  connection  with  the  troubles  and  hostilities 
arising  about  the  operations  of  Father  Rale,  Fort  Dummer  on  the 
west  bank  of  that  river  a  little  below  the  present  village  of  Brattle- 
boro;  and  by  Hazen's  line  this  fort  was  now  thrown  into  New 
Hampshire  ;  yet  the  General  Court  hastened  to  garrison  it  with 
Massachusetts  men,  in  connection  with  several  smaller  forts  on  or 
near  the  river  south  of  the  line.  Much  more  than  this,  in  the  very 
teeth  of  French  and  Indian  hostilities  in  the  region,  Massachusetts 
defences  were  pushed  up  the  river  thirty  miles  from  Fort  Dummer, 
and  a  fort  built  on  the  east  bank  called  Fort  Number  Four,  now 
Charlestown,  New  Hampshire.  Captain  Phineas  Stevens,  of  Sud- 
bury, was  sent  thither  in  1746  with  a  company  of  brave  men.  He 
and  they  showed  such  conduct  and  gained  such  successes  in  that 
neighborhood  on  several  occasions  during  this  year  and  the  two  next, 
that  the  British  Commodore,  Charles  Knowles,  then  off  our  coast 
with  a  fleet,  sent  Captain  Stevens  in  recognition  a  valuable  sword, 
which  incidentally  occasioned  the  renaming  of  Number  Four  as 
Charlestoivn,  although  the  old  name  stuck  to  the  spot  more  or  less 
for  a  century,  especially  in  the  mouths  of  later  settlers  in  the  upper 
Connecticut  valley,  for  whom  the  place  was  the  base  of  their  early 
supplies.    Stevens  commanded  there  till  1750,  and  died  there  in  1756. 

Massachusetts  at  the  same  time,  instead  of  nourishing  her  grudge 
against  England  on  account  of  the  undoubted  wrong  received,  fitted 
out  the  expedition  against  Louisburg  in  1745,  and  laid  at  the  King's 
feet  in  triumph,  the  strongest  French  fortress  in  America. 

As  each  one  in  the  direct  line  of  forts  built  west  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Eiver  in  this  war  was  located  within  two  or  three  miles  of  Hazen's 
line,  it  is  diflB.cult  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  the  colony,  curtailed 
as  it  had  been  in  its  territory,  was  now  determined  to  maintain  what 
was  left  to  it  at  all  hazards  and  against  all  comers. 

And  there  was  a  third  consideration  that  had  to  do  with  the  build- 
ing of  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  one  still  further  west  projected  but 
never  built.  The  boundary  line  between  New  York  and  Massachu- 
setts was  still  unsettled.  Surveyor  Hazen  was  directed  to  carry 
his  line  west  till  it  should  meet  "his  Majesty's  other  governments." 
When  he  reached  the  top  of  the  Taconics  two  miles  west  of  Williams- 
town,  he  supposed  his  duty  was  fulfilled,  although  for  convenience 
he  extended  his  line  to  the  Hudson ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  forty- 
six  years  later  the  official  New  York  line  crossed  his  own  very  near 
the  spot  where  he  supposed  it  would ;  but  for  all  that,  in  all  the 
years  of  these  French  wars,  and  especially  after  her  experience  of 
1741,  Massachusetts  was  nervous  and  anxious  about  her  western 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  79 

boundary.  Commission  after  commission  was  raised  by  the  General 
Court  to  sit  with  similar  commissions  raised  by  the  sister  colony  to 
lay  for  good,  if  possible,  this  troublesome  specter,  but  no  progress 
seemed  to  be  gained  by  all  the  pains ;  in  the  meantime  Dutch  farm- 
ers owning  allegiance  to  New  York,  were  creeping  up  the  Hoosac 
into  what  is  now  Petersburg  and  Pownal,  and  Livingston's  Patent 
was  held  to  extend  over  into  the  valley  of  the  Housatonic,  and  Dutch 
and  other  settlers  had  cleared  lands  within  that  valley  which  Massar 
chusetts  was  sure  were  her  own ;  and  when,  accordingly,  the  west- 
ernmost fort  was  erected  in  1745,  there  was  doubtless  some  tinge 
of  defiance  as  well  as  of  determined  colony  pride  in  its  christen- 
ing, —  Fort  Massachusetts. 

The  first  martial  note  raised  by  the  Massachusetts  colony  in  King 
George's  War,  was  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  three  by  Gov- 
ernor Shirley  to  build  a  line  of  forts  "  from  Col  rain  to  the  Dutch  set- 
tlements." Shirley  had  succeeded  -Belcher  on  his  recall  in  1741, 
and,  as  British-born  and  Boston-trained,  became  a  loyal  and  active 
and  able  colonial  governor  for  fifteen  years,  though  for  about  half 
that  interval  he  was  absent  in  England,  when  Spencer  Phips,  as  lieu- 
tenant-governor, acted  wisely  in  his  stead.  The  chairman  of  this 
committee  was  John  Stoddard,  of  Northampton,  who  practically 
came  to  do  all  its  work,  though  nominally  associated  with  him  were 
Oliver  Partridge,  of  Hatfield,  and  John  Leonard,  of  a  noted  colonial 
family  to  the  eastward.  Stoddard  was  the  leading  figure  and  con- 
trolling spirit  at  the  west  throughout  this  war.  He  was  the  Colonel 
of  the  Hampshire  militia  till  his  death  in  1748,  at  the  time  when 
"  Hampshire"  covered  all  the  colony  west  of  the  Connecticut  River. 
In  a  multitudinous  public  service  as  legislator,  military  officer,  and 
judge,  he  showed  himself  to  be  a  vigorous  man,  as  he  belonged  also 
to  a  vigorous  race.  His  grandfather  was  Anthony,  who  emigrated 
from  London  to  Boston  in  1639,  with  Mary  Downing  his  wife,  sister 
of  Sir  George  Downing,  after  whom  the  present  Government  Street 
in  Westminster  is  named.  His  father  was  Reverend  Solomon,  long 
the  noted  minister  of  Northampton,  a  successful  preacher  and  a 
theological  controversialist,  three  of  whose  daughters  married  into 
the  Williams  family;  one  other  became  the  mother  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  and  one  other  the  mother  of  Joseph  Hawley;  so  that 
Colonel  John  Stoddard  was  own  uncle  to  the  Captain  William 
Williams  soon  to  be  spoken  of,  and  also  to  the  two  other  cele- 
brated characters  soon  to  be  spoken  of.  We  shall  see  in  these 
chapters  that  nepotism  played  a  great  part  in  the  colonial  period, 
and  particularly  in  the  Williams  family. 


80  ORIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

July  20,  1744,  Stoddard  wrote  a  letter  from.  Northampton  to 
Captain  William  Williams,  which  is  still  extant,  in  his  own  hand, 
and  which  till  now  has  never  been  printed,  on  the  top  of  the  sheet 
of  which  stands  this  memorandum  :  — 

The  fort  60  feet  Square  Houses  11  feet  wide  Mounts  12  feet  Square  7  feet  high 
12  feet  High  the  fort  roof  of  ye  Houses  to  be  shingled  the  Soldiers  Employed  to 
be  allowed  the  Carpenter  nine  shillings  others  six  shillings  a  day  Old  Tenor. 

Then  follows  the  letter  itself,  which  is  the  foundation  document 
in  the  history  of  northwestern  Massachusetts  :  — 

Sir  you  are  hereby  Directed  as  soon  as  may  be  to  Erect  a  fort  of  the  Dimen- 
sions above  mentioned,  and  you  are  to  employ  ye  soldiers  under  your  Command, 
viz  such  of  them  as  are  effective  men  and  to  allow  them  by  ye  day  in  manner  as 
above  expressed  and  in  case  your  soldiers  chuse  rather  to  undertake  to  build  sd 
fort  for  a  sum  in  Gross  or  by  ye  Great  you  may  promise  them  Two  Hundred 
pounds  old  Tenor  Exclusive  of  the  Nails  that  may  be  necessary  the  fort  is  to  be 
erected  about  five  miles  and  a  half  from  Hugh  Morrison's  house  in  Colrain  in  or 
near  the  line  run  last  week  Under  the  direction  of  Colo  Tim"  Dwight  by  our 
order  and  you  are  hereby  further  directed  as  you  may  have  Opportunity  to 
Search  out  some  Convenient  places  where  two  or  three  other  forts  may  be 
Erected  Each  to  be  about  five  miles  and  a  Half  Distance  upon  the  line  run  Last 
week  as  above  mentioned  or  the  pricked  line  on  the  platt  made  by  Col^  Dwight 
you  will  have  with  you. 

and  further  you  are  to  order  a  sufficient  Guard  out  of  the  men  under  your 
Command  to  guard  such  persons  as  may  be  Employed  in  erecting  sd  fort  and 
further  you  have  liberty  to  Exchange  of  the  men  under  your  command  for  those 
that  are  und""  the  Command  of  Capt.  Elijah  in  case  there  be  any  such  that  will 
be  proper  to  be  Employed  in  building  sd  fort  you  will  take  care  that  the  men  be 
faithful  in  their  business,  they  must  be  watchful  and  prudent  for  their  own 
safety. 

there  must  be  good  account  kept  of  the  various  Services  in  case  men  work 

by  the  day. 

John  Stoddard. 

To  Capt.  William  Williams. 

Northampton,  July  20,  1744. 

Accompanying  this  letter  was  the  following  certificate  of  the 
same  date,  written  in  Stoddard's  own  hand,  with  the  autograph 
signatures  of  Partridge  and  Leonard :  — 

We  the  Subscribers  being  appointed  by  his  Excellency  to  build  a  Line  of 
forts  from  Colrain  to  the  Dutch  Settlements  &c.  Do  approve  of  the  building 
of  a  fort  in  ye  place  above  mentioned  and  also  of  the  manner  of  building  the 
same  and  the  pay  to  be  allowed  therefor. 

John  Stoddard,  ^ 

Ol.  Partridge,   l  Committee. 

John  Leonard,  J 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  81 

The  Colonel  Timothy  Dwight  referred  to  in  the  above  letter  was 
a  citizen  of  Xorthaiiipton,  the  father  of  the  afterwards  famous 
President  Dwight  of  Yale  College,  and  soon  to  be  related  by  mar- 
riage to  the  Stoddards,  inasmuch  as  his  wife  was  a  daughter  of 
Jonathan  Edwards.  Different  members  of  this  celebrated  Dwight 
family,  all  descended  from  the  early  immigrant,  Timothy  of  Ded- 
ham,  will  run  across  our  path  at  distant  intervals  as  we  go  on  with 
our  story.  President  Dwight  was  repeatedly  at  Williamstown,  and 
left  on  record  for  us  valuable  local  information ;  but  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  he  himself  knew  that  his  father,  as  a  comparatively 
young  man,  surveyed  the  line  parallel  to  Hazen's  line  at  about  two 
miles'  distance,  on  which  the  line  of  forts  was  shortly  afterwards 
located.  Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight,  of  Belchertown,  had  much  to 
do  ^vith  our  valley  as  a  surveyor  and  as  a  soldier  at  a  later  day ;  and 
still  later,  Anna  Dwight  Sabin  became  "a  mother  in  Israel"  in 
South  Williamstown. 

In  accordance  with  the  ample  authority  conveyed  in  this  letter, 
Captain  Williams  set  himself  promptly  upon  building  Fokt  Shir- 
ley, as  the  blockhouse  was  named,  when  completed,  after  the  popu- 
lar and  enterprising  Governor  of  the  colony.  It  was  built  of  the 
dimensions  prescribed  to  him,  and  placed  at  the  spot  indicated  to 
him  in  the  letter,  which  was  in  what  is  now  the  northern  part  of  the 
township  of  Heath,  near  the  upper  reaches  of  a  small  brook  that 
finds  its  way  to  the  Deerfield  at  Shelburne  Falls.  As  this  was  the 
first  considerable  work  of  defence  in  the  line  of  forts  westward,  and 
became  the  model  for  the  construction  of  others  both  on  the  Con- 
necticut and  the  Hoosac ;  as  all  the  items  in  the  expenses  of  con- 
struction are  still  extant,  the  bulk  of  them  in  Williams's  own  hand- 
writing ;  as  current  rates  of  wages  at  that  time,  and  prices  current 
of  many  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  may  be  easily  gathered  from 
these  items,  as  well  as  the  prevailing  depreciation  of  ^[assachusetts 
paper  money  both  in  the  "  New  Tenor  "  and  the  "  Old  Tenor  " ;  as 
six  nearly  entire  timbers  of  the  original  fort  are  still  well  preserved 
in  Heath,  from  which  the  mode  of  erection  and  of  interlocking  at 
the  corners  can  be  certainly  deduced ;  and  as  the  site  itself  at  pres- 
ent, which  the  writer  has  repeatedly  visited  and  studied,  and  espe- 
cially the  old  well  within  the  enclosure,  yield  something  in  addition 
of  instruction  as  to  the  way  of  doing  things  in  "ye  olden  time"; 
the  reader  will  perhaps  willingly  pardon  some  minuteness  of  detail 
at  this  point,  and  some  needful  delay  in  the  flow  of  the  general  nar- 
rative. 

In  about  three  months  Fort  Shirley  was  finished,  for  on  the  30th 


82  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

of  October,  Captain  Williams  commenced  to  billet  himself  within  it, 
charging  the  "Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay"  twenty-five 
shillings  a  week  "to  March  ye  4th  being  17  weeks  and  5  days." 
Pine  trees  at  least  a  foot  and  a  half  through  were  cut  down  in  the 
neighborhood  and  drawn  to  the  site  of  the  blockhouse  that  was  to  be ; 
scorers  at  six  shillings  a  day  in  forty-eight  days'  works  in  all  reduced 
the  logs  to  something  like  the  required  shape,  and  then  hewers  in 
twenty-four  days'  works  in  the  aggregate  at  nine  shillings  a  day 
wrought  them  down  smooth  to  fourteen  inches  by  six ;  and  when 
put  into  place,  the  timbers  rested  on  their  six-inch  side,  and  augur- 
holes  were  bored  into  them  at  intervals,  into  which  dowel-pins  of 
red  oak  were  driven  in  such  a  way  as  that  each  course  of  timbers 
was  strongly  dowelled  to  the  one  above  it.  In  October,  1885,  the 
present  writer  pulled  out  with  his  own  hands  a  couple  of  these  pins 
from  the  extant  timbers,  in  which  they  had  then  quietly  rested  just 
141  years.  As  the  fort  was  ordered  to  be  built  twelve  feet  high, 
there  must  have  been  ten  of  these  courses,  one  above  another ;  and 
each  end-piece  was  dovetailed  at  the  corners,  with  the  corresponding 
one  at  right  angles  to  it,  in  a  way  that  is  clearly  indicated  at  the 
ends  of  four  of  the  timbers  still  preserved.  The  fort  was  sixty  feet 
square.  Two  reaches  of  the  pines,  accordingly,  each  thirty  feet 
long,  would  have  covered  a  side ;  but,  for  the  sake  of  strength,  the 
joints  of  each  course  would  doubtless  be  broken  by  the  layer  above, 
so  that  in  many  cases  at  least  there  would  be  three  timbers  in  a 
layer.  Nothing  certain  can  be  inferred  from  the  lengths  of  the  tim- 
bers remaining,  for  although  some  of  these  are  long,  we  cannot  be 
sure  that  they  are  entire ;  while  we  may  be  sure  that  four  of  .the  six 
were  at  a  corner,  because  they  show  the  framing  at  the  ends  neces- 
sary for  the  interlocking. 

This,  then,  was  a  blockhouse,  so-called.  Por  "  framing  and  raising  " 
it  Captain  Williams  charged  the  colony  in  wages  paid  out  £22  10s. 
As  is  common  in  such  matters,  at  least  one  false  mortise  was  made  by 
a  careless  carpenter  in  the  framing,  for  there  may  be  seen  at  present 
in  Clark  Hall  a  bit  of  red  oak  taken  out  from  such  a  mortise  very 
long  after  it  had  been  filled  in  and  smoothed  over.  This  unknown 
carpenter  undoubtedly  supposed  that  he  had  thus  obliterated  for- 
ever all  traces  of  these  false  strokes  of  his  chisel,  yet  Orsamus  Max- 
well, owner  of  the  timber  in  which  the  ancient  fault  had  hidden 
itself,  did  not  need  the  reminder  of  the  present  writer,  when  the 
two  together  discerned  it  in  1885,  that  "  there  is  nothing  covered 
that  shall  not  be  revealed,  neither  hid  that  shall  not  be  known." 

Strong  as  these  walls  would  be  as  just  described,  they  were  ren- 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  88 

dered  very  much  stronger  by  two  mounts  twelve  feet  square  and 
seven  feet  high,  erected  on  two  of  the  opposite  corners  above  and 
upon  the  regular  walls.  The  following  is  an  item  in  the  Captain's 
monetary  account  rendered  to  Colonel  Stoddard  :  "  To  Hewing  the 
mount  Timbers  £6.  6«."  It  is  plain  that  if  there  were  to  be  any 
fighting  by  the  soldiers  within  the  fort,  it  could  only  be  on  and  from 
these  mounts,  for  there  were  no  orifices  through  the  walls  of  the 
fort  itself.  And  so  it  actually  fell  out  a  little  afterwards  in  the 
siege  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  similarly  built  with  two  similar  mounts. 
But  no  organized  war  parties  of  French  and  Indians  ever  appeared 
at  Fort  Shirley.  Small  bands  of  the  red  men  lurked  repeatedly  in 
the  encircling  forest,  but  more  for  observation  and  for  picking  off 
single  men  than  for  purposes  of  attack.  Continual  watch  and 
ward  was  held,  nevertheless,  on  these  Shirley  mounts,  sometimes 
by  a  single  man  only,  till  the  fort  was  abandoned  in  the  next  war. 

Within  these  walls  and  resting  back  upon  them,  houses  or  barracks 
were  built  eleven  feet  wide  for  the  use  of  the  officers  and  soldiers 
and  their  families,  —  ^^roof  of  ye  houses  to  be  shingled."  If  the 
"  eleven  feet  wide  "  prescribed  by  Colonel  Stoddard,  meant,  as  is 
presumed,  extension  towards  the  centre  of  the  interior,  and  if  the 
houses  were  on  one  side  of  the  square  only,  there  would  still  be  an 
open  parade  forty-eight  feet  by  sixty.  If  the  houses  were  on  two 
sides  (and  there  could  hardly  have  been  more,  though  we  have  no 
exact  information  upon  this  point),  there  would  still  have  been  an 
open  court  forty-eight  feet  square.  There  is  good  evidence  that  the 
roofs  of  the  houses  slanted  up  to  the  top  of  the  wall,  the  wall  of  the 
fort  making  the  back  wall  of  the  house,  and  the  houses  all  fronting 
the  hollow  square  in  the  centre  of  the  fort,  which  was  doubtless  used 
for  and  called  "  the  parade."  Such  a  roof  was  called  in  those  days 
a  "salt-box"  roof.  The  shingles  were  certainly  rived  from  sections 
of  pine  logs  perhaps  larger  than  those  hewn  down  for  the  timbers, 
and  they  cost  at  any  rate,  according  to  the  return,  £24,  and  for 
"Joynting  and  laying  ye  Shingles  £3"  additional  were  charged. 
Captain  William  Williams  with  his  officers  and  men  passed  the 
winter  of  1744-45  in  these  barracks  ;  in  one  of  them  were  the  head- 
quarters of  Captain  Ephraim  Williams,  the  founder  of  the  town  and 
the  College,  from  Dec.  10,  1745,  to  Dec.  10,  1746,  in  which  time 
he  had  350  men  "under  his  particular  charge  and  government"  in 
the  several  forts  east  and  west ;  and  in  one  of  these  houses  also 
dwelt  Mrs.  John  Norton  with  her  little  family,  wife  of  the  chap- 
lain of  the  line  of  forts,  from  August,  1746,  to  August,  1747,  while 
her  husband  was  in  captivity  in  Canada. 


6 

6 

6 

6 

1 

10 

20 

0 

24 

0 

1 

0 

3 

0 

3 

0 

2 

0 

22 

10 

£114 

16 

84  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

There  were  two  separate  accounts  rendered  to  Colonel  Stoddard 
for  moneys  expended  in  building  Fort  Shirley ;  the  first,  which  fol- 
lows, for  the  heavier  expenses  of  the  main  construction,  and  the 
second,  to  be  given  later,  for  the  more  numerous  items  of  finishing 
and  furnishing :  — 

Hewing  out  sides  of  ye  fort     j  Hewers  24  days  |     ^^^    ^g 

I  Scorers  48     "    / 
To  hewing  insides  of  ye  houses 
To  Hewing  the  mount  Timber 

partitions 

floors 

shingles 

spars  and  framing  Door 

ribs  and  laying 

Joynting  and  laying  ye  shingles 

Braces 

Framing  and  Raising 


Next  to  the  shingles,  the  largest  single  item  in  this  bill  is  for  the 
^^  floors/^  This,  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  the  ground  on 
which  the  fort  stood  is  wet  at  the  present  time  and  in  all  likelihood 
was  quite  as  wet  at  that  time,  and  taken  in  connection,  too,  with 
certain  curious  marks  and  a  hole  apparently  burnt  in  on  one  of  the 
extant  timbers,  as  if  much  worn  by  the  tread  of  feet,  and  possibly 
placed  near  to  an  oven  or  old-fashioned  fireplace,  makes  it  probable, 
if  not  certain,  that  the  whole  interior  of  the  fort  was  floored  over 
with  pine  timbers  similar  to  those  in  the  walls.  Another  item  in 
this  bill  makes  it  probable,  also,  that  the  "  insides  of  ye  houses,"  that 
is,  the  sides  parallel  to  the  exterior  walls,  were  built  of  similar 
hewed  stuff,  and  either  framed  into  the  flooring  upright  or  laid  up 
in  order  like  the  outer  walls  ;  and  still  another  item  gives  some 
color  of  truth  to  the  conjecture  that  the  "  partitions  "  between  the 
houses,  namely,  the  subordinate  interior  divisions  to  these,  were 
of  lighter  and  cheaper  materials.  The  "  braces  "  referred  to  in  this 
bill  may  have  been  the  rafters  of  the  houses  binding  the  tops  of  the 
"  insides  of  ye  houses  "  to  the  higher  outer  wall,  in  which  case  they 
would  likely  be  poles  from  the  woods  near  by,  costing  little,  and 
supporting  the  shingles  as  well  as  bracing  the  interior  wall ;  or  they 
may  have  been  supports  from  below  of  the  "  mounts,"  or  possibly 
parts  of  their  structure  above.     On  one  or  two  of  the  extant  timbers 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  85 

there  are  incisive  framings  on  a  bevel  for  braces  or  for  something 
else,  which  the  writer  with  his  present  knowledge  cannot  interpret 
to  his  own  satisfaction. 

But  however  this  may  be,  the  old  well  of  the  fort  is  able  thor- 
oughly to  interpret  itself  to  this  day.  Beyond  any  reasonable 
question,  it  occupied  one  of  the  corners  of  the  fort  enclosure,  so  as  to 
be  accessible  to  the  garrison  at  all  times,  whether  besieged  or  not, 
and  at  the  same  time  be  removed  from  the  "parade."  Even  the 
story  of  the  mode  of  its  making  may  be  easily  and  pretty  certainly 
recovered  by  any  one  accustomed  to  put  together  facts  of  this  kind 
constructively.  Almost  three  half-centuries  have  already  ])assed 
since  the  well  was  dug  and  the  water  first  drunk  by  the  thirsty 
workmen  around  it,  and  yet  the  risk  is  very  slight  in  predicating 
for  substance,  that  four  forest  staddles  about  six  inches  in  diameter, 
one  for  each  corner  of  the  well,  were  set  upright  on  the  ground,  and 
then  ash  planks,  rived  from  a  log  about  five  feet  long,  were  pinned  or 
spiked  on  the  outside  of  these  staddles,  beginning  at  the  bottom; 
and  this  frame  being  placed  on  the  ground  where  the  well  was  to 
be,  the  earth  was  thrown  out  over  the  sides,  and  so  the  well  was 
gradually  sunk  to  the  required  depth,  the  plank  siding  being  gradu- 
ally added  upward  as  the  shaft  was  lowered.  These  rived  planks 
and  the  tops  of  the  four  corner-poles,  that  can  now  be  seen  and  fin- 
gered less  than  two  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  were  not 
very  uniform  in  thickness,  and  of  course  have  rotted  off  at  the  top 
by  time  and  exposure;  but  enough  of  both  has  been  preserved  till 
this  time  by  constant  submergence  in  the  water  and  in  the  unusually 
moist  soil  above  it  to  reveal  the  nature  of  the  materials  used  and 
the  mode  of  their  employment.  One  of  the  corner-posts  was  a  black 
birch,  and  the  bark  on  it  was  in  a  good  state  of  preservation  at  and 
below  the  surface  of  the  water  in  1886.  Several  pieces  of  this  ash 
plank,  a  number  of  fractured  brick  from  the  chimney  or  oven,  and  a 
bit  of  the  birch  bark,  are  among  the  modest  treasures  of  Clark  Hall 
at  present. 

On  Captain  AVilliams's  first  rough  record  of  expenses  on  the  fort 
as  rendered  to  Colonel  Stoddard,  there  stands  the  following  signifi- 
cant "X.  B.  Nothing  reckoned  for  Chimneys  or  Drawing  ye  Timbers 
nor  Nails  Gates  and  Doors."  This  note  was  a  sufficient  intimation 
that  a  more  formal  and  formidable  bill  of  particulars  would  be 
forwarded  to  headquarters  in  due  time ;  and  it  was  forwarded 
accordingly,  and  has  been  preserved,  drawn  up  in  another  and  more 
careful  and  more  practised  hand  than  that  of  Captain  Williams,  as 
follows :  — 


86 


ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


An  Account  of  the  Labour  and  Expenses  in  Building  the  Block  House 
IN  the  Line  op  Forts  West  of  Colrain. 


ro  Serg*-  Jonathan  Drown 

For  101  Days  Work  at  6/ 

£  3 

3 

"  Corpi-  Forginson 

"   5  days  and  a  piece 

1 

11 

6 

"  Jo.  Alexander 

"  21  Days 

6 

16 

"  Ezra  Brown 

"  2  Days 

11 

"  Valentine  Wheeler 

"   5  Days 

1 

9 

"  Nathan  Harris 

"   8^  Days 

2 

1 

"  Stephen  Eddy 

"   11  Days  and  a  piece 

3 

8 

"  Roger  Kelly 

"  Odd  jobs 

2 

7 

*'  Jo.  Lovereighn 

"  6  Days 

1 

15 

"  Enoch  Kelton 

"  9  Days  and  a  piece  • 

2 

11 

*'  Cyrus  Church 

"  4  Days 

1 

3 

6 

£26 

16 

»'  John  Lynham 

"   IJDay 

9 

"  Hezekiah  Tynkam 

"  2  Days 

12 

"  Jno.  Lakeman 

"   17  Days 

4 

12 

"  Eph™  Bullen 

"  2  Days  and  apiece 

13 

"  Sami  Clark 

"    18  days 

4 

1 

6 

*'  Joseph  Hill 

"  3  days  and  a  piece 

1 

"  Isaac  Underwood 

"  9  days  and  a  piece 

3 

1 

"  John  Alexander 

"   14  days  and  a  piece 

4 

6 

"  Oliver  Thayer 

"  5  days  and  a  piece 

1 

2 

3 

"  John  McClatick 

"  2  days 

12 

*«  Oliver  Stanley 

"  1  day 

4 

6 

*'  Peter  Montague 

"  25  days 

7 

11 

6 

£28 

4 

9 

**  Phineas  Smith 

"  5  days 

1 

9 

"  Samuel  Root 

"   7 J  days 

2 

11 

"  James  Gray 

*'   odd  Jobs 

14 

"  Hezekiah  Elmer 

"   11  days 

2 

19 

"  Moses  Webb 

"   1  day 

5 

"  Simon  Rouse 

"   2  days 

11 

"  Job  Nimrod 

"  2  days  and  a  piece 

12 

"  John  Foster  as  Carpenter 

"  35  days  at  9/ 

15 

15 

"  John  Rugg  as  ditto 

"  30  Days  at  9/ 

13 

10 

"  Sergt  Coss 

"  drawing  Timber  and  Stones  9} 

days  at  50/ 

23 

15 

"  Eb'^  Wells 

"   Drawing  Timber  4  days  at  50/ 

10 

"  Saini  Osborn 

"   13Jdaysat6/ 

4 

2 

9 

*•  Sam^  Chamberlain 

"  lejdays 

6 

1 

3 

"  Eph™  Twitchell 

♦'  9Jdays 

2 

7 

"  George  Williams 

"  5  days 

1 

6 

6 

£  85 

8 

6 

Carried  over 

£140 

9 

3 

FORT  MASSACHUSETTS. 


87 


To  Amos  Alexander 

For 

7  days 

and 

a  piece 

£2 

5 

"  John  Stratton 

(( 

14  '* 

i( 

(( 

3 

19 

"  Paul  Field 

i( 

7     " 

" 

it 

2 

2 

"  Jno.  Kennedy 

" 

8     •• 

it 

2 

8 

"  Nat"  IJutterworth 

" 

.32  J- 

9 

3 

"  Benj.  Randall 

" 

30  " 

9 

"  Moses  Brooks 

(( 

4    " 

1 

4 

"  Serg<  Peck 

i( 

U  " 

9 

•*  Serg*  Garfield 

i( 

6    " 

1 

0 

*'  Eb'Stebbins 

K 

6    '* 

1 

t\ 

♦'  Stephen  Stimson 

'*  Andrew  Smith 

(( 

8  days  making  ye 

chimneys  nt 

10/ 

'per 

day 

\ 

•'  Alexander  Herren 

(t 

laying 

the 

Stones 

of  2  of  the 

To 
To 


To 


Chimneys  3^  days  at  12/ 
per  day 


Joseph  Brooks  Building  the  other  2,  6  days  at  10/ 
Chamberlain  and  others  digging  the  clay  Carrying  the  mortar 

and  stones  making  the  Catts  &c 
David  Twitchell  for  10  days 
Boarding  the  Chimney  Makers 

9  Horse  loads  of  straw  for  the  Chimneys 

6  Horse  loads  of  Hay  for  the  Cattle 

Making  the  lath  for  shingling  upon 
Laying  the  Floor  of  the  parade 
making  12  Thousand  shingles 

2  mill  Board  nails  at  45/ 

10  mill  shingle  Do  at  18/ 
6  ct  of  20d  Do 

5  p'  Hooks  and  Hinges 

6  Hasps  and  Staples 

3  pad  Locks 

2  p'  Small  Door  Hinges 

Hewing  Scoring  &c  4774  feet  of  Timber  at  21/  for  every 
120  feet  is 


2 


£40      8    6 


10 
3 
2 
4 
2 
2 
3 
8 

20 
4 

14 
1 


10 
16 
10 


15 


The  whole  amount  of  money  charged  in  this  second  bill,  includ- 
ing £2  Ws.  apparently  foisted  in  under  the  item  "  Hay  for  the 
cattle,"  reaches  £306  lis,  9d.,  old  tenor.  Something  of  what  is 
charged  in  the  first  bill,  namely,  £114  16s.  in  the  aggregate,  seems 
to  be  covered  by  some  of  the  items  of  the  second,  especially  the 
scoring  and  hewing  of  the  wall  timbers ;  but  of  this  we  cannot  be 
absolutely  sure ;  and  perhaps  the  safest  way  to  compute  the  whole 
cost  of  the  fort  is  to  add  the  two  amounts  together,  making  in  all 
£421  7s.  9d.     But  we  must  remember  that  all  this  was  reckoned  in 


88  ORIGINS   IN    WILLI AMSTOWN. 

old  tenor  paper  money  of  Massachusetts,  first  issued  in  1690  for 
King  William's  War,  and  which,  depreciating  from  the  first,  as  such 
money  always  does,  became  worth,  during  the  four  years  of  King 
George's  War,  about  four  to  one  in  sterling  silver.  In  1737,  a  "new 
tenor "  paper  money  was  also  issued  by  Massachusetts,  which  soon 
settled  into  the  ratio  with  "old  tenor"  of  one  to  four,  and  both 
thereafter  depreciated  together  in  that  proportion.  In  1750,  the 
ransom  money  for  the  capture  of  Louisburg  having  been  received 
from  England  in  specie,  the  wise  colony  redeemed  all  its  paper 
of  both  kinds  reckoned  as  old  tenor,  at  about  eleven  paper  for  one 
silver,  and  for  the  next  twenty-five  years  enjoyed  the  unspeakable 
blessings  and  prosperity  of  a  sound  money.  The  whole  cost  of  Fort 
Shirley,  accordingly,  reckoned  in  silver  sterling  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  1744,  was  not  far  from  £50. 

The  fact,  as  demonstrated  by  this  bill,  that  Fort  Shirley  had  four 
stone  chimneys,  makes  it  nearly  or  quite  certain  that  "  ye  houses,"  or 
barracks,  were  on  two  sides  of  the  enclosure,  since  the  chimneys 
with  their  fireplaces  were  for  the  use  of  the  barracks  for  cooking 
purposes  the  year  round,  and  for  the  warmth  of  the  occupants  in 
winter.  The  foundations  of  some  of  these  chimneys  remain  on  the 
site  unstirred  to  this  day,  and  the  position  of  the  remains  of  all  of 
them  is  consistent  with  the  supposition,  that  the  barracks  were  on 
two  sides  of  the  enclosure,  and  that  each  chimney  accommodated  two 
of  the  rooms.  It  is  possible,  but  not  likely,  that  each  chimney  stood 
against  the  interior  wall  of  each  side  Of  the  fort ;  in  which  case 
there  would  naturally  be  two  houses  on  each  side,  eight  in  all,  which 
arrangement  would  at  once  clutter  the  parade  and  also  make  the 
houses  less  defensible  in  case  an  enemy  penetrated  the  fort.  That 
Williams  was  not  quite  satisfied  with  these  Shirley  barracks,  howso- 
ever they  may  have  been  placed,  seems  to  be  proven  by  his  order  in 
1747  in  regard  to  the  new  barracks  at  Fort  Massachusetts  on  its 
rebuilding  under  his  direction.  This  time  he  had  the  barracks  put 
wholly  outside  the  enclosure,  "  within  five  feet  of  the  north  side  of 
the  fort,  and  at  equal  distances  from  the  east  and  west  ends."  But 
it  is  every  way  probable  that  the  chimneys  there,  though  there  were 
to  be  but  two  of  them,  had  the  same  general  adjustment  to  the 
rooms  as  they  had  before  at  Fort  Shirley.  What  this  adjustment 
was,  appears  clearly  from  Williams's  further  order  to  his  subordinate : 
"  Place  a  chimney  in  the  centre  of  the  east  part  with  two  fireplaces, 
to  accommodate  those  rooms.  In  the  west  part,  place  the  chimney 
so  as  to  accommodate  the  two  rooms,  on  that  part,"  etc.  By  one 
of  these  fireplaces  at  Fort  Shirley,  Captain  William  Williams  passed 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  89 

the  winter  of  1744-4."),  conducting  his  correspondence  with  Colonel 
Stoddard,  with  Fort  Dummer  to  the  northward,  and  Fort  Pelham 
to  the  westward;  probably  in  the  same  chimney-corner,  certainly 
within  the  same  fort,  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  passed  the  winter 
of  1745-46,  watching  over  the  scouting  from  fort  to  fort,  and  attend- 
ing to  the  wants  and  duties  of  the  "three  hundred  and  fifty  men 
under  his  particular  charge  and  government  in  the  Line  of  Forts  " ; 
and  by  the  side  of  one  of  these  Shirley  fireplaces,  too,  Mrs.  John 
Norton,  wife  of  the  chaplain  of  the  line  of  forts,  passed  the  dreary 
winter  of  174G-i7,  her  husband  in  captivity  in  Canada,  and  she 
caring  as  best  she  could  for  the  wants  of  her  little  ones,  sick  or  well, 
one  of  whom,  Anna,  she  laid  away  to  rest  in  the  August  following, 
under  a  rude  headstone  in  Shirley-field. 

Captain  Elijah  Williams  was  at  this  time  acting  as  sub-commissary 
under  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  commissary  for  the  "  western  depart- 
ment "  of  the  Province ;  and  in  this  capacity  during  the  last  week 
in  July  and  the  month  of  August,  1744,  he  despatched  to  Fort 
Shirley  twenty-one  men  with  horses,  bearing  1520  pounds  of  pork, 
1052  pounds  of  biscuit,  twelve  bushels  of  peas,  twenty-eight  gallons 
of  rum,  two  brass  kettles,  chalk  lines  and  chalk,  grindstone,  gouge, 
auger,  f row,  adz,  steelyards,  dividers,  spade,  broad  hoe,  and  stub  hoe. 
W.  L.  Cook,  who  has  owned  for  many  years  the  farm  of  which 
Shirley-field  is  a  part,  found  there  an  old  stub  hoe  with  every  mark 
of  antiquity  upon  it,  and  sent  it  as  a  veritable  relic  of  the  fort  to 
George  Sheldon,  of  Deerfield,  who  thought  it  likely  to  be  the  very 
one  spoken  of  in  this  record,  and  as  such  deposited  it  in  the  Pocum- 
tuck  ^lemorial  Hall,  where  it  may  now  be  seen. 

Many  of  the  men  to  whom  moneys  were  paid  according  to  the 
foregoing  bill  of  accounts,  are  shown  by  their  names  to  have  been 
Scotch-Irish  people,  probably  for  the  most  part  from  the  nearest 
settlement  to  Fort  Shirley,  namely,  Coleraine,  about  five  miles  to  the 
eastward.  August  4, 1718,  five  shiploads  of  Scotch  Protestants  from 
Londonderry  and  its  neighborhood  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  where 
they  and  their  fathers  had  been  colonized  in  the  room  of  displaced 
Celtic  Irish  for  two  generations  or  so,  sailed  into  Boston  Harbor, 
whence^  they  scattered,  not  so  much  as  individual  families,  as  in 
considerable  sections  together  as  churches;  one  part  moving  that 
autumn  to  AVorcester,  and  settling  there  for  the  present;  another 
part  tarrying  in  Boston,  where  they  soon  established  a  Presbyterian 
church ;  still  another  division  migrating  to  Andover  Hill ;  and  per- 
haps the  largest  division  of  all  continuing  their  voyage  after  a  little 
to  the  coast  of  Maine,  where  many  families  permanently  settled,  and 


90  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

whence  more  returned  in  the  following  spring  to  found  their  famous 
town  of  Londonderry  in  New  Hampshire.  Those  immigrants  of 
1718,  with  others  of  a  like  strain  of  blood  and  faith  who  followed 
them  later,  have  perceptibly  colored  the  whole  history  of  Massachu- 
setts since,  and  much  more  the  whole  history  of  New  Hampshire. 
More  or  less  they  have  hung  together  from  generation  to  generation 
as  families,  as  churches,  at  least  as  acquaintances,  reknitting  from 
time  to  time  the  old  ties,  and  keeping  in  good  memory  the  auld  lang 
syne. 

Most  of  those  who  went  to  Worcester,  being  depreciated  there  as 
Irish,  and  even  persecuted  as  Presbyterians,  either  fared  on  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  into  towns  of  their  own,  as  Pelham,  Blanford, 
and  Coleraine,  or  became  a  leading  element  in  the  population  of 
many  other  towns,  as  Brookfield,  Ware,  and  Warren.  Those  who 
settled  Coleraine  in  1736,  designated  it  after  their  native  or  adopted 
town  of  the  same  name  on  the  Bann  Water  in  the  county  of  Derry. 
Eight  years  after  this  settlement,  at  that  time  the  extreme  settle- 
ment in  the  northwest  of  the  colony,  though  Charlemont  and  Pitts- 
field  had  been  granted  at  the  same  date,  1735,  when  France  and 
England  mutually  declared  war,  and  there  w..s  a  call  in  Massa- 
chusetts for  men  to  build  forts  and  for  soldiers  to  man  them,  these 
comparatively  new-comers  now  scattered  over  New  England,  who 
hated  popery  as  they  feared  the  devil,  responded  promptly  to  the 
Protestant  calls,  enlisted  for  the  line  of  forts  for  the  siege  of  Louis- 
burg,  and  for  the  expeditions  against  Cro^vn  Point  and  Canada. 
The  famous  corps  of  partisans,  known  as  "  Eogers'  Rangers,"  were 
mostly  made  up  from  them,  and  Rogers  himself  was  a  brave  and 
enterprising  Scotch-Irishman.  The  prominent  families  in  Coleraine 
from  the  first  were  the  Morrisons,  Clarks,  Pennells,  McCowens,  Her- 
rouns,  Cockrans,  and  Hendersons;  and  our  later  story  will  be  sprin- 
kled over  here  and  there  by  the  representatives  of  these  families,  and 
of  many  other  Scotch-Irish  families  of  the  immigration  of  1718,  and 
we  shall  then  see,  perhaps,  that  these  were  of  such  stuff  as  men  are 
made  of. 

A  very  few  families  of  purely  Celtic  blood  and  Irish  nativity,  and 
notably  among  these  the  numerous  Young  family,  came  in  company 
and  good-fellowship  with  the  otherwise  pretty  thorough  Scotch  peo- 
ple of  this  remarkable  immigration  from  Ulster  into  New  England 
of  1718.  "  We  are  surprised,"  wrote  the  pastor  of  Londonderry  in 
1720  to  Governor  Shute,  "  to  hear  ourselves  termed  Irish  people,  when 
we  so  frequently  ventured  our  all  for  the  British  Crown  and  liberties 
against  the  Irish  papists,  and  gave  all  tests  of  our  loyalty  which  the 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  91 

government  of  Ireland  required,  and  are  always  ready  to  do  the 
same  when  required."  A  few  of  these  immigrants,  particularly 
Abraham  Blair  and  William  Caldwell,  had  taken  a  brave  hand  in  the 
memorable  defence  of  Londonderry  in  1689;  and,  as  an  honorary 
testimonial  of  this  great  service  to  the  Crown  amid  starvation  and 
death,  they  enjoyed  at  home  and  brought  with  them  to  America 
a  personal  exemption  from  British  taxation.  Aside  from  their 
valuable  characteristics  as  colonists,  the  immigrants  as  a  class  made 
two  important  contributions  to  the  useful  industries  of  their  adoi)ted 
land.  Potatoes  as  an  article  of  food  were  first  introduced  into  New 
England  by  them.  These  were  planted  simultaneously  in  the  spring 
of  1719  by  the  Youngs  in  Worcester,  and  by  Nathaniel  Walker  in 
Andover.  Distrusted  at  first  as  poisonous  by  some  of  the  people 
of  Worcester,  to  whom  a  few  tubers  were  presented  that  spring  for 
planting  by  members  of  the  Young  family,  and  said  to  have  been 
thrown  away  into  a  swamp  by  the  recipients,  rather  than  planted 
by  them,  this  delicious  esculent  under  the  lead  of  the  strangers  soon 
came  to  be  and  continues  an  essential  necessity  for  the  American 
table  and  farm.  "  Irish  potatoes,"  in  distinction  from  "  sweet  pota- 
toes," derive  their  designation  from  this  circumstance  of  their  origin 
in  this  country.  Again,  these  Scotch-Irish  first  introduced  the 
domestic  manufacture  of  flax  fabrics  into  the  colonies.  Says 
Belknap  in  his  "  History  of  New  Hampshire"  :  "They  brought  with 
them  the  necessary  materials  for  the  manufacture  of  linen;  and 
their  spinning-wheels,  turned  by  the  foot,  were  a  novelty  in  the 
country." 

These  people  were  generally  quite  poor,  but  a  very  small  propor- 
tion of  them  only  were  illiterate ;  they  were  for  the  most  part  frugal, 
industrious,  and  deeply  religious  in  a  certain  narrow  and  half-me- 
chanical w^ay ;  like  most  Scotchmen  of  all  ranks,  they  were  too  fond 
of  stimulating  and  alcoholic  beverages,  both  men  and  women,  which 
some  of  the  latter  euphemistically  and  conscientiously  denominated 
"cordials";  as  a  rule,  they  were  untidy  (not  to  say  filthy)  in  their 
personal  habits  and  general  housekeeping ;  in  some  cases  certainly, 
probably  in  many,  there  were  no  ordinaries  in  connection  with  their 
dwellings  for  two  or  three  generations  after  they  came ;  and  it  is 
altogether  likely,  though  no  direct  contemporary  testimony  on  the 
point  is  known  to  the  writer,  that  this  lack  of  neatness  in  their  per- 
sons and  houses  was  one  distinct  ground  of  dislike  in  which  they 
were  held  by  their  neighbors.  Lincoln  in  his  "History  of  Worcester" 
uses  words  about  this  as  follows  :  "  Differences  of  language,  habits, 
and  ceremonial,  laid  the  foundation  of  unreasonable  hatred,  and  the 


92  OEIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

strangers  were  not  treated  with  common  decency  by  their  English 
neighbors.  Their  settlements,  in  other  places,  were  approached  by 
bodies  of  armed  men,  and  their  property,  in  some  instances,  wantonly 
destroyed.  They  were  everywhere  abused  and  misrepresented  as 
Irish,  a  people  then  generally,  but  undeservedly,  obnoxious ;  a 
reproach  peculiarly  grievous  to  the  emigrants.  The  jealousy,  how- 
ever, with  which  they  were  first  regarded,  finally  yielded  to  the 
influence  of  their  simple  virtues  and  sterling  worth." 

There  is  fortunately  extant  among  the  Williams  papers,  in  the 
Athenaeum  at  Pittsfield,  a  letter  from  Captain  John  Stevens  stationed 
at  Fort  Dummer  to  Captain  William  Williams  stationed  at  Fort 
Shirley,  the  letter  bearing  date  Feb.  14,  1745,  which  indicates  pretty 
clearly  the  nature  of  the  duties  falling  to  the  Commander  of  each 
line  of  forts,  as  well  the  line  running  up  the  Connecticut  River  from 
Northfield  to  No.  4,  as  the  line  running  at  right  angles  to  that 
from  Northfield  to  the  Hoosac  River.  Williams  had  just  written  a 
letter  to  Captain  Josiah  Willard  in  command  on  the  other  line,  in 
relation  to  the  scouts  kept  constantly  passing  back  and  forth,  from 
fort  to  fort  in  each  line,  and  also  from  line  to  line,  keeping  the  two 
in  communication,  proposing  himself  shortly  to  visit  Fort  Dummer, 
and  to  perfect  with  Willard  mutual  arrangements  of  this  sort. 
This  letter  was  sent  by  Sergeant  Smead,  who  brought  back  to  Shir- 
ley the  letter  of  Captain  Stevens.  The  latter  wrote,  that  he  him- 
self was  about  "  to  set  out  for  Ko.  4,"  but  invited  Williams  to  come 
as  proposed  to  Fort  Dummer  and  confer  with  Captain  Willard  about 
matters  of  mutual  concern.  These  scouts  were  provided  with  snow- 
shoes  in  winter  at  the  public  expense,  were  usually  in  little  squads 
commanded  by  a  corporal  or  sergeant,  and  their  zeal  in  service  was 
stimulated  by  a  handsome  bounty  from  the  colony  treasury  for 
Indian  scalps.  This  bounty  for  1745  was  £100,  new  tenor.  In  the 
autumn  of  1744,  the  General  Court  had  "  Ordered,  that  twelve  men 
out  of  each  of  the  five  snow-shoe  companies  in  the  western  parts, 
amounting  to  sixty  in  all,  be  detached  and  sent  out  under  a  captain 
commissioned  for  that  purpose,  to  scout  and  range  the  woods,  for 
the  four  months  next  coming,  their  march  to  be  from  Contoocook  on 
the  Merrimac  River  to  the  westward  as  far  as  the  Captain-General 
shall  think  best."  The  proposed  visit  of  Captain  Williams  to  Fort 
Dummer  was  on  business  connected  with  this  vote. 

The  rations  allowed  the  troops  at  this  date  were :  In  garrison,  one 
pound  of  bread,  one-half  pint  of  peas  or  beans  per  day,  two  pounds 
pork  for  three  days,  one  gallon  molasses  for  forty-two  days.  On  the 
march,  one  pound  bread,  one  pound  pork,  one  gill  of  rum  per  clay. 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  93 

Five  years  before  Hazen's  line  was  drawn,  that  is,  in  173G,  Massa- 
chusetts, justly  supposing  the  territory  was  all  her  own,  laid  out 
four  townships  on  and  east  of  the  Connecticut  River,  and  numbered 
them,  going  up  stream  from  Northfield,  1,  2,  3,  4,  respectively. 
These  townships  corresponded  in  general  with  the  present  Chester- 
field, Westmoreland,  Walpole,  and  Charlestown,  New  Hampshire. 
As  these  early  lay-outs  were  numbered,  so  they  were  popularly 
named ;  and  as  early  as  1740  a  settlement  was  commenced  at  No. 
4  by  three  families  of  the  name  of  Farnsworth  from  Lunenburg; 
and  these,  reinforced  by  a  few  other  families  from  below,  and  par- 
ticularly by  Captain  Phineas  Stevens,  of  Sudbury,  who  became  the 
hero  and  patriarch  of  the  region  afterwards,  built  a  corn-mill  in  1743 
and  a  fort  for  their  own  protection,  which  also  was  designated  from 
the  township  as  No.  4,  and  which  during  two  wars  became  a  frontier 
fortress  of  the  utmost  importance  both  to  the  colony  as  a  whole  and 
to  the  local  settlers.  What  Fort  Massachusetts  was  during  these 
wars  to  the  Hoosac  settlements,  such  was  Fort  No.  4  to  those  of  the 
upper  Connecticut.  Even  the  corn-mill  became  famous.  For  about 
forty  years  in  those  troublous  times  of  war  and  poverty  it  was  the 
source  of  supply  to  the  scattered  settlers  above  even  as  far  up  as 
Thetford  and  Lyme.  The  writer  himself  in  his  childhood  used  to 
hear  the  stories  from  some  of  the  veterans  of  the  latter  town,  the 
town  of  his  nativity,  of  the  toil  and  hazard  of  bringing  grists  on 
sleds  up  the  river  on  the  ice  from  "  Old  Number  Four." 

While  Williams  and  Willard  were  thus  passing  the  winter  each 
in  his  isolated  fort,  one  on  the  windy  mountain-top  in  what  is  now 
Heath,  and  the  other  upon  the  half-cleared  intervale  of  the  Connec- 
ticut, sending  out  and  receiving  their  snow-shoed  scouts  and  keep- 
ing in  military  communication  with  each  other,  much  bigger  matters 
than  these  were  revolving  in  the  minds  of  Governor  Shirley  and 
the  Great  and  General  Court  in  Boston.  Shirley  had  conceived  the 
idea  that  the  French  fortress  of  Louisburg  might  be  surprised  and 
captured  by  Massachusetts  militiamen  :  the  proposal  was  carried  in 
the  legislative  body  by  just  one  vote ;  and  the  following  letter  from 
Colonel  Stoddard  to  Captain  Williams  will  explain  itself  to  the 
reader,  who  will  yet  doubtless  notice  that  the  objective  of  the 
expedition  is  not  named  in  the  letter,  probably  for  fear  it  might 
thus  be  i)rematurely  betrayed  to  the  French,  and  perhaps,  also,  lest 
the  mention  of  the  distant  Cape  Breton  might  deter  the  men  from 
enlisting. 


94  ORIGINS   IK   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Northampton-,  Feb.  25,  1745. 

We  are  raising  two  or  three  Companys  of  Volunteers  for  the  Expedition, 
Capt  Pumroy  is  beating  up  for  men  in  the  upper  part  of  the  County,  I  was  pro- 
voked (when  we  mustered)  to  see  how  few  appeared  after  so  much  pretension 
to  List  but  since  that  time  some  others  have  appeared  and  am  ready  to  think 
there  will  be  18  or  20  in  this  town.  What  appearance  there  will  be  in  other 
places  I  can't  yet  tell. 

I  imagine  that  some  of  your  men  will  readily  List,  and  if  they  will  go  they 
shall  be  entitled  to  everything  as  other  men  are,  and  restored  to  their  places  in 
the  Garrison  at  their  return  if  they  desire  it. 

it  would  be  best  immediately  to  know  their  minds,  and  let  me  have  a  List  of 
them,  I  hope  there  will  appear  15  or  16  of  them,  which  we  may  make  use  of  only 
in  case  there  do  not  a  sufficient  number  appear  elsewhere,  and  I  will  take 
effectual  care  to  supply  their  places. 

the  thing  is  of  weight  with  me  and  you  must  be  thorough  in  it 

I  am  your  servant    John  Stoddard 
Capt.  Williams 

Since  I  wrote  the  above,  I  rec<J  a  letter  from  the  Gov'^'',  who  depends  on  my 
getting  some  companies  you*  must  not  fail  on  your  part    J.  S. 

Interests  and  movements  begin  to  thicken  in  and  around  Fort 
Shirley.  Without  doubt,  on  receipt  of  this  letter  the  irrepressible 
Captain  "  immediately ''  consulted  with  his  men  in  order  "  to  know 
their  minds  "  about  "  the  Expedition  "  ;  as  a  result,  a  certain  number 
soon  enlisted,  which  he  calls  "a  company,''  probably  about  as  many 
as  Stoddard  specified  in  his  letter ;  the  Captain  accompanied  these 
to  Boston  in  hopes  that  he  himself  would  receive  a  suitable  com- 
mission and  be  allowed  to  sail  for  Louisburg ;  but  his  services  to 
the  westward  were  regarded  by  Governor  Shirley  as  then  too  im- 
portant to  be  dispensed  with,  and  he  shortly  went  back  to  his  fort; 
meanwhile  the  expedition,  consisting  of  3250  men,  sailed  from  Boston, 
April  4;  and  when,  early  in  June,  Governor  Shirley  became  anxious 
to  send  on  reinforcements  to  Louisburg,  several  things  happened 
concerning  the  Captain,  which  we  will  leave  him  to  describe  in  his 
own  graphic  way.  In  a  letter  from  Louisburg,  dated  Oct.  3,  1745, 
Williams  writes  as  follows  :  — 

Upon  the  war  with  France  our  Gov  and  General  Assembly  thinking  it  would 
be  prudent  to  send  a  Number  of  Soldiers  into  our  Western  Frontiers  gave  me 
a  Maj"  commission  (first  a  capt-^  then  while  the  work  was  in  progress  a 
major's)  to  command  the  several  Companies  sent  thither ;  When  the  Govenour 
saw  twas  requisite  to  send  supplies  to  Gen.  Pepperell  while  in  the  siege,  an 
Express  was  sent  me  150  miles  to  raise  recruits ;  which  I  did  with  such  Dispatch 
that  in  6  days  tho'  at  that  distance  I  was  in  Boston  with  74  able  bodied  men. 
As  I  did  in  the  spring  raise  a  company  but  was  not  suffered  to  come  with  them 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  95 

for  this  reason  that  my  presence  and  command  would  be  more  for  His  Majesty's 
service  where  I  was.  But  now  the  utmost  Dispatch  being  requisite  they  pitched 
upon  the  men  they  tho't  would  soonest  raise  the  Leiveis  they  proposed  to  send. 
Upon  my  arrival  in  Boston  the  Govenour  gave  me  a  Lieut  Col"  commission  in 
the  Regiment  of  which  Colo  John  Choate  is  Chief  &c. 

That  William  Williams  possessed  the  knack  of  putting  good 
speed  into  his  work  is  proven  by  better  evidence  than  his  own 
testimony,  unimpeachable  as  that  may  be.  A  comparison  of  dates 
sometimes  yields  remarkable  truths.  Colonel  Stoddard's  letter, 
dated  February  25,  compared  with  the  following  bill  of  accounts, 
dated  March  4,  of  itself  demonstrates  the  haste  witli  w^hich  the  first 
batch  of  volunteers  for  Louisburg  was  started  from  Fort  Shirley  to 
Boston,  and  even  their  places  in  garrison  supplied  by  impressed  men. 

Capt.  William  Williams  Ace"'  March  4,  1745. 

Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  to  W.  W.  March  4,  1745. 
Dr. 

To  his  billeting  himself  from  Oct.  30  to  March  ye  4*»»  being 

17  weeks  and  5  days  at  25/  per  week £22    3/ 

To  cash  paid  David  Field  for  the  entertainment  of  Eleven 
Impressed  men  sent  to  the  Fort  since  the  enlistment  for 
Cape  Bretton  .     .     .* £  2     8/  8(/. 

To  ditto  paid  Aaron  Danieur's  and  John  Lucas  for  ditto  .     .     £  2  15/ 

To  23  days  work  of  the  Soldiers  in  Clearing  and  Mending 
the  Road  from  ye  Fort  to  Colrain  at  4/  per  day   .     .     .     .     £  4  12 


Old  Tenor £31  18/  Sd. 

New  Tenor  [\] £  7  19     8 

Fort  Shirley,  March  i^^ 
1745  Errors  Excepted 
per  Wf"  Williams. 

Two  days  after  this  little  bill  was  made  out.  Colonel  Stoddard 
penned  the  following  letter  to  Captain  Williams,  which  relates  to 
what  was  afterwards  called  "Fort  Pelham,"  the  second  in  the 
"  Line  of  Forts  "  to  the  westward  :  — 

Nokthami'tox,  March  G,  1745. 
To  Capt.  William  Williams 
OF  Fort  Shirlev 

Sir  you  are  hereby  fully  authorised  and  Impowered  In  ten  days  after  this  Date 
to  employ  so  many  of  the  soldiers  under  your  Command  as  you  Judge  necessary 
In  finishing  a  fort  in  the  place  where  the  Com'*«  for  Building  a  Line  of  Block 
Houses  &c  agreed  with  Capt.  Moses  Rice  to  Build  one  and  employ  for  that  pur- 
pose the  Timbers  the  sd  Rice  has  drawn  together  (the  sd  Rice  having  Desired  sd 
Timber  may  be  employed  for  that  purpose)  you  are  to  allow  to  a  Carpenter  Nine 


96  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Shillings  and  other  Effective  men  Six  Shillings  a  Day  Old  Tenor  you  are  to  finish 
sd  fort  with  all  convenient  speed  provided  the  sd  Rice  do  not  within  sd  ten  days 
take  effectual  care  to  your  Satisfaction  that  he  will  finish  it. 

John  Stoddard 

"We  the  Subscribers  Together  with  Col^  Stoddard  who  subscribes  the  fore- 
going being  the  May''*  Part  of  the  Comt^e  above  mentioned  We  agree  to  the 
Order  made  to  sd  Capt  Williams  So  far  as  it  respects  us  in  sd  Capacity 

Ol.  Paktridge     I  ^^^^,,, 
Thos.  Ingersole  J 

Now  it  is  almost  certain  that  Surveyor  Dwight,  in  running  by 
Stoddard's  order  the  July  preceding  the  new  military  line  to  the 
westward,  on  which  it  was  expected  in  general  there  would  be  forts 
every  five  or  six  miles,  carried  the  same  parallel  with  Hazen's  line 
at  about  two  miles  south  of  it  from  the  site  fixed  upon  for  Fort 
Shirley  to  the  next  main  mountain  swell  (as  the  brooks  flow  there), 
on  which  Fort  Pelham  was  now  ordered  to  be  built.  Shirley  is  five 
miles  and  a  half  west  of  Morrison's  in  Coleraine,  and  Pelham  is 
very  nearly  the  same  west  of  Shirley.  It  seems  from  the  above 
letter  that  Stoddard  had  already  made  a  sort  of  bargain  with  Cap- 
tain Moses  Rice,  who  had  settled  with  his  family  in  the  spring  of 
1743  on  the  upper  Deerfield  in  what  is  now  Charlemont,  to  build 
this  second  fort  on  that  spot.  Moses  Rice  was  an  enterprising 
farmer  from  Rutland,  Worcester  County,  who  bought  in  April,  1741, 
2200  acres  of  land  in  the  valley  of  the  Deerfield,  on  which,  two 
years  later,  he  put  up  his  first  cabin  under  a  buttonwood  that  is 
still  standing ;  and  on  which,  a  little  to  the  east  of  this,  stands  the 
formal  monument  to  his  memory  near  the  grave  with  its  original 
headstone.  June  11,  1755,  Captain  Rice  was  killed  and  scalped  by 
Indians  near  the  spot  where  his  ashes  still  repose.  His  family  was 
the  first  settled  in  the  valley  of  the  Deerfield  west  of  Coleraine. 
He  had  indeed  two  or  three  grown-up  sons  and  a  son-in-law,  and 
perhaps  also  a  very  few  neighbors  along  the  intervale,  in  1745, 
when  Colonel  Stoddard  agreed  with  him  to  draw  the  timbers  and 
erect  a  new  fort  on  the  hill-top  in  the  present  township  of  Rowe  ; 
but  it  would  seem  clear  to  the  present  writer  beforehand,  that,  had 
it  been  the  design  of  the  committee  to  erect  at  this  spot  another 
blockhouse  jointed  at  the  corners  and  lifted  twelve  feet  high,  like 
"  Shirley,"  already  built,  or  "  Massachusetts,"  soon  to  be  built 
further  west,  no  contract  would  have  been  entered  into  with  a  mere 
farmer  and  innholder  like  Captain  Rice,  and  a  man,  too,  having  so 
limited  a  control  over  human  hands.     We  shall  shortly  see  good 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  97 

reasons  for  believing  that  Fort  Pelhain  was  never  an  elaborate 
blockhouse,  like  the  two  others,  but  only  a  palisaded  fort,  or  stock- 
ade, formed  of  forest  staddles  set  upright  in  a  trench,  touching  each 
other  around  the  four  sides  of  a  parallelogram,  and  then  these 
uprights  pinned  or  spiked  firmly  together  once  or  more  above  and 
tlie  earth  thrown  back  into  the  trench  below,  a  work  much  more 
easily  and  roughly  constructed  tlum  a  blockhouse,  and  one  also 
naturally  enclosing  more  land. 

The  present  writer  first  critically  examined  the  site  of  Fort  Pel- 
ham  in  the  autumn  of  1878,  and  in  company  with  John  H.  Haynes, 
a  native  of  Rowe  and  a  graduate  of  the  College  in  1876,  and  the 
second  time  more  carefully  in  the  summer  of  1885  and  in  special 
company  with  his  son,  Carroll  Perry,  who  had  just  then  entered  the 
College  as  a  freshman ;  the  general  state  of  things  there,  the  location 
of  the  oldest  road  from  Fort  Shirley  p:ist  Pelham,  one  or  two  miles 
further  due  west,  and  especially  the  condition  of  the  fort-ground 
situated  in  an  open  pasture  and  apparently  wholly  unchanged  for 
more  than  a  century,  emboldened  him  to  draw  the  following  infer- 
ences and  conclusions  in  regard  to  Fort  Pelham,  with  a  practical 
certainty  of  their  substantial  correctness:  (1)  That  Pelham  was  a 
purely  palisaded  fort  constructed  of  upright  posts  or  forest  staddles 
sunk  into  the  ground  and  bound  together  in  contact  with  each  other 
above,  and  not  like  Fort  Shirley  and  the  two  bearing  in  succession  on 
the  same  site  the  name  "Massachusetts,"  a  jointed  blockhouse  of 
hewn  timbers ;  (2)  that  it  was  in  form  a  parallelogram  twelve  rods 
by  twenty-four  in  extent,  thus  enclosing  more  than  an  acre  and  a 
half  of  dry  ground  on  the  swell  of  a  broad  hill ;  (3)  that  a  trench, 
l)erhaps  a  foot  deep,  was  dug  around  the  four  sides,  and  posts  of  a 
pretty  uniform  size  (perhaps  hewed)  w^ere  set  upright  into  the  trench, 
unless  natural  trees  of  the  right  dimensions  were  already  growing  in 
line,  and  then  the  earth  thrown  back  into  the  trench  and  ujjon  both 
sides  of  the  staddles,  which  now  forms  the  pillow  of  turf  that  can 
be  traced  almost  unbroken,  particularly  on  the  south  and  east  sides; 
(4)  that  the  well  of  the  old  fort  was  near  the  middle  of  the  enclosure 
and  upon  the  highest  ground  within  it,  and  that  tlie  removal  of  four 
or  five  large  stones  that  now  choke  the  opening  would  practically 
restore  the  digging  of  1745,  and  discover  with  certainty  whether  it 
were  originally  walled  up  within  or  constructed  with  corner-posts 
like  the  corresponding  well  at  Shirley;  (5)  that  the  considerable 
circular  depression  a  little  northwest  of  the  old  well  either  indicated 
that  the  magazine  of  the  fort  was  in  part,  at  least,  a  substructure, 
or  that  the  beginning  of  an  unfinished  well  there  was  thwarted  by 


98  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

a  ledge,  and  a  thorough  excavation  at  that  point  might  reveal  which 
of  the  two,  and  possibly  a  stone  floor  or  some  remains  of  side  walls ; 
(6)  that  the  main  opening  into  the  parade  of  the  fort  was,  undoubt- 
edly, on  the  north  side,  along  which,  at  some  distance  further  north, 
on  account  of  the  head  of  a  swamp  in  the  direct  line  east  and  west, 
the  military  road  from  Fort  Shirley  certainly  passed  in  a  northerly 
curve  to  the  west,  the  straight  west  line  being  resumed  about  a  half- 
mile  further  on ;  (7)  that  the  fort  was  placed  where  it  was  by  the 
rude  engineers  of  the  time  near  the  head  waters  of  what  came  in 
consequence  to  be  called  Pelham  Brook,  in  order  to  guard  against 
access  to  the  Deerfield  by  means  of  one  of  its  many  tributaries  by 
parties  of  French  and  Indians  coming  from  the  north  with  hostile 
intent;  (8)  that  the  mount  (or  mounts)  of  the  fort  gave  to  the  senti- 
nel a  wide  survey  of  glorious  mountain  scenery  in  every  direction,  and 
that  to  the  west  Greylock  itself,  then,  as  now,  towered  with  bended 
arch  above  the  long  range  of  the  Hoosacs  ;  and  (9)  that  the  barracks 
of  the  men  posted  at  Fort  Pelham,  of  whom  twenty  was  about  the 
complement  during  King  G-eorge's  War,  were  within  the  pickets  and 
probably  at  the  corners  in  connection  with  the  mount  or  mounts, 
although,  naturally  enough,  there  are  no  such  remains  of  chimneys 
and  ovens  and  bricks  there  as  fairly  clutter  the  ground  at  Fort  Shirley. 
There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt,  that  the  old  public  road  (long 
ago  discontinued)  that  passed  by  Pelham  to  the  west  in  the  line  of 
the  road  still  travelled  from  Shirley  to  Pelham,  connects  itself  his- 
torically with  Colonel  Stoddard's  original  order  to  Captain  Williams 
in  July,  1744,  directing  him  to  construct  Fort  Shirley :  —  ^'  and  you 
are  hereby  further  directed  as  you  may  have  Opportunity  to  Search 
out  some  Convenient  places  where  two  or  three  other  forts  may  be 
Erected  Each  to  be  about  five  miles  and  a  Half  Distance  upon  the 
line  run  the  Last  week  as  above  mentioned  or  the  pricked  line  on 
the  platt  made  by  Col*^  Dwight  wh*^  platt  you  will  have  with  you." 
If  this  line  had  been  continued  due  west,  it  would  have  hit  the 
Deerfield  River  at  the  point  where  the  modern  towns  of  Monroe 
and  Florida  corner  upon  it.  From  Readsboro,  Vermont,  to  the  east 
end  of  the  tunnel,  the  Deerfield  flows  west  of  south,  but  from  that 
point  it  turns  sharply  east  and  holds  that  course  in  general  till  it 
strikes  the  Connecticut.  Now  all  the  streams  in  Rowe  flow  south 
to  the  Deerfield ;  and  consequently,  there  was  a  strong  temptation, 
to  which  it  ultimately  succumbed,  for  this  original  east  and  west 
road  to  turn  off  south  and  so  reach  the  Deerfield.  When  Captain 
Moses  Rice  agreed  with  Colonel  Stoddard  to  draw  the  timber  for 
Fort  Pelham,  there  must  have  been  some  kind  of  a  path  from  his 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  99 

house  to  the  chosen  site  of  the  fort ;  and  a  year  or  two  later,  as  we 
shall  see,  there  was  a  travelled  road  between  the  two  points,  down 
which  Chaplain  Norton,  Dr.  Thomas  Williams,  and  fourteen  sol- 
diers marched  on  their  way  to  Fort  Massachusetts.  A  good  road 
now  runs  down  Pelham  Brook  from  the  site  of  the  fort  near  the 
little  village  of  Rowe  to  the  railroad  station,  Zoar,  upon  the  Deer- 
field.  A  third  good  road  drops  down  southwesterly  from  the  west 
end  of  the  old  military  road  that  followed  Dwight's  line,  and  pass- 
ing by  "  Pulpit  Rock  "  to  the  riglit,  and  thus  the  heights  dissuading 
D wight  in  1744  from  a  due  west  course,  through  Swiss  scenery  mag- 
nificent to  behold,  strikes  the  Deertield  at  Hoosac  Tunnel  station. 
There  is  indeed  in  modern  times  an  east  and  west  road  through 
Rowe,  passing  a  little  to  the  north  of  Dwight's  military  line  and 
road,  through  the  upper  end  of  the  straggling  village,  by  the  Uni- 
tarian meeting-house,  and  so  on  to  cross  the  Deerfield  (here  flowing 
south)  into  the  primitive  and  diminutive  Monroe.  A  pretty  fair 
country  road,  and  since  1883  a  narrow  gauge  railroad,  climb  up 
alongside  the  Deerfield  from  Hoosac  Tunnel  station  into  the  almost 
unbroken  woods  of  southern  Vermont. 

It  is  a  matter  of  complex  inference,  and  yet  of  nearly  absolute 
historical  certainty,  that  Fort  Pelham  was  built  under  the  direction 
of  Captain  William  Williams,  by  the  soldiers  under  his  command  in 
the  springtime  of  1745.  His  headquarters  were  then  at  Fort  Shirley. 
He  had  spent  the  winter  there.  Captain  Moses  Rice,  two  years 
before  this,  the  first  settler  in  Charlemont,  who  could  not  probably 
control  the  services  of  over  a  half-dozen  effective  men,  had  failed  to 
come  to  time  in  his  stipulations  with  the  always  promi)t  Colonel  of 
Hampshire.  The  latter  empowered  Williams  to  go  ahead  with  the 
work,  "  to  employ  so  many  of  the  soldiers  under  your  command  as 
you  judge  necessary,"  to  finish  said  fort,  ''  and  employ  for  that  pur- 
ix)se  the  Timbers  the  said  Rice  has  drawn  together,"  ''you  are  to 
allow  to  a  Carpenter  Nine  Shillings  and  other  effective  men  Six  Shil- 
lings a  Day  old  Tenor,"  "you  are  to  finish  sd  fort  with  all  con- 
venient speed,"  "provided  the  sd  Rice  do  not  within  sd  ten  days 
take  effectual  care  to  your  satisfaction  that  he  will  finish  it."  This 
letter  sounds  like  business ;  it  was  addressed  to  a  man  who  liked 
business;  and  who  wrote  six  months  after  in  protest  to  Grovemor 
Shirley  against  being  left  to  do  garrison  duty  at  Louisburg,  that  he 
and  other  officers  of  his  regiment  "were  not  undertakers  in  the 
Expedition  at  first,  but  generously  threiv  down  their  tools,  left  their 
business  and  their  friends  to  suffer,  and  ran  to  the  assistance  of  the 
Colony,"  etc. 


100  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

About  the  middle  of  March,  Captain  Williams  sent  to  Boston  a 
small  "  company  "  of  volunteers  from  the  men  under  his  command 
to  take  part  in  the  siege  of  Louisburg.  If  he  could  have  had  a  com- 
mission to  suit  him,  he  would  gladly  have  gone  with  them,  and 
sailed  with  the  rest  on  the  4th  of  April.  But  both  Shirley  and 
Stoddard  then  thought  his  services  indispensable  on  the  western 
frontiers.  About  the  first  of  June,  however,  Shirley  sent  a  mes- 
senger 150  miles  to  Williams  with  such  inducements  to  enlist 
others  and  to  volunteer  himself,  that  in  six  days  he  was  in  Boston 
with  seventy-four  able-bodied  men  for  the  reinforcement  so  loudly 
demanded.  He  made  up  his  muster-roll  of  the  soldiers  in  the  line 
of  forts  till  the  9th  of  June,  1745,  and  he  sailed  for  Cape  Breton 
on  the  23d. 

A  new  character  now  appears  upon  the  western  scene,  and  one  des- 
tined to  color  it  in  its  essential  features  till  the  end  of  time.  His 
name  is  Ephraim  Williams.  He  is  a  second  cousin  to  his  predeces- 
sor at  Fort  Shirley,  three  years  younger  than  he,  though  one  genera- 
tion nearer  to  their  common  ancestor,  Eobert  Williams,  of  Eoxbury. 
Ephraim  was  now  thirty-one  years  old.  He  was  not  directly  related 
to  the  Stoddards,  but  his  half-cousin,  Israel  AVilliams  of  Hatfield, 
five  years  his  senior,  and  now  commissary  to  the  line  of  forts,  was 
own  cousin  to  John  Stoddard.  Ephraim  came  forward  under  the 
auspices  of  Israel,  though  his  own  father  of  the  same  name  had  been 
an  influential  citizen  in  Stockbridge  after  1739.  Aside  from  his  own 
merits,  which  were  considerable,  the  fame  and  fortune  and  influence 
of  Ephraim  Williams  were  much  promoted  by  his  personal  relations 
with  the  three  famous  "  river  gods"  of  the  Connecticut  valley,  and 
with  other  leading  families  of  western  Massachusetts. 

The  sources  for  the  further  history  of  these  forts  and  of  Fort 
Massachusetts  are  meagre  and  much  scattered,  but  are  genuine  and 
original :  old  letters  from  the  chief  actors  in  those  scenes,  filed  away 
and  endorsed  perhaps  by  their  recipients,  or  accidentally  preserved 
as  family  heirlooms,  and  particularly  the  collections  which  came 
down  through  the  families  of  Israel  Williams  of  Hatfield,  and  Wil- 
liam Williams  of  Pittsfield ;  petitions  for  pecuniary  relief  or  public 
recognition  of  some  sort  sent  in  to  the  General  Court  by  almost 
everybody  who  was  in  the  public  service  in  those  days,  and  the 
action  or  non-action  of  the  court  on  these  petitions,  all  preserved  in 
good  order  in  the  Secretary's  office  in  Boston,  and  the  military  muster- 
rolls  of  the  old  French  wars,  preserved  in  the  same  place,  indexed  and 
accessible,  —  have  proved  the  principal  memoranda  from  which  our 
narrative  has  been  constructed.     Certain  private  journals,  like  that  of 


FORT   MASSACnrSETlS.  101 

Chaplain  Norton  ;  the  public  ret-ui  .r>i'i  iaim-;^.ciuL.>  incuu-  lu  iiuuvkiu- 
als,  and  in  some  cases  the  registry  of  the  more  ancient  deeds  of  land  ; 
and  always,  when  jx)ssible,  personal  and  repeated  visits  to  the  locali- 
ties of  consequence  to  the  development  of  events,  —  have  aided  and 
guided  and  corrected  the  slow  building  up  of  the  story  as  now  told. 

The  name  that  was  applied  to  the  new  colony-fort  in  the  sj)ring 
of  1745,  and  later  to  the  little  brook  that  flows  by  it,  christened  the 
same,  whether  given  by  Governor  Shirley,  or  Colonel  Stoddard,  or 
William  Williams  himself, — and  the  last  is  perlmps  most  likely, 
for  he  was  a  man  that  kept  the  run  in  a  small  way  of  what  was 
going  on  in  England,  — is  a  curious  instance  of  an  Old- World  name, 
transiently  prominent,  but  now  well-nigh  forgotten  there,  becoming 
perpetuated  by  accident  in  a  remote  corner  of  the  New  World. 
Henry  Pelham  was  nobody  in  particular  except  the  brother  of  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  but  he  became  a  lirst  lord  of  the  liritish  Treas- 
ury in  1743,  and  was  virtually  prime  minister  of  England  thereafter 
till  his  death  in  1754,  when  William  Pitt,  whose  gradual  introduc- 
tion into  high  public  place  by  Pelham  was  the  latter's  greatest 
service  to  his  country,  stepped  boldly  though  tentatively  into  the 
chief  control  of  affairs,  and  in  five  years  put  an  end  to  French 
domination  in  America.  The  rustic  colonial  politicians  were  wont 
to  keep  a  sharp  eye  on  the  drift  of  things  in  England,  and  knew 
who  the  rising  statesmen  were  over  there  whenever  any  such  seemed 
to  show  up  their  heads.  Besides  this,  it  is  said  that  Henry  Pelham 
made  a  personal  tour  of  Massachusetts  a  little  hpfore  the  outbreak 
of  King  George's  War ;  and,  at  any  rate,  the  old  county  of  Hami)- 
shire,  for  one  or  both  of  these  reasons,  exhibited  to  the  world  a 
township,  a  fort,  and  a  mountain  stream,  all  called  after  his  name  at 
just  about  the  same  time.^ 

So  soon  as  it  was  known,  accordingly,  that  Major  William  Wil- 
liams was  to  leave  Fort  Shirley  and  his  present  command  of  the 
line  of  posts  for  Louisburg,  with  whatever  men  he  could  muster  at 
the  west,  Ephraim  Williams,  Junior,  received  a  commission  as 
captain,  doubtless  from  Colonel  John  Stoddard,  with  authority  to 
enlist  a  company  and  to  take  command  of  the  forts  in  his  cousin's 
place,  with  headquarters  at  Fort  Shirley.  Our  primary  evidence 
for  this  fact  is  a  sentence  as  follows  in  a  petition  of  John  Perry 
to  the  General  Court  made  a  couple  of  years  Inter:  "Whereas 
your  Honours  Humble  Petitioner  Enlisted  in  the  service  of  the 
Country  under  the  Command  of  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  in 
the  year  1745,"  etc.     There  is  also  extant  an  original  muster-roll 

1  Charles  Knight's  England,  VI.  Ill,  112,  178,  183,  197. 


102  ORIGINS  m  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

"of  the  Company  in  his  Majesty's  Service  under  the  Command  of 
Ephraim  Williams,  Jun'r,  Captain/'  which,  although  it  does  not 
bear  the  usual  endorsement  with  the  date  of  its  rendering,  contains 
the  following  significant  note  appended  to  the  name  of  Samuel 
Barnard :  "  Omitted  on  Capt.  William  Williams  Spring  Roll  ending 
June  9,  1745."  This  note  on  a  roll  holding  the  names  of  twenty- 
three  men,  among  them  Moses  Rice,  then  well  settled  at  Charlemont, 
also  six  men  who  had  been  up  at  No.  4  under  Captain  Stevens,  and 
returned,  proves  conclusively  that  Captain  Ephraim  took  the  com- 
mand of  the  forts  already  erected  June  9,  1745 ;  and  it  also  explains 
the  fact  that  that  date  and  December  10,  just  six  months  from 
the  first,  were  the  two  hinges  of  time  on  which  things  turned  at  the 
forts  for  two  or  three  years,  inasmuch  as  most  of  the  extant  muster- 
rolls  for  that  interval  bear  these  two  dates,  particularly  the  latter 
one,  which  was  the  natural  time  for  the  ending  of  the  Fall  Roll,  as 
June  9  under  these  circumstances  was  the  natural' date  of  the  Spring 
Roll.  Eor  example,  besides  the  dates  of  the  individual  rolls,  we 
find  these  words  in  William  Williams's  own  handwriting  among  his 
papers  in  Pittsfield :  "  The  Indent  of  Capt.  Epraim  Williams,  com- 
mander of  the  Line  of  Forts,  viz.  Northfield,  Falltown,  Colrain, 
Fort  Shirley,  Fort  Pelham,  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  the  soldiers 
posted  at  the  Collars,  Shattucks,  Fort  Bridgman's,  Deerfield,  Rhode- 
town  and  New  Hampton  from  Dec.  10,  1745,  to  Dec.  10,  1746.  In 
which  time  he  has  had  three  hundred  and  fifty  men  under  his  par- 
ticular Charge  and  Government." 

Some  of  these  men  who  manned  the  forts  both  at  this  time  and 
later  on  did  not  voluntarily  enlist  in  the  service  of  the  colony,  but 
were  forcibly  impressed  into  it,  whenever  the  volunteers  were  insufii- 
cient  in  number  to  make  up  the  designated  quota.  June  3,  1744, 
Governor  Shirley  ordered  Colonel  Stoddard  to  impress  or  enlist  100 
able-bodied  men  "  out  of  the  Regiment  of  militia  under  your  com- 
mand for  the  defence  and  protection  of  his  Majesties  subjects  in  the 
Western  frontiers  of  this  Province  against  the  enemy,  to  be  posted 
and  disposed  of  in  such  manner  as  I  shall  farther  order."  Enlist- 
ments were  stimulated  by  the  offer  of  bounties  for  Indian  scalps. 
For  1745  the  bounty  voted  by  the  General  Court  was  £100,  new 
tenor.  This  offer  was  renewed  more  than  once.  For  example,  Feb. 
23,  1748,  it  was  voted  that  £100  be  paid  the  men  taking  the  scalp 
of  an  Indian  enemy,  the  scalp  to  be  presented  to  the  Government  at 
Boston.  About  a  month  after  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  assumed 
the  command  at  Fort  Shirley,  Colonel  Stoddard  directs  Major  Israel 
Williams  to  impress  or  cause  to  be  impressed  three  men  from  Hat- 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  103 

field,  who  were  to  report  at  once  to  Captain  Williams  at  Fort 
Shirley,  "the  commander  there."  It  so  hapjx?ns  that  the  earliest 
extant  paper  of  Ephraim  Williams,  whether  military  or  other,  is 
dated  at  Fort  Shirley  on  the  same  day  that  this  order  was  given 
from  Northampton,  namely,  July  17,  1745,  and  runs  as  follows :  — 

I  am  heartily  glad  that  Ens.  Stratton  is  enlisted  :  I  look  upon  him  as  a  fit  man 
to  have  ye  command  of  ye  men  posted  at  Northfield,  and  appoint  him  to  have  ye 
charge  of  them  and  to  appoint  another  under  him  in  his  absence.  I  have  oi-dered 
Corp.  Alexander  back  to  Fall-town  by  reason  his  family  is  there. 

Ephbauc  Williams. 

A  couple  of  orders  to  this  Hezekiah  Stratton  of  Northfield  were 
sent  by  the  Captain  at  just  about  the  same  time,  as  follows:  — 

To  Ensign  Stratton,  Sr. :  I  desire  you  to  see  that  ye  soldiers  lodge  at  ye  forts 
and  likewise  desire  you  and  the  commanding  officers  to  consult  in  what  manner 
is  best  to  guard  ye  people  in  their  business,  and  conduct  accordingly  till  further 
orders,  who  am  y"  to  serve. 

£.  Williams. 

Ensign  Stratton  :  If  you  have  no  man  among  you  that  is  fit  to  head  a  scout  as 
Alexander,  send  for  him,  for  he  shall  have  corporal's  pay  whether  he  does  any 
more  than  have  a  care  of  the  scout.  He  has  been  in  ye  ser^'ice  you  know  a  great 
while.     I  know  nothing  but  he  has  behaved  well. 

This  last  reference  to  Alexander  as  having  been  in  the  service 
"  a  great  while,"  concerns,  beyond  much  doubt,  the  organization  of 
snow-shoe  companies  in  those  parts  two  or  three  years  before. 
Colonel  Stoddard  wrote  a  letter  to  Governor  Shirley  dated  July  12, 
1743,  making  recommendation  of  certain  men  as  worthy  to  become 
the  officers  ''  of  the  three  companies  of  snow-shoe  men  ordered  to  be 
in  the  County  of  Hampshire."  Eleazer  Porter  and  Israel  Williams 
also  sign  this  letter  to  the  Grovernor,  which  is  in  Stoddard's  own 
handwriting.  They  recommended  for  Captains,  Elijah  Williams, 
Seth  Dwight,  and  Seth  Pomeroy;  for  Lieutenants,  John  Catlin, 
Junior,  Joseph  Billing,  Supply  Kinsley ;  and  for  Ensigns,  William 
Wright,  Moses  Marsh,  John  Clap.  All  the  signers  of  this  letter, 
as  well  as  some  of  those  recommended  in  it,  became  in  later  times 
distinguished  men ;  and,  as  the  following  narration  will  have  much 
to  do  with  some  of  them,  it  will  be  best  to  delay  a  little  here  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  a  brief  account  of  the  more  famous  among 
them. 


104  OEIGINS  IN  WILLIAIVISTOWN. 

John  Stoddard  was  born  in  Northampton  in  1681,  and  was  the  son 
of  Kev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  for  sixty  years  a  very  successful  preacher 
there.  He  was  a  young  soldier  in  Queen  Anne's  AVar,  and  was  one 
of  the  guard  in  the  house  of  Rev.  John  Williams,  of  Deerfield,  on  the 
memorable  night  of  the  sack  of  that  town  by  the  Indians  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1704.  In  1728,  he  was  commissioned  by  Governor  Burnet, 
Colonel  of  the  regiment  of  militia  within  the  county  of  Hampshire, 
and  Captain  of  the  first  company  within  the  town  of  Northampton. 
Thereafter  he  was  the  chief  director  of  civil  and  military  events  in 
the  western  parts  of  the  colony  till  his  death  in  1748. 

Israel  Williams  was  the  son  of  Rev.  William  Williams,  of  Hatfield, 
who  was  the  minister  there  for  fifty-six  years,  dying  in  1741.  This 
Rev.  William  was  half-brother  of  Ephraim,  Senior,  both  sons  of  Isaac, 
of  Roxbury ;  and  so  Israel,  who  was  born  in  Hatfield  in  1709,  and 
died  there  in  1789,  was  half -cousin  to  Ephraim,  Junior,  the  founder 
of  the  College.  He  was  also  own  cousin  to  John  Stoddard,  whose 
sister  had  become  the  minister's  second  wife,  and  so  Israel's  mother. 

This  Israel  was  a  very  able  and  independent  and  influential 
man,  perhaps  the  most  so  of  all  the  Williamses  ;  and  he  was  com- 
missioned by  Governor  Shirley,  Oct.  18,  1744,  commissary  of  the 
^'Western  Forces"  with  the  rank  of  Major,  and  continued  in  this 
post  till  the  death  of  Stoddard,  when  he  succeeded  the  latter  as 
Colonel  of  the  Hampshire  regiment.  As  commissary  he  was  under 
the  orders  of  J.  Wheelright,  of  Boston,  Commissary-in-chief. 

Elijah  Williams,  who  lived  in  Deerfield  and  died  there  in  1772,  aged 
sixty  years,  was  a  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Williams,  famous  as  the 
"  Redeemed  Captive  "  of  1704,  the  first  minister  of  Deerfield,  who 
continued  for  forty-three  years  as  the  faithful  preacher  and  pastor 
of  that  frontier  town.  Elijah  served  as  an  under-commissary  with 
the  rank  of  Captain  to  his  cousin.  Major  Israel,  throughout  King 
George's  War.  He  wrote  the  following  letter  from  Deerfield  to  Colonel 
William  Williams,  who  had  in  the  meantime  returned  from  Louis- 
burg  to  the  scenes  of  his  former  activity,  dated  March  3, 1747 :  — 

I  think  at  this  time  it  would  be  advisable  to  have  a  constant  scout  maintained 
either  to  Hoosack  or  Pontoosuck  for  the  protection  of  these  towns  [meaning  the 
towns  on  the  Connecticut].  I  should  have  sent  a  scout  yesterday  but  could  not 
get  Indian  shoes  in  this  town,  therefore  have  not  sent.  I  would  be  glad  o*f  your 
direction  in  this  affair ;  and  if  you  direct  me  to  send  a  scout  I  would  entreat  you 
to  prevail  with  Maj  [Israel]  Williams  to  send  me  by  the  Bearer  as  many  Indian 
shoes  as  you  think  necessary  to  be  employed  in  that  service.  These  with  duty 
to  you  and  Madam 

from  yours  to  command 

Elijah  Williams. 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  105 

lis  letter  is  endorsed  under  the  same  date  as  follows :  — 

Received  of  Maj.  Is.  Williams  ten  pairs  Indian  shoes  which  I  promise  to 
deliver  to  Capt.  Elijah  Williams  of  Deerfield. 

hU 

Charles  e  Coots. 

mark. 

Seth  Pomeroy,  the  last  of  those  recommended  by  Colonel  Stoddard 
and  others  for  militia  officers  in  1743,  whom  it  is  needful  for  us  to 
characterize  at  present,  was  son  of  Ebenezer  and  grandson  of  Deacon 
Medad  Pomeroy,  all  of  Northampton,  and  was  born  there  in  1705. 
He  was  a  gunsmith  by  trade,  an  ingenious  and  skilful  mechanic, 
who  worked  by  his  forge  nearly  all  his  life  in  the  intervals  of  his. 
military  services.  He  bequeathed  trade  and  skill  and  success  to  his 
son,  Lemuel,  who  was  forty  years  in  the  Legislature  of  Massachu-. 
setts,  and  who  died  in  1819,  aged  eighty-two.  He  was  commissioned 
a  Captain  in  the  militia  in  1744,  no  doubt  in  consequence  of  the 
recommendation  of  the  previous  year.  He  was  a  Major  in  the  suc- 
cessful colonial  expedition  against  Louisburg  in  1745.  Ten  years 
later  he  became  Lieutenant-colonel  in  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams's  reg- 
iment in  the  expedition  against  Crown  Point,  and  commanded  the 
regiment  throughout  the  battle  of  Lake  George  after  the  fall  of  his 
chief  in  the  "  bloody  morning  scout,"  whom  he  caused  to  be  buried 
the  next  day  under  the  tall  pine  by  the  side  of  the  military  road 
(just  cut)  from  Fort  Edward  to  Lake  George.  Of  him  as  he  was 
twenty  years  later,  Bancroft  writes  as  follows  in  his  account  of  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill:  "The  veteran,  Seth  Pomeroy  of  Northamp- 
ton, an  old  man  of  seventy,  once  second  in  rank  in  the  Massachusetts 
army,  but  now  postponed  to  younger  men,  heedless  of  the  slight, 
was  roused  by  the  continuance  of  the  cannonade,  and  rode  to  Charles- 
town  Neck ;  there,  thoughtful  for  his  horse,  which  was  a  borrowed 
one,  he  shouldered  his  fowling-piece,  marched  over  on  foot,  and 
amidst  loud  cheers  of  welcome,  took  a  place  at  the  rail  fence."  A 
few  days  after  this,  he  was  appointed  by  Congress  the  senior  briga- 
dier-general in  the  new  continental  army ;  but  the  appointment 
causing  some  difficulty  in  the  adjustment  of  questions  of  rank,  he 
declined  it  and  retired  to  his  farm.  Always,  however,  a  zealous  and 
devoted  patriot,  on  the  news  the  next  year  of  the  military  disasters 
in  New  Jersey,  he  headed  the  militia  of  his  neighborhood  and. 
marched  to  the  Hudson  River,  and  died  at  Peekskill  in  February, 
1777. 

Shortly  after  the  completion  of  Fort  Shirley  in  the  late  summer 
of  1744,  while  Captain  William  Williams  was  new  in  command  there, 


106 


ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


Captain  Elijah  Williams  as  acting  under-commissary  sent  up  from 
Deerfield  the  following  supplies  to  the  fort  in  charge  of  twenty-one 
men  with  horses ;  namely,  1520  pounds  of  pork,  1052  pounds  of  bis- 
cuit, twelve  bushels  of  peas,  twenty-eight  gallons  of  rum,  two  brass 
kettles,  chalk  lines  and  chalk,  a  grindstone,  gouge,  auger,  a  frow  [an 
instrument  for  splitting  cask-staves],  an  adz,  a  pair  of  steelyards, 
dividers,  a  spade,  and  a  broad  hoe  and  stub  hoe.  About  1880, 
William  L.  Cook,  who  then  owned  the  farm  on  which  Fort  Shirley 
was  situated,  found  the  remains  of  a  stub  hoe  not  far  from  the  fort, 
which  is  quite  likely  to  have  been  the  one  here  mentioned,  and 
which  he  sent  in  that  belief  to  the  Pocumtuck  Historical  Society  in 
Deerfield,  where  it  is  now  exhibited  in  their  Memorial  Hall. 

The  rations  allowed  the  troops  on  the  frontiers  at  this  date  were 
as  follows :  — 


In 
Garrison 


One  lb.  of  bread  per  day- 
One  half  pint  peas  or  beans  per  day 
Two  lbs.  of  pork  for  three  days 
L  One  gallon  molasses  for  42  days. 


On  the 
March 


One  lb.  bread  per  day 
One  lb.  pork  per  day 
One  gill  rum  per  day. 


At  a  later  date,  covering  the  year  from  Dec.  10,  1745,  to  Dec.  10, 
1746,  we  find  a  memorandum  in  the  handwriting  of  Colonel  William 
Williams  as  follows :  — 


At  each  of  the  Forts  for  the  use  of  the  Sick 


12  gall°8  Rum 

60  in  ye 

Whole  at  18/ 

14  lbs  Rice 

70  "  " 

"      at 

1  Bushel  Oatmeal 

5  "  " 

"      at 

20  lbs  candles 

100  "  " 

"      at   3/ 

2  lbs  Pepper 

10  "  " 

"      at  15/ 

14  lbs  Sugar 

70  "  " 

"      at    3/ 

4  Buckets 

20  "  " 

"      at   3/ 

2  Axes 

10  "  " 

"      at  28/ 

Interesting  as  they  are,  we  must  now  turn  our  main  attention 
away  from  these  two  forts  on  the  hills,  to  take  notice  only  incident- 
ally of  their  later  fortunes,  in  order  to  glean  the  details  of  the  story 
of  a  far  more  important  military  work  in  the  valley  of  the  Hoosac 
Eiver.  Whose  eye  it  was  that  first  picked  out  the  site  of  Fort 
Massachusetts,  and  whose  authority  it  was  that  first  designated  that 
as  the  proper  place  for  defence  against  French  and  Indians  approach- 
ing from  the  west,  is  not  now  certainly  known,  and  probably  never 
can  be  certainly  known.  In  this  respect  the  two  earlier  forts  of 
the  line  stand  in  marked  contrast  with  the  later  and  more  significant 


FORT   MAS!=;  APHrSFTTS,  107 

one.  John  Stoddard  liad  indeed  wnireii  :o  \'\  lUiam  Williams  in 
July,  1744,  "  to  search  out  some  convenient  places  where  two  or 
three  other  forts  may  be  erected,  each  to  be  about  five  miles  and 
a  half  distance  upon  the  line  run  the  last  week  as  above  mentioned," 
that  is,  the  line  westward  from  forts  Shirley  and  Pelham;  perhaps 
Williams  had  executed  this  commission  in  whole  or  in  part  before 
he  left  for  Louisburg  in  June,  1745;  he  had  at  any  rate  from  his  head- 
quarters at  Shirley  superintended  the  erection  of  Fort  Pelham  in  the 
spring  of  that  year;  the  thoughts,  however,  of  his  suj)eriors.  Gov- 
ernor Shirley  and  Colonel  Stoddard,  and  his  own  thoughts  also, 
during  that  winter  and  spring,  had  been  strongly  drawn  eastward 
towards  Louisburg,  rather  than  westward  into  the  wilderness;  and 
at  any  rate  there  is  no  direct  proof  that  he  selected  the  site  of  Fort 
Massachusetts.      }VJio  did? 

Ephraim  Williams  was  unquestionably  in  command  of  the  line  of 
forts  when  the  first  tree  was  cut  down  on  that  fine  meadow  of  the 
Hoosac,  and  the  ground  was  cleared  for  the  laying  up  of  the  timbers 
of  the  first  fort  there.  This  is  plain  from  John  Perry's  "  petition  " 
already  quoted,  for  he  says  that  he  "  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the 
country  under  the  command  of  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  in  the  year 
1745 "  ;  and  it  further  appears,  that  he  enlisted  as  a  carpenter  at 
nine  shillings  a  day,  old  tenor,  to  help  build  the  new  fort.  It  is 
plain  also,  from  a  letter  written  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  soon  to  be 
quoted  entire,  that  Williams  at  least  stood  in  this  relation  to  the 
new  fort,  that  work  on  it  began  about  a  month  after  he  became 
commander  of  the  line,  and  that  the  man  then,  and  long  after,  in 
charge  of  the  work  and  of  the  subsistence  of  the  enlisted  workmen 
on  the  spot,  was  Lieutenant  John  Catlin,  Junior,  second  in  command 
at  Fort  Shirley,  Williams's  own  headquarters.  Still,  all  this  does  not 
prove  that  Williams  himself  had  any  direct  supervision  over  the 
erection  of  the  fort,  and  still  less,  that  he  had  chosen  its  site.  It 
makes  for  the  contrary,  that  William  Williams  had  sole  charge  of 
the  rebuilding  of  the  fort  in  1747,  after  its  destruction  in  August, 
1740.  On  the  whole,  and  after  patient  researches  in  many  places, 
this  question  must  be  left  for  the  present,  and  probably  forever, 
unsettled.     It  is,  in  fact,  more  curious  than  important. 

About  one  mile  from  the  junction  of  the  Ashuwillticook  and  the 
Mayunsook  in  the  present  town  of  North  Adams,  the  resultant 
Hoosac  pursues  its  course  westerly,  till  it  strikes  a  strong  cliff  of 
quartzite,  which  deflects  it  sharply  to  the  south,  to  form  in  its  return 
to  the  west  a  broad  semicircular  arc  enclosing  the  meadow  on  which 
stood  Fort  Massachusetts.     The  famous  Indian  trail  of  the  Five 


108  ORIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Nations  (immemorial  in  its  origin)  between  the  Hudson  and  the 
Deerfield,  crossed  the  Hoosac  by  a  ford,  which  is  still  occasionally 
used  as  such,  at  the  eastern  end  of  this  arc.  The  fort  was  so  lo- 
cated as  to  command  this  ford,  and  also  the  old  Mohawk  war-path 
across  the  meadow ;  moreover,  directly  to  the  north  and  within  long 
musket-shot  range,  jutted  out. the  high  and  rough  quartzite  rocks, 
making  it  difficult  to  outflank  the  fort  on  that  side,  while  the  bend- 
ing river  strengthened  the  position  on  the  south.  To  the  west  and 
northwest  of  the  site  of  the  fort,  there  were  then  as  now,  and  then 
more  than  now,  stretches  of  low  and  swampy  ground.  Considering 
the  methods  of  warfare  then  in  vogue  in  the  New  World,  the  traits 
of  the  French  and  the  habits  of  the  Indians,  and  even  the  hostile 
tests  to  which  the  fort  itself  was  actually  subjected,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  its  position  was  well  chosen  for  the  ends  for  which 
the  work  was  built.  Edward  Everett,  in  an  oration  at  the  College, 
aptly  characterized  this  pass  of  the  Hoosac  between  its  cliffs  on 
either  side  as  a  Thermopyloe.     Such  indeed  it  proved  to  be. 

Who  it  was  that  brought  on  to  this  meadow  the  first  hardy  band 
of  choppers  and  hewers,  —  who  it  was  that  marked  out  on  and  among 
the  primeval  trees  that  grew  there  the  rude  lines  of  a  rude  fortifica- 
tion destined  soon  to  become  famous,  —  is  a  matter  to  guess  at  rather 
than  to  record.  It  may  well  have  been  John  Catlin,  of  Deerfield, 
who  wrote  the  following  letter  from  the  fort  —  so  far  as  now  appears 
the  first  public  paper  emanating  thence  —  on  August  3d  of  the  same 
summer.  Catlin  was  at  any  rate,  during  all  that  time,  second  in 
command  at  Shirley  under  Ephraim  Williams,  and,  later,  became 
captain  and  commander  at  Shirley  when  Williams  transferred  his 
headquarters  to  Massachusetts.  We  do  not  know  the  names  of  the 
hard-handed  men  who  felled  and  squared  and  lifted  and  pinned  up 
the  heavy  timbers  for  the  first  fort  on  the  Hoosac,  as  we  fortunately 
happen  to  know  from  the  contemporary  record  the  names  of  those 
who  tugged  at  the  green  timbers  at  Shirley  the  previous  year ;  but 
there  is  every  reason  for  concluding  that  the  new  fort  was  substan- 
tially a  copy  of  the  older  one  in  all  its  modes  of  construction.  The 
detailed  story  of  its  siege  and  capture  in  the  following  year  gives 
some  positive  evidence,  as  we  shall  shortly  see,  that  the  manner  of 
building  the  two  blockhouses  was  practically  identical.  Moreover, 
while  it  is  almost  certain  that  some  of  the  men  who  helped  to  build 
Fort  Shirley  came  over  the  Hoosacs  with  Catlin  to  help  build  Fort 
Massachusetts,  John  Perry,  carpenter  of  Falltown  (now  Bernards- 
ton),  is  the  only  man  known  certainly  to  have  worked  on  it;  and 
John  Perry,  with  Michael  Gilson,  Philip  Alexander,  and  others,  who 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  109 

are  known  to  have  been  soldiers  in  the  east  and  west  line  of  forts, 
assisted  ten  years  later  to  build  on  the  "  Great  Meadow  "  in  what  is 
now  Putney,  Vermont,  a  blockhouse  in  the  north  and  south  line  of 
forts,  which  is  described  as  follows  in  Thompson's  "Vermont,"  a 
description  that  shows  it  to  have  been  essentially  like  Fort  Shirley, 
and  inferentially  like  Fort  Massachusetts  also:  ''This  fort  was  lliO 
feet  long  by  80  wide,  and  was  built  of  yellow  pine  timber,  hewed 
6  inches  thick,  and  laid  up  about  16  feet  high.  The  houses  within 
were  built  against  the  wall,  with  a  roof  slanting  up  (called  a  salt-box 
roof)  to  the  top  of  the  wall,  the  wall  of  the  fort  making  the  back 
wall  of  the  house,  and  the  houses  all  fronting  the  hollow  square  in 
the  centre  of  the  fort."  We  have  already  learned  from  the  extant 
timbers  of  Fort  Shirley,  t-liat  they  were  hewed  down  to  six  inches  by 
fourteen.  It  may  well  be  that  the  larger  pines  on  the  intervales  of 
the  Connecticut  yielded  to  Perry  and  Gilson  a  plenty  of  sticks  six 
inches  to  eighteen,  so  that  ten  courses  would  make  a  fort  fifteen 
feet  high. 

Now  to  return  to  the  incipient  Fort  Massachusetts.  Lieutenant 
Catlin  in  charge  of  the  work  found  it  no  easy  problem  to  handle  his 
commissariat.  To  bring  supplies  for  his  soldiers  and  carpenters  over 
the  Hoosac  Mountain  from  Deerfield,  was  difficult  and  dangerous ; 
there  was  no  road  but  the  old  Mohawk  trail,  which  can  still  be  traced 
nearly  over  the  line  of  the  modern  Hoosac  Tunnel ;  he  had  evidently 
been  ordered  by  the  commissary.  Major  Israel  Williams,  of  Hatfield, 
to  try  his  luck  in  getting  provisions  further  down  the  Hoosac  among 
the  Dutch  farmers,  who  had  been  creeping  up  that  river  towards  the 
mountains  for  a  generation  or  two  ;  and  after  going  thither  on  that 
errand,  he  wrote  back  to  his  chief  the  following  extremely  interest- 
ing letter,  although  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  early  education  of 
the  writer  in  spelling  and  grammar  had  been  sadly  neglected. 

Fort  Massachusetts. 
Aug*  ye  3,  1745. 

Hond  Sir  these  are  to  informe  that  I  have  perseuant  to  your  desier  ben 
Down  to  y«  Duch  and  in  the  first  place  made  up  a  Counts  With  M'  Vanasee 
&  find  deu  to  him  2-4-6  in  there  mony  he  hath  disposed  of  but  tow  hids  and 
the  tallow  Sir  I  pos  to  informe  you  the  Sureomstances  we  are  in  I  carried 
With  me  258i»'  Weight  of  Pork  and  found  in  y«  Stores  thirtee  pounds  of  Beaf 
and  Brad  to  last  to  yc  22  of  July  I  found  three  Skipt'l  of  flour  in  the  Stores 
and  sence  found  Whare  Bardwell  had  brought  20  Skipel  more  we  have  fetched 
up  17  all-Ready  Sir  I  find  that  the  Rum  hath  ben  very  Slipry  trade  but  how 
much  hath  ben  Sold  to  perticulr  men  I  Cant  yet  tel.  Sir  the  ox  we  kild  on 
y«  29  July  the  Weight  47b^^  the  quntlty  of  Pork  that  Bardwell  Spake  of  I  have 
ben  to  see  and  find  that  thare  is  about  400»»  weight  Which  is  the  Whol  I  can 


110  ORIGINS   IN  WILLI AMSTOWN. 

Sight  of  att  preasant  the  price  three  pence  half  peny  per  pound  Mr  Vannees 
will  Let  me  have  800'^  Weight  in  December  att  the  same  price  further  I  have 
tried  the  best  of  my  skill  to  git  Wheat  and  shall  now  Let  you  know  how  I  Can 
have  it  Mr  Vannees  demands  29  per  Skipel  he  giting  it  ground  &  delivering 
it  att  his  house  the  pay  may  be  made  to  his  Son  att  New  York  in  Rum  or  any 
other  att  the  markit  price,  further  Mr  Hawk  att  the  firt  house  will  Let  me 
have  one  lOOi^  skipel  of  old  Wheat  att  2«  G*^  per  skipel  and  Will  git  it  ground 
and  Brought  to  his  house  a  mile  nier  to  us  his  pay  must  be  in  money  Sav^ing 
2  pare  of  Stocings  and  2  pare  of  Shoes  :  Sir  I  now  Wait  for  your  orders  which 
to  take  the  Last  Whet  mentioned  is  Chepist  but  thare  is  no  man  that  Can 
Supply  in  all  we  want  like  Vannees  ;  Sir  the  price  of  Rum  I  Cant  yet  know  but 
in  a  fornits  time  Vanase  Son  will  be  up  from  New  York  and  he  will  then  let  me 
know,  the  Want  of  money  oblidges  me  to  stand  with  my  finger  in  my  mouth 
ware  the  money  hear  things  might  be  had  much  chepier  Plese  to  send  Bard  well 
as  soun  as  possiable  for  the  Care  of  the  work  att  the  fort  and  giting  the  pro- 
visions I  find  is  hard  Sir  there  is  dificulty  Respecting  ye  Wheat  that  Bardwell 
Bought  forsbury  sayeth  that  he  was  to  take  the  wheat  before  it  was  ground  and 
Charges  3  pence  per  Bushil  for  giting  it  ground  &  brought  to  his  house  Salt 
cant  be  had  on  this  Albany  and  brought  one  horse  Sir  we  are  all  in  health  & 
yours  att  Command 

John  Catlin  2^0. 


This  precious  letter,  originally  directed  to  "  Maj'".  Is^  Williams  att 
Hatfield,"  is  preserved,  among  other  invaluable  papers  of  that 
recipient,  in  the  library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  It 
has  never  before  this  been  printed,  and  it  was  copied  for  the  present 
use  at  the  kind  instance  of  Mr.  Librarian  Green.  It  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  pack  into  so  few  words  more  varied  and  important  informa- 
tion to  a  local  posterity  than  this  monstrously  misspelled  missive 
indirectly  conveys.  In  the  first  place,  we  learn  from  these  lines 
(if  we  will  only  read  between  the  lines)  that  it  had  already  dawned 
on  men's  minds  what  a  huge  obstruction  to  travel  and  transporta- 
tion was  the  watershed  between  the  Deerfield  and  Hoosac  rivers. 
In  the  military  circles  of  Massachusetts  the  Hoosac  Mountain  began 
to  be  talked  about  in  1744 ;  it  came  first  into  writing  apparently  in 
this  letter  of  1745  ;  a  rude  road  over  the  mountain  took  the  place  of 
the  Indian  trail  not  far  from  the  time  of  Wolfe's  great  battle  at 
Quebec  in  1759;  just  at  the  close  of  the  century  a  turnpike  was  con- 
structed to  connect  through  Williamstown  with  a  turnpike  over  the 
Taconics  into  the  state  of  New  York ;  about  1830,  a  descendant  of 
the  "  Mr.  Hawk "  spoken  of  in  this  letter,  a  citizen  of  Charlemont, 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  canal  under  the  mountain  to  unite  for  com. 
mercial  purposes  the  waters  of  the  two  streams ;  at  the  middle  of 
the  present  century  a  tumult  of  voices  induced  the  state  of  Massa- 
chusetts to  embark  in  the  enterprise  of  excavating  a  tunnel  under 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  Ill 

the  mountain,  which  was  accomplished  after  long  delays  and  at  vast 
expense ;  and  the  talk  of  men  about  that  mountain  as  an  obstacle 
to  intercommunication,  which  began  in  1744,  finally  ceased,  in  1887, 
when  the  Hoosac  Tunnel  and  all  the  approaches  to  it  on  either  hand 
were  purchased  by  and  confirmed  to  the  Fitchburg  Railroad  Company. 

"  The  firt  house,"  referred  to  above  by  Lieutenant  Catlin,  was  the 
house  of  Eleazar  Hawks,  born  in  Deerfield  in  December,  1C93,  and  who 
was  consequently  fifty-two  years  old  when  he  negotiated  with  Catlin 
for  the  sale  of  the  wheat.  He  was  an  older  brother  of  Sergeant 
John  Hawks,  who  distinguished  himself  at  Fort  Massachusetts 
the  next  year,  and  was  the  common  ancestor  of  all  the  Hawks 
families  in  Charlemont,  some  of  whom  were  still  residing  in  1887 
on  the  lands  of  their  fathers.  His  house  was  the  westernmost 
house  in  Charlemont,  and  was  of  course  the  first  house  reached  in 
the  Deerfield  valley  by  one  coming  over  the  mountain  from  Fort 
Massachusetts.  His  lands  lay  on  both  sides  of  the  Deerfield,  his 
house  stood  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  and  his  lands  were 
bounded  on  the  east  by  the  lands  of  Captain  Moses  Rice,  the  first 
and  most  prominent  settler  in  that  exposed  valley,  of  whom  we 
have  already  learned  something  in  connection  with  the  building  of 
Fort  Pelham. 

It  seems  almost  certain  from  this  old  letter,  that  Captain  Rice,  or 
one  of  his  sons,  had  already  built  some  sort  of  a  grist-mill  on  his 
own  lands ;  for  Catlin  writes  to  the  commissary,  that  Hawks  agreed 
to  get  the  stipulated  wheat  ground  and  "  Brought  to  his  house  a 
mile  nier  to  us,"  that  is,  nearer  to  Fort  Massachusetts,  where  the 
letter  was  written.  Unless  there  were  in  1745  a  grist-mill  about 
a  mile  east  of  Hawks's  house,  which  would  put  it  on  Rice's  land  and 
near  the  brook,  on  which  a  grist-mill  and  saw-mill  certainly  stood 
a  few  years  later,  the  sentence  in  question  does  not  appear  to  yield 
any  sense  whatever.  This  was  before  the  "  Propriety  "  of  Charle- 
mont was  completed,  and  the  mill,  if  it  existed,  was  Rice's  private 
property,  and  he  could  charge  whatever  he  pleased  for  grinding; 
another  passage  in  the  letter  indicates  that  "  3  pence  per  Bushil  for 
giting  it  ground"  was  about  the  current  rate ;  but  in  1753,  after  the 
legal  organization  of  the  place,  it  was  voted  to  pay  "  Mr.  Aaron 
Rice,  who  hath  built  a  corn-mill  in  said  town,  which  is  allowed  by 
the  proprietors  to  be  of  public  use  for  the  town,  £170  old  Tenor,  in 
part  satisfaction  for  building  said  mill,  provided  the  said  Aaron 
Rice  will  give  a  sufficient  obligation  to  the  Propriety  to  keep  said 
mill  in  repair,  and  grind  at  all  convenient  times  for  the  proprietors, 
taking  one-sixteenth  part  for  toll,  and  no  more."     Later  in  the  same 


112  ORIGINS   IN  WILLTAMSTOWN. 

month  of  January  the  proprietors  also  voted  "  to  give  said  Aaron  Eice 
the  saw-mill  irons  belonging  to  y^  proprietors,  and  to  compleat  the 
setj  he  engaging  to  build  a  saw-mill  on  the  brook  he  hath  built  the 
corn-mill  on,  and  to  saw  bords  for  the  proprietors  at  y^  same  prices, 
and  to  sell  bords  at  y°  same  price  that  they  are  sold  for  at  Deerfield, 
for  y®  space  of  ten  years  next  ensuing."  ^ 

The  "  Bardwell "  several  times  mentioned  by  Catlin  in  this  letter 
was  undoubtedly  Thomas  Bardwell,  of  Hatfield,  who  had  already 
been  up  the  Deerfield  and  probably  over  the  watershed  to  the 
Hoosac  in  the  interest  of  the  commissary  department,  and  whose 
further  assistance  Catlin  desired  in  his  own  heavy  responsibilities. 
"Plese  to  send  Bardwell  as  soun  as  possiable  for  the  Care  of  the 
work  att  the  fort  and  giting  the  provisions  I  find  is  hard."  Some 
one  or  more  of  this  family  of  Hatfield  afterwards  migrated  to  the 
Deerfield  in  the  present  town  of  Shelburne,  and  gave  name  to  a 
ferry  and  then  to  a  bridge  over  the  river,  called  perhaps  for  a  cen- 
tury "  Bardwell' s  Ferry,"  and  at  length  the  name  has  been  perma- 
nently attached  —  "  Bardwells  "  —  to  the  local  station  on  the  Fitch- 
burg  Eailroad. 

The  chief  interest,  after  all,  of  this  ancient  and  goodly  epistle  of 
the  illiterate  Lieutenant  is  his  honest  report  of  what  he  brought 
back,  when  he  had  "  ben  Down  to  y®  Duch  perseuant  to  your 
desier."  The  people  of  Massachusetts  had  been  very  jealous  for  a 
generation  of  the  gradual  approach  of  the  Dutch  farmers  of  New 
York  towards  the  western  line  of  the  former  colony,  and  of  the 
alleged  encroachments  of  the  Dutch  beyond  that  line.  There  had 
been  mutual  complaints  and  reproaches  a  plenty  as  between  the 
adjoining  colonies,  as  has  already  appeared  in  these  pages  ;  and  it 
is  quite  curious,  though  natural  enough,  that  the  first  substantial 
intercourse  between  those  who  had  so  long  looked  at  each  other 
askance,  was  in  the  interest  of  a  friendly  exchange  of  commodities 
for  the  reciprocal  advantage  of  both  parties.  It  is  curious,  also, 
that  the  first  advances  were  made  by  the  agents  of  the  colony, 
which  was  then  building  a  fort  fronting  the  Dutch  almost  as  much 
as  it  did  the  French,  for  the  subsistence  of  the  soldiers  manning 
that  fort;  and  menacing,  too,  any  further  creeping  up  of  the  Hoosac 
by  those,  some  of  whom  were  already  supposed  to  have  overpassed 
the  line.     Catlin  went  down  the  river  at  the  instance  of  his  supe- 

1  These  quotations  from  the  old  records  of  Charlemont  are  taken  from  the  admi- 
rable "Discourse  at  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Death  of  Moses  Rice,"  de- 
livered at  Charlemont,  June  11,  1855,  by  my  excellent  and  now  (1887)  venerable 
friend,  Joseph  White. 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  113 

riors  to  see  Dutchman  Van  Ness  about  buying  from  him  com- 
missary supplies,  for  the  rising  work  on  the  upper  river,  designed  in 
part  to  inhibit  him  and  his  neighbors  from  crowding  themselves 
further  eastward.  Who  was  Van  Ness,  and  who  were  his  neighbors 
in  1745  ? 

Here  we  must  go  back  a  little,  for  we  are  on  extremly  interesting 
historical  ground. 

But  before  we  go  back  for  this  purpose,  we  must  insert  another 
interesting  letter  from  Catlin  to  Israel  Williams,  his  commissary 
superior,  written  only  two  days  after  the  first,  and  showing  the  gen- 
eral interest  excited  among  the  Dutch  on  the  middle  Hoosac  by 
the  appearance  among  them  of  a  Massachusetts  lieutenant  seeking 
supplies. 

FOBT   MASSACHUgETTS. 

Aug'  ye  5,  1745. 

Sir  Since  I  wrote  the  account  of  my  procedings  consaming  the  wheat  Mr. 
Vanness  has  been  with  me,  and  tels  me  that  if  you  will  take  all  the  wheat  you 
want  of  him  that  he  will  take  our  money  and  the  same  price  as  mentioned  before. 
Sir,  I  have  this  day  a  large  family  from  the  Duch,  and  one  man  offers  me  whete 
for  2 : 5  per  skipel  ither  one  or  200  skipel  to  be  delivered  in  flower  at  the  first 
house  [undoubtedly  Van  Der  Verick's,  now  Petersburg  Junction].  Another  of 
them  will  let  me  enough  to  pay  for  a  sute  of  broad  cloth  for  2 : 0  nir  skipel  to 
be  delivered  at  the  same  house  in  flower. 

As  good  care  of  the  beafe  hath  been  taken  as  if  your  honoui  .,» i,  i.car,  but 
for  the  want  of  salt  I  feare  some  of  it  will  spile.  One  skipel  of  salt  is  the  howle 
we  can  git  till  we  go  to  Albany  for  it. 

We  are  informed  by  an  Indian  from  Crown  Point  that  one  of  the  sculks  that 
kiled  Phips  at  the  greate  meadow  received  his  death  wound  and  died  att  Crown 
point.  We  are  all  well  and  in  good  spirits,  and  make  tho  we  scout  every  day 
no  discovery  att  present. 

Sir,  I  am  yours  to  serve 

John  Catlin  *>• 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1688,  the  year  of  the  great  and  final 
English  Revolution,  though  James  II.  was  still  on  the  English 
throne  and  the  grant  was  made  as  by  his  authority,  there  was 
granted  at  Albany  by  Governor  Dongan  to  four  persons,  two  of 
them  dwellers  at  Albany,  and  one  at  Catskill,  and  one  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  the  so-called  "  Hoosac  Patent."  This  grant  included 
about  70,000  acres  of  very  fertile  land,  extending  from  the  easterly 
bounds  of  Schaghticoke  "  on  both  sides  of  a  certain  creek  called 
Hoosac,  being  in  breadth  on  each  side  of  the  said  creek  two  English 
miles,  and  as  in  length  from  the  bounds  of  Schaghticoke  aforesaid 
to  the  said  place  called  Nocliawickquask."  The  only  pecuniary  con- 
sideration expected  on  either  side  to  be  rendered  for  this  princely 


114  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

domain,  was  an  annual  quit-rent  of  ten  bushels  of  "good  sweet 
merchantable  winter  wheat "  to  be  delivered  at  the  city  of  Albany. 
One  of  these  four  grantees  was  Hendrik  Van  Ness,  of  Albany. 
But  neither  he  nor  any  one  of  the  others  made  any  movement  for 
settlement  on  these  fine  lands  for  almost  forty  years.  The  reason 
was,  the  track  lay  directly  on  the  great  war-path  between  Canada 
and  the  English  colonies.  King  William's  War  broke  out  the  very 
next  year  after  the  "  Hoosac  Patent "  was  signed.  Queen  Anne's 
War  was  only  closed  up  by  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  in  1713.  Garret 
Van  Ness,  a  descendant  of  the  original  patentee  of  that  name,  made 
the  first  permanent  lodgement  within  the  limit  of  the  Patent  in  1725. 
He  is  the  landed  proprietor,  with  whom  Lieutenant  Catlin  negoti- 
ated twenty  years  later  for  wheat  and  other  supplies  for  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts. He  was  born  in  December,  1702,  and  his  homestead  was 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  Walloomsac  not  far  from  its  mouth,  while 
his  farm  lay  on  both  banks  of  that  stream  and  extended  two  miles 
or  more  to  the  northwest  along  the  northeast  bank  of  the  Hoosac, 
nearly  to  the  mouth  of  the  Owl  Kill,  or  Eagle  Bridge.  Some  portions 
of  this  estate  remained  in  the  Van  Ness  family  until  1818.  Four,  at 
least,  of  his  grandsons  of  the  same  name  had  large  landed  estates 
upon  the  Hoosac  and  the  Walloomsac. 

Just  ten  years  after  this  settlement  of  Van  Ness,  and  ten  years 
before  the  commercial  visit  of  Catlin  to  that  region,  Barnardus 
Bratt,  an  heir  by  marriage  of  another  of  the  four  proprietors  under 
the  Patent,  and  a  purchaser  of  the  rights  of  other  heirs,  established 
his  home  at  what  we  now  call  Petersburg  Junction.  His  great 
wealth  and  his  assumption  of  manorial  rights  gave  him  a  distin- 
guished social  position  and  the  title  of  "Patroon  of  Hoosac.'' 
Directly  south  of  him,  and  adjoining,  another  Dutchman,  Van  Der 
Verick,  had  established  himself  before  Catlin's  visit  as  the  proprie- 
tor of  the  broad  meadows  at  the  junction  of  the  "  Little  Hoosac  " 
with  the  Hoosac  River.  Bratt  had  already  erected  a  grist-mill  and 
a  saw-mill,  the  first  in  the  district,  on  a  little  stream  that  flowed 
past  his  dwelling  down  through  a  lateral  valley  to  the  eastward. 
This  grist-mill  gave  considerable  significance  to  Catlin's  regrets  that 
he  had  not  the  ready  money  wherewith  to  buy  the  "  good  sweet 
merchantable  winter  wheat "  of  Van  Ness. 

The  figures  of  these  Dutchmen  appear  upon  the  scene  of  the  mid- 
dle Hoosac  district,  and  solid  down  to  our  own  day.  But  long 
before  these  men  put  in  their  substantive,  if  not  picturesque,  appear- 
ance along  the  two  streams,  more  shadowy  and  more  traditionary 
forms  of  men  flitted  over  the  beautiful  region,  yet  left  no  trace  upon 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  115 

it  except  a  name,  which  no  lapse  of  time,  no  religious  hatreds,  no 
competing  and  conflicting  designations,  liave  even  yet  sufficed  to 
obliterate.  That  name  ia  St,  Croix,  The  name  is  French,  and 
must,  therefore,  have  been  given  by  Frenchmen.  The  name  is 
eminently  Catholic,  and  must,  then,  have  been  bestowed  by  devotees 
of  the  Old  Church.  When  ?  By  whom  ?  Under  what  circum- 
stances? ;N'o  answer  ever  comes  to  these  questions  often  lifted. 
They  appeal  to  the  imagination,  they  call  up  attractive  pictures, 
but  they  evoke  no  reply  from  any  contemporary  record.  Jesuits 
from  Canada,  however,  founded  mission  stations  among  the  Indians 
all  along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  tributaries,  from  the  Kennebec 
to  the  waters  of  the  upper  Mississippi.  Father  Jogues,  from  Quebec 
as  a  centre,  began  Christian  work  among  the  Hurons  in  1G36,  con- 
tinued it  from  1642  among  the  Chippewas  in  Michigan,  visited 
repeatedly  by  different  routes  what  is  now  the  state  of  New  York, 
was  captured  and  tortured  by  the  Mohawks  in  1043,  named  what  we 
now  call  Lake  George  "Saint  Sacmment"  on  a  final  missionary 
journey,  and  was  soon  after  murdered  by  the  Mohawks  in  1646. 
Some  have  thought  it  likely  that  Father  Jogues  himself  in  one  of 
these  journeys  passed  up  the  Hoosac  and  the  Walloomsac,  and  deter- 
mined to  establish  a  future  mission  there,  and  gave  the  district  the 
name  of  the  "Holy  Cross  " ;  but  Parkman,  in  his  copious  account  of 
the  travels  of  this  Father,  seems  to  allow  no  room  for  such  an  ancil- 
lary operation  as  this ;  and  there  is  no  need  of  any  violent  hypothe- 
sis ;  French  missionaries  from  Canada  discovered  Lake  St  Sacrament 
long  before  Father  Jogues  christened  it ;  and  all  that  we  certainly 
know  is  this,  that  some  of  these,  at  some  time,  visiting  the  place 
with  a  missionary  intent,  were  struck  with  the  beauty  of  the  Wal- 
loomsac and  with  its  conveniences  of  access,  and  left  a  sweet  name 
ujx)n  it  which  more  than  two  centuries  have  not  effaced. 

It  is  a  cherished  opinion  of  the  writer,  and  one  originally  sug- 
gested by  personal  observation  at  the  two  localities  concerned,  that 
the  name  "  St.  Croix  "  was  given  by  the  French  missionaries  to  the 
district  on  account  of  the  fact  that  the  Walloomsac  strikes  the 
Hoosac  exactly  at  right  angles,  —  making  a  perfect  Egyptian  cross, 
—  and  that  the  Little  White  Creek  strikes  the  Walloomsac  a  mile  or 
more  above  its  mouth  in  precisely  the  same  manner,  except  for  a 
turn  a  few  rods  above  the  junction.  It  is  very  remarkable,  at  any 
rate,  that  the  term  "St.  Croix,"  while  it  was  often  applied  in  a  general 
way  to  a  narrow  strip  of  country  extending  from  Eagle  Bridge  on 
the  west  to  the  first  battle-field  of  Bennington  on  the  east,  affixed 
itself  much  more  definitely  and  tenaciously  to  these  two  points  of 


116  ORIGINS   IN   WILLTAMSTOWN. 

river  junction.  Long  before  the  Revolutionary  War  there  was  a 
village  of  St.  Croix  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Walloomsac  just  above 
its  junction  with  the  larger  stream  ;  two  railroads  are  now  making 
junction  on  the  south  bank  within  a  stone's  throw  (almost)  of  the 
site  of  the  ancient  church  of  St.  Croix,  which  itself  disappeared 
before  the  opening  of  this  century,  but  several  of  the  moss-grown 
headstones  in  the  church-yard  were  legible  a  few  years  ago ;  although 
every  other  memorial  of  the  meeting-house  or  other  building  along 
that  part  of  the  old  road  is  utterly  gone.  The  original  homestead 
of  Garret  Van  Ness,  where  Catlin  was  doubtless  entertained  while 
doing  his  errand,  was  about  half  a  mile  up  the  stream  from  the 
church,  and  afterwards  became  the  tavern  of  St.  Croix.  The  mills 
of  the  hamlet  were  about  half  a  mile  further  up,  on  the  Little 
White  Creek,  just  where  their  successors  stand  to-day, — the  pres- 
ent grist-mill  having  been  built  in  1776,  and  is  noted  as  the  spot 
where  the  battle  of  Bennington  both  began  and  ended  the  next  year. 
The  tendency  of  the  name  "  St.  Croix,''  to  attach  itself  to  these  rustic 
mills  and  to  the  little  village  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Walloom- 
sac, and  gradually  to  withdraw  itself  from  the  west  end  of  the  strip 
where  the  church  stood,  and  from  the  east  end  where  the  main  battle 
was  fought,  is  very  noticeable.  The  present  little  village  of  North 
Hoosac  is  the  modern  representative,  both  as  to  place  and  name,  of 
the  ancient  St.  Croix.  The  corruptions  to  which  this  French  name 
was  subjected  in  the  course  of  a  century  in  English  mouths  is  some- 
thing amazing.  Sancoick  is  perhaps  the  most  common  and  the  most 
natural  of  all.  Governor  De  Lancey  of  New  York  spelled  it  Sink- 
haick.  The  variations  are  innumerable.  Almost  all  of  the  con- 
temporary accounts  of  the  battle  of  Bennington  use  the  word  in 
some  form  as  a  designation  of  place,  and  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether 
the  Americans  or  the  British  or  the  Germans  mouth  it  worst. 

Evidently  well  pleased  with  the  hospitality  of  the  Dutch  and 
with  the  looks  of  their  country,  and  with  the  policy  of  getting  his 
supplies  on  this  side  rather  than  the  other  of  the  Hoosac  Mountain, 
Lieutenant  Catlin  returned  to  his  fort  and  made  his  report  to  his 
superior  officer.  What  Major  Williams  thought  about  these  mat- 
ters, what  further  orders  he  gave  concerning  them,  is  not  recorded, 
nor  is  it  important.  The  fort  doubtless  went  steadily  forward 
towards  its  completion.  The  reference  of  Catlin  to  the  wheat 
(800^**  Weight),  which  "  Mr  Yannees  will  Let  me  have  in  December 
att  the  same  price,"  demonstrates  that  it  was  intended  that  the  fort 
should  be  occupied  in  a  military  way  during  the  winter  to  come.  It 
was  so  occupied.     Fortunately  we  possess  the  muster-roll   of  the 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS. 


117 


common  soldiers  or  sentinels  who  garrisoned  it  from  the  10th  of 
December  to  the  9th  of  June  following. 


A  MUSTER  Roll  of  the   Company   is  His  Majesty's  Service  Uxder  the 
Command  of  Ephraim  Williams,  Jun'r  Captain,  Viz. 


Men's  Names 

QrALlTT 

Time  of  Extkamce 

Till  what  tmb 

Jonathan  Bridgman 

Cent'l 

Dec'r  10 

June  9. 

Moses  Scott 

•' 

« 

« 

John  Perry 

« 

« 

« 

Eben'r  Dickinson 

<« 

(1 

Feb.  28. 

John  Danelson 

4t 

tt 

<t 

Elijah  Graves 

« 

tt 

June  9. 

Samuel  Goodman 

(1 

M 

u 

Joseph  Kellogg 

« 

« 

tt 

Aaron  Kidder 

« 

« 

tt 

Zebulon  Allin 

« 

tt 

tt 

Nath'l  Ranger 

tt 

tt 

« 

Jonathan  Stone 

it 

tt 

Feb.  27. 

John  Guilford 

« 

tt 

June  9. 

Stephen  Stow 

«< 

tt 

« 

Daniel  Smead 

« 

M 

tt 

Samuel  Taylor 

<( 

M 

Feb.  11. 

David  Warner 

<( 

tt 

Feb.  24. 

Luke  Smith 

(( 

tt 

Feb.  20. 

Elea'  Hawks,  Jun'r 

« 

Feb.  21 

June  9. 

Gad  Corse 

« 

Dec.  10 

Feb.  24. 

Nathaniel  Brooks 

tt 

April  15 

June  9. 

Connewoon  Hoondeloo 

tt 

Dec.  10 

Feb.  24. 

Eben'r  Miller,  Jun'r 

tt 

(( 

« 

Gershom  Hawks 

U 

Feb.  20 

June  9. 

John  Mighills 

tt 

Dec.  10 

« 

Moses  Adams 

tt 

tt 

« 

Joseph  Petty 

it 

tt 

Feb.  15. 

Patrick  Ray 

« 

tt 

June  9. 

Amos  Stiles 

« 

tt 

tt 

Barnard  Wilds 

(( 

tt 

tt 

Jedidiah  WinehaU 

« 

M 

Feb.  15. 

Aaron  Ferry 

« 

tt 

it 

Parker  I'ease 

tt 

tt 

Feb.  26. 

Thomas  Miller 

tt 

M 

tt 

Abner  Aldrich 

« 

tt 

June  7. 

Ezekiel  Foster 

tt 

tt 

June  9. 

John  Cochran 

tt 

tt 

tt 

Thomas  Foot 

tt 

tt 

Jan.  30. 

John  Newton 

<« 

tt 

Mar.  30. 

Richard  Wallis 

" 

Mar.  31 

June  9. 

John  Conally 

" 

Dec.  10 

Feb.  27. 

Samuel  John 

w 

tt 

June  9. 

118  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

These  forty-three  men  were  the  garrison  of  Fort  Massachusetts 
during  its  first  winter,  1745-46.  There  is  a  fair  sprinkling  of 
Scotch-Irish  among  them,  Danelson,  Cochran,  Conally,  Wallis,  and 
others ;  for  the  immigration  of  1718,  into  Massachusetts,  from  Lon- 
donderry and  its  neighborhood,  was  already  beginning  to  color  (as 
it  has  never  yet  ceased  to  color)  the  state  of  things  in  New  England. 
Throughout  this  and  the  next  French  and  Indian  war,  these  Scotch 
enlisted  largely  from  Worcester  and  Pelham  and  Brookfield,  and 
other  towns,  into  which  they  had  scattered,  partly  because  they  were 
intense  Protestants  and  hated  the  French,  and  partly  because  they 
were  becoming  numerous  and  continued  poor.  Several  of  the  names 
in  this  list  will  confront  us  again  in  the  sequel,  some  of  them  repeat- 
edly and  interestingly.  Ezekiel  Foster  became  one  of  the  original 
proprietors  of  the  town  of  West  Hoosac.  John  Perry  was  one  of 
the  next  year's  captives  to  Quebec.  Eleazar  Hawks  was  son  of  him 
with  whom  Catlin  bargained  for  wheat  in  Charlemont,  and  was  him- 
self killed  by  the  Indians  at  the  "  Bars  Fight ''  in  Deerfield,  Aug. 
25,  1746.  Gershom  Hawks  was  his  brother,  and  was  wounded  by 
the  Indians  near  Massachusetts  Fort  two  days  after  this  muster-roll 
was  made  up,  that  is,  June  11,  1746.  John  Mighills,  while  riding 
near  the  fort  with  his  sergeant,  John  Hawks,  both  on  one  horse,  was 
fired  upon  by  skulking  Indians  and  was  wounded,  but  made  his 
escape  to  the  fort.  This  was  May  9,  just  a  month  before  the  roll 
was  made  out.  Sergeant  Hawks  was  worse  wounded  than  the  sol- 
dier by  the  same  volley,  and  fell  from  the  horse;  but  as  two  Indians 
ran  to  scalp  him,  he  recovered  and  presented  his  gun,  which  so 
scared  the  savages,  that  one  jumped  down  the  bank,  and  the  other 
got  behind  a  tree  and  called  for  quarter.  John  Hawks,  uncle  to 
Gershom  and  brother  to  him  who  was  nearest  neighbor  on  the  east 
to  the  fort,  had  doubtless  been  in  the  fort  all  winter  as  a  petty  offi- 
cer, and  so  had  John  Catlin  as  Lieutenant  commanding. 

Captain  Ephraim  Williams  had  his  headquarters  for  that  winter 
in  Fort  Shirley,  and  had  with  him  in  all  forty-seven  men.  Happily 
we  have  that  muster-roll  also  among  the  extant  papers  of  the  com- 
missary, Israel  Williams.  It  is  made  up  as  between  the  same 
extreme  dates  as  the  other,  namely,  December  10  to  June  9.  It  is 
evident  that  there  was  a  shift  of  men  from  Shirley  to  Massachu- 
setts at  the  latter  date,  and  probable  also,  that  Captain  Williams 
shifted  his  headquarters  at  the  same  time  to  the  same  place ;  for 
Elisha  Nims,  who  is  put  down  on  the  Shirley  roll  as  present  to 
June  9,  was  killed  two  days  later  at  Fort  Massachusetts.  Some 
of  the  soldiers  were  at  work  near  the  fort  on  that  day,  when  a  party 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  119 

of  Indians  fell  upon  them,  killeti  uiui  sculptHi  2sims,  and  wounded 
Gershoni  Hawks  as  already  related.  A  part  of  the  Indians  had  laid 
an  ambush  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  any  of  the  soldiers  who  might 
attempt  to  regain  the  fort;  and  though  the  ambush  rose  to  carry 
out  their  plan,  a  sharp  fire  from  the  fort  prevented  its  execution. 
They  took  captive,  however,  Benjamin  Taintor  of  Westboro.  This 
party  of  Indians  came  of  course  and  returned  by  St.  Croix  and 
the  Hoosac,  and  nearly  100  cattle  belonging  to  the  Dutch  and 
English  farmers  of  the  valley  were  killed  by  them.  The  body  of 
one  of  the  Indians  was  found  a  few  days  after  buried  in  the  bank  of 
the  river  not  far  from  the  fort,  and  some  long  cords  were  also  found, 
supposed  to  have  been  brought  along  by  which  to  lead  their  captives 
to  Canada. 

The  last  rude  headstone  remaining  standing  in  the  little  grave- 
yard attached  to  Fort  Massachusetts  stood  over  the  grave  of  Elisha 
Nims.  One  hundred  years  after  his  death  the  students  of  the  Col- 
lege obtained  permission  of  Captain  Harrison,  the  then  owner  of 
the  meadow,  to  exhume  the  skeleton.  The  leaden  ball  that  killed 
him  was  found  embedded  in  one  of  the  vertebrae  of  the  back.  That 
portion  of  the  spinal  column  was  brought  to  the  College,  and  is 
still  to  be  seen  in  the  museum  in  Clark  Hall.  In  the  spring  of 
1852  the  present  writer  obtained  leave  from  Captain  Harrison  to 
bring  the  headstone  itself  to  the  College.  It  was  then  lying  upon 
ploughed  ground,  and  the  inscription  was  fast  becoming  illegible. 
That  too  is  preserved  in  the  museum.  The  inscription  is  as  un- 
couth as  the  stone  on  which  it  was  cut  by  some  illiterate  soldier, 
who  mistook  both  the  year  and  the  day.     It  runs  as  follows ;  — 

June  12 

1746 

Elisha  Niras 

A20  Y 

We  are  merely  told  that  the  soldiers  were  "at  work"  near  the 
fort,  when  the  Indians  fell  upon  them,  and  killed  Nims  and  wounded 
Hawks  and  "  captivated  "  Taintor,  as  the  phrase  ran  in  those  days. 
Of  course  it  is  only  a  matter  of  conjecture  what  the  soldiers  were 
doing ;  but  as  corn  was  growing  two  months  later  when  the  fort 
was  besieged,  between  the  stumps  round  the  fort,  and  especially 
on  the  side  towards  the  bend  of  the  river,  it  is  no  very  violent 
guess,  that  the  soldiers  were  planting,  or  possibly  hoeing,  corn 
that  morning.  There  had  been  little,  or  nothing,  to  do  through 
the  winter ;  and  it  is  noticeable  from  the  muster  roll  how  many  of 


120  OPwIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  poor  fellows  got  sick,  or  homesick,  or  furloughed,  along  the  last 
of  February.  As  the  spring  opened,  and  as  time  hung  heavy  on  his 
hands,  one  of  the  soldiers,  a  carpenter,  picked  himself  out  a  piece  of 
wild  land  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  about  a  mile  west  of  the 
fort  (it  lay  at  the  east  end  of  the  present  village  of  Blackinton), 
and  fenced  it  off,  and  even  built  him  a  house  on  it.  This  was  John 
Perry,  the  picturesque,  the  irrepressible.  There  was  no  pre-emption 
law  in  those  days,  and  the  Great  and  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 
could  not  be  brought  to  recognize  any  valid  title  to  said  land  as 
vested  in  said  Perry,  although  he  afterwards  argued  with  them  in 
the  following  terms  :  — 

And  upon  ye  encouragement  we  had  from  ye  late  honorable  Col.  John  Stod- 
dard, which  was  that  if  we  went  up  with  our  Families  he  did  not  doubt  but  ye 
Court  would  grant  us  land  to  settle  on,  whereupon  I  your  Honours  Humble 
petitioner  carried  up  my  family  there  with  my  household  stuf  and  other  effects 
and  continued  there  till  we  was  taken  when  we  was  obliged  to  surrender  to  the 
French  and  Indian  enemy  August  the  20  1746.  The  losses  your  Humble  peti- 
tioner hath  met  with  together  with  my  captivity  hath  reduced  me  to  low  circum- 
stances, and  now  humbly  prayeth  your  Honours  of  your  goodness  to  grant  him 
a  grant  of  land  to  settle  upon  near  ye  fort  where  I  fenced  which  was  about  a 
mile  west  of  ye  fort,  or  elsewhere,  where  your  Honours  pleaseth  and  that  your 
Honours  may  have  a  full  reward  hereafter  for  all  your  pious  and  charitable 
Deeds  your  Honours  Humble  petitioners  shall  alwais  pray. 

Perry  wrote  out  his  petition  with  his  own  hand,  and  the  original 
in  the  Massachusetts  Archives  is  dated  Nov.  5,  1747,  shortly  after 
he  returned  from  his  captivity  in  Quebec  ;  but  there  is  some  anachro- 
nism about  this,  as  well  as  a  trifle  too  much  piety  and  sycophancy, 
because  he  speaks  in  the  body  of  the  petition  of  "  ye  late  honorable 
Col.  John  Stoddard,"  while  that  worthy  deceased  June  19,  1748. 
Perry's  house  was  up  and  stocked  when  the  French  and  Indians 
took  and  burned  the  fort  in  August,  and  on  their  return  they  natur- 
ally burned  the  humble  dwelling  that  stood  by  the  side  of  their  war- 
path, and  it  was  then  the  only  house  in  the  valley  of  the  Hoosac 
within  the  limits  of  Massachusetts.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Perry  prized 
their  new  home  and  its  contents,  and  apprised  the  General  Court  of 
their  value,  as  follows  :  — 

I  would  humbly  lay  before  your  Honours  the  losses  I  sustained  there,  which 
are  as  followeth,  a  house  I  built  there  for  my  family  80  pounds  two  feather  beds 
with  their  furniture  100  pounds  two  suits  of  apparel  apiece  for  me  and  my  wife 
150  pounds  two  Brass  Kettles  a  pot  and  pewter  with  tramel  tongs  fire  slice  and 
knives  and  forks  to  ye  balance  of  20  pounds  one  cross  cut  saw  20  pounds  and 
one  new  broad  ax  6  pounds  three  new  narrow  axes  8  pounds  and  one  adds  2 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  121 

pounds  two  steel  traps  14  pounds  two  guns  32  pounds  one  pistol  6  pounds  one 
100  weight  of  suggar  20  pounds,  total  457  pounds  with  a  great  many  other 
things  not  named. 

If  the  carpenter's  appraisement  of  the  separate  pieces  of  his  prop- 
erty seem  to  us  ridiculously  excessive,  we  must  remember  that  he 
reckoned  in  "  Old  Tenor,"  which  was  then  just  one  quarter  of  "New 
Tenor,"  which  itself  was  depreciated  compared  with  silver. 

The  Shirley  muster  roll,  already  alluded  to,  has  interesting  feat- 
ures and  interesting  names.  The  three  rolls,  including  a  subordinate 
one  of  twenty-three  names,  probably  of  men  that  occupied  Fort  Pel- 
ham  from  the  early  spring  to  the  common  date  of  termination  of  all 
three,  namely,  June  9,  1746,  show  that  enlisted  men  passed  pretty 
freely  from  one  fort  to  another  in  the  line  of  forts,  according  to  various 
exigencies  and  especially  to  expectation  of  hostile  attack.  No  hos- 
tile Indians  had  been  near  Fort  Shirley  now  for  two  winters.  Pel- 
ham  had  not  even  been  approached  by  an  enemy.  All  the  indications 
of  the  spring  and  summer  so  far  pointed  out  Fort  ^lassachusetts  as 
the  exposed  position.  The  first  demonstration  against  it  was  made 
May  9,  and  the  second,  still  feeble,  June  11 ;  and  whether  Captain 
'Williams  went  down  there  in  person  or  not,  a  number  of  his  men 
from  the  hill  forts  went  down.  Among  others  went  down  from 
Shirley  Benjamin  Simonds,  just  turned  of  twenty,  enlisted  from 
Ware  River,  destined  to  play  a  great  part  in  the  Hoosac  valley  till 
the  very  end  of  the  century.  Six  of  the  men  who  went  up  with 
Captain  Phineas  Stevens  to  No.  4  early  in  March,  returned  to  their 
service  at  Pelham  in  about  three  weeks,  for  ten  weeks  and  four  days, 
till  June  9.  These  were  Sergeant  Daniel  Severance  of  Deerfield, 
Aaron  Belding  of  Northfield,  Celeb  Chapin  of  Springfield,  Phinehas 
Nevers,  and  Samuel  Severance  and  Joseph  Petty,  both  of  Northfield. 
The  last  two  were  in  Captain  Melvin's  scout  to  Lake  Champlain  in 
May,  1748.  He  had  but  eighteen  men  with  him.  When  nearly 
opposite  Crown  Point,  he  discovered  two  canoes  on  the  lake  with 
Indians,  one  of  them  about  sixty  rods  from  the  shore.  Going  in 
plain  sight  of  the  fort,  he  boldly,  but  imprudently,  fired  several 
volleys  into  the  canoe.  These  Indians  in  the  canoes,  by  the  way, 
were  just  returning  from  a  raid  made  against  Fort  Massachusetts. 
A  gun  from  the  fort  gave  the  alarm,  and  no  less  than  150  Indians 
started  in  pursuit.  Melvin  eluded  them  on  his  retreat  over  the 
Green  Mountains  for  six  days,  when  suddenly,  while  some  of  his 
men  were  lunching  and  others  shooting  with  their  guns  the  salmon 
passing  up  West  Kiver,  the  Indians  poured  in  a  volley  upon  them 
from  behind  logs  and  trees,  not  more  than  forty  feet  distant.     Six  of 


122  ORIGINS  IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

the  party  were  killed  outright,  among  them  our  Samuel  Severance ; 
our  Joseph  Petty  was  so  severely  wounded  as  to  be  unable  to  retreat 
with  the  rest ;  his  comrades  got  him  to  a  spring,  where  they  put 
some  pine  boughs  for  him  to  lie  on,  and  setting  up  other  boughs  as 
a  sort  of  wind-break,  placed  a  pint  cup  of  water  within  his  reach, 
and  told  him  to  live  if  he  could  till  they  should  come  back  with  help. 
As  he  was  one  of  the  most  respected  citizens  of  Northfield,  sixteen 
of  his  townsmen  (one  of  them  a  doctor),  so  soon  as  they  learned  the 
facts,  resolved  to  learn  his  fate.  They  started  on  horseback,  found 
his  dead  body  and  buried  it,  and  were  out  four  days.  The  place  was 
about  thirty-three  miles  from  Fort  Dummer  up  West  River.  Hall, 
in  his  ''Eastern  Vermont,"  locates  it  within  the  limits  of  London- 
derry. 

Our  old  friend,  Moses  Eice  of  Charlemont,  who  contracted  to  build 
Fort  Pelham,  but  did  not,  was  in  that  fort  as  a  "  centinel "  from 
May  8  to  June  9,  1746.  John  Smead  of  Sunderland,  one  of  the 
later  captives  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  whose  strange  and  tragic  story 
must  be  told  in  brief  in  the  sequel,  was  in  Fort  Shirley  all  winter 
and  till  the  shift  of  June  9.  So  was  Aaron  Denio  of  Deerfield,  a 
Scotch-Irishman,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  by-and-bye.  So,  also, 
was  John  Burk  of  Falltown,  one  of  its  earliest  settlers  in  1738, 
before  whom,  as  soldier  and  townsman,  there  lay  a  usefiil  and  con- 
spicuous career.  But  we  must  no  longer  delay  on  these  first  muster 
rolls  of  the  three  western  foTts,  but  give  our  attention  now  to  the 
westernmost,  a  crisis  in  whose  story  was  drawing  near  at  mid- 
summer of  1746. 

Unluckily  for  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  apparently,  also,  for  the 
military  reputation  of  Ephraim  Williams,  the  summer  and  fall  of 
1746  was  much  confused  and  distracted  in  New  England  as  regarded 
the  French  War.  The  capture  of  the  fortress  of  Louisburg  the 
year  before  by  the  raw  levies  of  Massachusetts  had  astonished  the 
mother  country  and  even  the  colonists  themselves ;  the  former  was 
glad  and  the  latter  were  proud.  Accordingly  in  April,  the  British 
ministry  sent  orders  to  the  colonies  to  enlist  fresh  troops,  which  the 
King  would  pay,  for  a  combined  attack  on  Canada.  The  New  Eng- 
land levies  were  to  be  joined  at  Louisburg  by  a  fleet  and  army  from 
England,  with  a  view  to  capture  Quebec,  while  the  levies  from  the 
other  colonies  were  to  rendezvous  at  Albany  to  operate  in  the  rear 
against  Montreal.  In  spite  of  the  previous  mortality  at  Louisburg, 
Massachusetts  raised  3500  men,  Connecticut  1000,  New  Hampshire 
500,  Rhode  Island  300,  New  York  voted  1600,  New  Jersey  500, 
Pennsylvania  400,  Maryland  300,  and  Virginia  100.     The  southern 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  123 

troops,  with  those  from  Connecticut,  assembled  at  Albany  under 
Governor  Clinton,  but  the  feeble  British  ministers  changed  their 
minds.  No  fleet  and  no  army  appeared  as  towards  Quebec,  and  1500 
of  the  Massachusetts  men  were  marched  to  Albany  to  join  Clinton. 
Instead  of  the  expected  English  squadron,  a  French  fleet  of  forty  ships 
of  war,  with  3000  veteran  troops  on  board,  sailed  for  the  American 
coast  under  D'Anville,  exciting  the  greatest  alarm  throughout  Xew 
England.  Boston  was  believed  to  be  the  great  object  of  the  French 
fleet  and  army.  The  advance  on  Montreal  was  put  a  stop  to,  owing 
to  the  failure  of  English  co-operation,  the  fear  of  D'Anville,  and 
other  difficulties.  Five  companies  of  a  regiment  under  Colonel 
Joseph  Dwight  of  Brookfield,  to  which  Lieutenant-Colonel  Williams 
was  assigned,  both  recently  from  Louisburg,  recruited  for  the 
Canada  campaign  chiefly  in  the  Connecticut  valley,  not  without 
draining  more  or  less  from  the  garrisons  of  the  line  of  forts,  were 
sent  to  Boston,  and  the  other  five  to  the  most  exposed  western 
frontier  of  Hampshire  County.  In  the  meantime  the  knowledge  in 
Canada  that  D^Anville's  fleet  was  off  the  coast,  that  part  of  it  had 
anchored  in  the  harbor  of  Halifax,  and  that  fear  and  turmoil  were  the 
consequence  in  New  England,  stimulated  umvonted  activity  in  fitting 
out  j)artie8  of  French  and  Indians  to  depredate  on  the  English  colonies 
at  exposed  points,  and  especially  the  uncommonly  large  party  that  cap- 
tured and  burned  Fort  Massachusetts  in  August.  But  at  last,  in  the 
good  providence  of  God,  the  September  gales  crippled  the  French 
fleet,  D'Anville  died  of  grief  at  Halifax,  his  successor  in  command 
committed  suicide  over  accumulated  disasters,  and  only  a  shattered 
remnant  of  the  proud  armament  crept  back  to  France  in  November. 

As  we  fortunately  possess  from  the  pen  of  an  eye-witness  and 
active  participant  a  detailed  account  of  the  siege  and  capture  of 
Fort  Massachusetts  and  of  the  captivity  that  followed  it,  it  is  now 
the  purpose  to  print  in  order  the  essential  parts  of  this  account,  with 
such  additions  as  have  been  derived  from  other  contemporaneous 
records,  and  with  such  comments  as  have  been  suggested  by  local 
investigations,  and  may  serve  to  help  frame  the  entire  picture  as 
completely  as  is  possible  at  this  late  day.  As  the  present  is  the 
very  first  attempt  to  elaborate  a  history  of  Massachusetts  and  its 
associate  forts,  so  it  is  the  belief  of  the  writer  that  no  future  effort 
will  ever  be  made  to  glean  from  the  original  sources  j)atiently,  piece 
by  piece,  the  obscure  yet  fascinating  story.  Both  of  these  consider- 
ations have  stimulated  to  long-continued  and  conscientious  studies 
of  the  broken  fragments  in  order  to  make  up  an  imperfect  whole. 

John  Norton,  the  author  of  the  record  now  to  be  quoted,  was  born 


124  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

in  Berlin,  Connecticut,  in  1716,  was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
1737,  and  in  November,  1741,  was  ordained  in  Deerfield  to  become 
the  first  minister  in  Falltown,  a  new  township  just  then  organized 
west  of  Northfield.  A  small  church  was  formed  at  the  same  time 
and  place  with  the  ordination.  But  the  times  were  unsettled.  War 
with  France  soon  became  imminent.  In  about  two  years  Fort  Shir- 
ley was  built  a  few  miles  to  the  westward.  It  was  no  use ;  church 
and  congregation  could  not  be  kept  together.  Norton  flung  up  in 
Falltown,  and  was  appointed  chaplain  to  the  line  of  forts  in  1745, 
with  his  spiritual  headquarters  at  Shirley.  He  was  two  years 
younger  than  Ephraim  Williams,  and  the  two  probably  took  up 
their  residence  in  Shirley  at  just  about  the  same  time.  Norton 
took  his  family  with  him.  Williams  was  a  bachelor.  Undoubtedly 
it  was  the  plan  of  their  superiors  that  both,  in  the  exercise  of  their 
diverse  functions,  should  pass  occasionally  from  Shirley  to  Pelham 
and  Massachusetts,  and  backwards  to  the  less  formal  forts  and  gar- 
risons nearer  to  and  on  the  Connecticut  Eiver. 

The  full  title  of  Norton's  pamphlet,  printed  in  Boston  in  1748, 
"and  sold  opposite  the  prison,"  is  "  'The  Redeemed  Captive,'  being  a 
narrative  of  the  taking  and  carrying  into  captivity  the  Reverend  Mr. 
John  Norton,  when  Fort  Massachusetts  surrendered  to  a  large  body 
of  French  and  Indians,  August  20th,  1746.  Written  by  himself." 
The  title,  "Redeemed  Captive,"  was  unfortunate,  for  it  provoked 
comparison  with  a  much  more  important  narrative  with  the  same 
heading  of  the  sack  of  Deerfield  in  1704,  and  of  the  captivity  of 
Rev.  John  Williams,  the  first  minister  of  Deerfield,  and  of  his 
family  and  flock,  which  soon  became  a  famous  book,  and  has  re- 
mained so  ever  since.  Mr.  Norton  had  no  literary  ability  at  all, 
and  apparently  very  little  practice  as  a  writer,  though  truthful  and 
accurate  in  his  statements  to  the  last  degree;  while  the  printer, 
who  refrained  from  putting  his  own  name  upon  the  performance, 
did  his  work  in  a  very  shabby  manner,  the  pamphlet  being  full  of 
typographical  and  other  errors.  There  is  no  evidence  that  it  ever 
had  much,  if  any,  circulation;  and,  at  any  rate,  it  had  become 
extremely  scarce  and  almost  wholly  unknown,  when  Drake  reprinted 
it  in  his  "  French  and  Indian  War,"  published  by  Munsell  in  1870. 
We  will  now  listen  to  the  worthy  chaplain  telling  his  own  story  in 
his  own  way. 

Thursday,  Aug.  14, 1746.  —  l\ett  Fort  Shirley  in  company  with  Dr.  Williams, 
and  about  fourteen  of  the  soldiers ;  we  went  to  Pelham  fort,  and  from  thence  to 
Capt.  Rice's,  where  we  lodged  that  night.  Friday,  the  15th,  we  went  from 
thence  to  Fort  Massachusetts,  where  I  designed  to  have  tarried  about  a  month. 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  125 

The  Dr.  Williams  referred  to  here  was  Thomas,  uterine  brother  of 
Captain  Ephraim,  and  four  years  younger.  The  two  were  the  only 
children  of  Ephraim  Williams  by  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth  Jackson. 
There  were  other  children,  fruits  of  a  second  marriage,  of  whom 
more  will  be  told  in  the  sequel.  These  two  brothers,  as  is  usual  in 
such  cases,  seem  to  have  been  specially  fond  of  each  other ;  and  it 
is  an  easy  conjecture,  for  which  there  is  some  foundation,  that  the 
step-mother  was  a  bad  element  in  the  early  home  life  of  these  two 
boys,  in  Ne\vton,  where  they  were  born,  the  one  in  February,  1714, 
and  the  other  in  February,  1718.  Dr.  Thomas  was  the  surgeon  in 
the  line  of  forts,  probably  becoming  such  about  the  same  time  that 
Ephraim  became  the  captain,  and  John  Norton  the  chaplain.  Pel- 
ham  was  about  five  miles  west  of  Shirley,  and  Captain  Rice's  about 
four  miles  south  of  Pelham.  Rice  had  moved  his  family  from  Rut- 
land, Worcester  County,  to  the  upper  Deerfield,  in  the  early  spring 
of  1743.  The  position  of  his  house,  when  Norton  and  Williams 
and  the  fourteen  soldiers  lodged  in  and  around  it,  is  well  known  to 
this  day.  It  stood  near  a  buttonwood  tree  now  growing  close  by  the 
road,  a  few  rods  west  of  his  grave  with  its  original  headstone,  and 
of  his  monument,  dedicated  Aug.  2,  1871.  The  only  house  then 
built  west  of  Rice's  in  the  Deerfield  valley,  and  between  that  and 
Fort  Massachusetts,  was  Eleazar  Hawks',  already  referred  to.  Cat- 
lin  says,  "  one  mile  nier  us."  The  distance  from  Rice's  to  the  fort, 
the  second  day's  march,  over  the  mountain  by  the  old  Indian  trail, 
was  not  far  from  fourteen  miles. 

Saturday,  16th.  —  The  doctor  with  fourteen  men  went  of!  for  Deerfield,  and 
left  in  the  fort  Sergeant  John  Hawks  with  twenty  soldiers,  about  half  of  them 
sick  with  bloody  flux.  Mr.  Hawks  sent  a  letter  by  the  doctor  to  the  captain, 
supposing  that  he  was  then  at  Deerfield,  desiring  that  he  would  speedily  send 
up  some  stores  to  the  fort,  being  very  short  on  it  for  ammunition,  and  having 
discovered  some  signs  of  the  enemy  ;  but  the  letter  did  not  get  to  the  captain 
seasonably.  This  day  also,  two  of  our  men  being  out  a  few  miles  distant  from 
the  fort  discovered  the  tracks  of  some  of  the  enemy. 

Dr.  Thomas  Williams  had  received  from  Yale  College  a  degree  as 
Master  of  Arts  in  1741,  and  Norton  had  received  his  second  degree 
probably  the  year  before ;  and  it  is  diverting  to  think  of  these  two 
men  taking  this  two  days'  tramp  together  through  the  wilderness,  fol- 
lowed by  fourteen  soldiers,  or  preceded,  —  it  makes  but  little  differ- 
ence which,  —  passing  but  two  human  dwellings  in  the  whole  march, 
and  perhaps  relieving  the  tedium  of  the  long  path  by  college  reminis- 
cences, or  speculations  as  to  their  own  or  other  classmates'  futures, 


126  ORIGINS  IN  WILLI AMSTOWN. 

as  their  successors  at  Yale  of  a  hundred  later  classes  have  been 
doing  at  New  Haven,  on  the  occasion  of  their  reunions,  ever  since. 
Beyond  a  doubt,  the  fourteen  men  from  Shirley  were  brought  down 
to  reinforce  the  garrison  of  the  western  and  more  exposed  work,  but 
the  Doctor  took  away  with  him,  the  next  day,  the  same  number  that 
he  brought,  though  undoubtedly  not  the  same  men.  The  need  of 
ammunition  and  other  supplies  was  very  great,  and  the  detachment 
that  went  off  with  the  Doctor  went  doubtless  as  a  military  guard  to 
bring  back  the  stores.  Sergeant  Hawks  sent  also  a  letter  to  Captain 
Ephraim  Williams,  supposing  that  he  was  then  at  Deerfield,  unfold- 
ing the  low  circumstances  at  the  fort,  and  informing  that  some  signs 
of  the  enemy  had  been  discovered.  These  signs  multiplied  the  next 
day.  No  wonder  such  signs  were  discovered!  It  has  never  been 
precisely  cleared  up,  and  never  will  be,  why  CajDtain  Williams  was 
absent  from  all  his  forts  at  this  particular  juncture,  and  why  the 
most  advanced  one  —  the  very  outpost  —  was  left  with  only  a  ser- 
geant in  command,  and  virtually  with  no  means  of  offence  or  defence 
in  case  of  attack,  in  men,  or  stores,  or  ammunition.  It  is  certain 
that  he  was  in  unbroken  command  of  the  line  of  forts,  twelve  in  all, 
including  Deerfield,  from  Dec.  10, 1745,  to  Dec.  10, 1746,  —  "in  which 
time  he  has  had  350  men  under  his  particular  charge  and  govern- 
ment." All  that  can  truthfully  be  said  is,  that  the  expedition  to 
Canada  was  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the  authorities  of  Mas- 
sachusetts during  that  summer ;  that  an  entire  regiment  under 
Colonel  Joseph  Dwight  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  William  Williams 
was  recruited  for  that  service  within  hearing,  as  it  were,  of  the  tap 
of  the  drum  of  those  forts ;  that  1500  Massachusetts  levies  were 
sent  to  Albany  early  in  the  season,  and  many  others  later,  after  the 
news  of  D'Anville's  disasters  had  reached  Boston  ;  and  that  Captain 
Williams's  absence  from  his  post  was  somehow  or  other  connected 
with  these  movements,  proposed  or  actual,  towards  Albany,  though 
there  is  no  evidence  known  to  the  writer  that  Williams  himself  went 
to  Albany  in  this  campaign,  either  before  or  after  the  capture  of 
Fort  Massachusetts.  It  has  often  been  stated  and  printed  that  he 
was  absent  at  Albany  when  the  siege  took  place.  Sergeant  Hawks 
"  supposed  that  he  was  then  at  Deerfield."  Hawks's  letter  reached 
him,  indeed,  but  not  "seasonably."  Nevertheless,  it  was  an  unlucky 
miss  for  the  Captain  in  a  military  point  of  view,  that  he  happened 
to  be  absent  from  the  post  of  danger  at  the  head  of  a  fair  garrison, 
with  fair  supplies,  in  August,  1746.  Such  a  chance  to  gain  military 
reputation  was  never  renewed  to  him  afterwards. 

As   Dr.  Williams  filed  out  of  the  gate  of   Fort   Massachusetts, 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  127 

with  his  fourteen  men,  for  DeerfieUl,  he  and  they  fell  immediately 
into  an  imminent  hazard,  of  which  they  had  at  the  time  no  intima- 
tion at  all.  The  fort  was  already  encircled  by  its  enemies  from 
Canada !  Close  by  the  road  leading  down  to  the  ford  of  the  Hoosac 
already  described,  a  part  of  Vaudreuil's  forces  had  secreted  them- 
selves in  the  brakes  and  bushes,  and  so  near  were  they  to  the  little 
detachment  headed  east,  that  they  could  actually  have  touched  them 
with  their  guns ;  "  but  rather  than  attempt  to  seize  them,  which 
would  have  brought  on  a  fire,  and  apprised  the  garrison  of  their 
proximity,  they  suffered  the  surgeon  and  his  men  to  pass  without 
interruption."  (Hoyt.)  After  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  this  fact 
was  communicated  in  detail  to  the  garrison  by  the  French  them- 
selves.    This  was  Saturday,  the  16th. 

Lord's  Day  and  Monday,  17th  and  18th.  —  We  met  with  no  disturbance, 
nor  did  we  discover  any  enemy  ;  but  the  sickness  was  very  distressing ;  for 
though  some  began  to  amend,  yet  there  were  more  taken  sick.  Eleven  of  our 
men  were  sick,  and  scarcely  one  of  us  in  perfect  health ;  almost  every  man 
was  troubled  with  the  griping  and  flux. 

The  meadow  on  which  the  fort  stood  was  and  is  low  ground ; 
the  river  was  then  much  larger  than  now,  and  time  had  not  then 
worn  its  channel  so  deep  as  it  is  now ;  consequently,  the  drainage  of 
the  ox-bow  must  have  been  then  very  imperfect,  and  the  swamp  to 
the  northwest  must  have  been  broader  and  wetter  than  it  is  at 
present.  It  was,  therefore,  an  unwholesome  place  for  garrisoned 
men  to  occupy  in  August,  and  we  do  not  need  to  look  further  for 
causes  of  the  distressing  sickness  of  which  tlie  good  chaplain  com- 
plains; and  though  the  fort  stood  on  the  highest  ground  enclosed  in 
the  bend  of  the  river,  where  the  elm  tree  has  been  growing  since 
1859,  that  itself  is  but  little  lifted  above  the  general  level.  In  1885 
most  of  the  meadow,  including  the  site  of  the  fort,  was  surveyed 
into  streets  and  building  lots ;  but  the  general  impression  of  lowness 
and  imperfect  drainage  in  part  prevented  for  several  years  the 
taking  up  of  the  lots  by  householders.  An  elevated  railroad  em- 
bankment also  runs  across  the  meadow  from  east  to  west  on  its 
northern  side,  and,  of  course,  disfigures  it. 

Tuesday,  19th. — Between  eight  and  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when, 
through  the  good  providence  of  God,  we  were  all  in  the  fort,  twenty-two  men, 
three  women,  and  five  children,  there  appeared  an  army  of  French  and  Indians, 
eight  or  nine  hundred  in  number,  commanded  by  Monsieur  Kigaud  de  Vaudreuil, 
who,  having  surrounded  the  fort  on  every  side,  began  with  hideous  acclamations 
to  rush  forward  upon  the  fort,  firing  incessantly  upon  us  on  every  side. 


128  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Considering  that  the  investment  of  the  fort  was  really  made  on 
Saturday,  the  French  concealed  themselves  remarkably  well  till 
Tuesday  forenoon.  The  sickness  within  the  fort  accounts  for  the 
fact  that  the  men  were  not  stirring,  and  that  new  signs  of  an  enemy 
were  not  discovered.  So  far  as  the  present  writer  can  help  to  secure 
that  result,  the  names  of  the  thirty  persons  within  the  fort  during 
this  memorable  siege  will  not  be  forgotten  by  posterity. 


Sergeant  John  Hawks, 

Deerfield. 

Chaplain  John  Norton, 

Falltown. 

John  Aldrich, 

Mendon. 

Jonathan  Bridgeman, 

Sunderland. 

Nathaniel  Eames, 

Marlboro. 

Phineas  Forbdsh, 

Westboro. 

Samuel  Goodman, 

Hadley. 

-  Nathaniel  Hitchcock, 

Brimfield. 

Thomas  Knowlton, 

Town  unknown. 

Samuel  Lovatt, 

Mendon. 

John  Perry^ 

Falltown. 

Amos  Pratt, 

Shrewsbury. 

JosiAH  Reed, 

Rehoboth. 

Joseph  Scott, 

Hatfield. 

Moses  Scott, 

Falltown. 

Stephen  Scott, 

Sunderland. 

Jacob  Shepherd, 

Westboro. 

Benjamin  Simonds, 

Ware  River. 

John  Smead, 

Athol. 

John  Smead,  Jr., 

Athol. 

Daniel  Smead, 

Athol. 

David  Warren, 

Marlboro. 

The  women  and  children  were  Mary,  wife  of  John  Smead,  and 
their  children,  Elihu,  Simon,  and  Mary;  Miriam,  wife  of  Moses 
Scott,  and  their  children,  Ebenezer  and  Moses  ;  and  Eebecca,  wife  of 
John  Perry. 

Turning  now  from  the  mere  handful  of  the  defenders  of  the  fort, 
half  of  them  sick  and  none  of  them  well,  and  eight  of  them  women 
and  children,  to  the  "army  of  French  and  Indians  eight  or  nine 
hundred  in  number,''  who  attacked  and  reduced  it,  it  is  to  be  said  in 
the  first  place,  that  we  are  not  shut  up  to  Norton's  narrative  and 
Hawks's  journal  and  the  other  contemporary  English  accounts  for 
our  knowledge  of  the  make-up  of  this  army,  but  luckily  we  have 
also  the  contemporaneous  and  official  French  accounts,  the  originals 
preserved  in  the  Archives  of  Paris.  It  is  in  itself  a  curious  thing, 
and  it  makes  a  curious  phase  of  the  semi-civilization  of  French 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  129 

America,  that  a  careful  record  was  macle  of  the  numbers  and  desti- 
nation of  even  the  smaller  parties  sent  out  into  the  English  country 
for  plunder  and  scalps  before  they  started,  as  well  as  a  summary  of 
the  results  after  the  party  had  returned  from  its  raid.  So  consider- 
able a  hostile  incursion  as  that  of  Vaudreuil  would,  of  course,  under 
such  a  custom,  find  conspicuous  antecedent  and  subsequent  remem- 
brancers; and  from  these  and  associated  documents,  we  learn  that 
not  Canada  Indians  alone,  but  Indians  from  the  upper  lakes  also, 
Ottawas  from  Detroit,  Sauteurs  from  Mackinaw,  Hurons,  and  even 
Pottawataniies,  were  in  Vaudreuirs  detachment.  We  learn  that 
seventeen  Mississaguer  from  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario,  who  left 
Vaudreuil  before  the  capture  of  the  fort,  went  eighteen  miles  below 
Albany,  struck  a  blow,  and  brought  back  four  scalps.  We  find  that 
Vaudreuil  left  Montreal  on  the  3d  of  August,  and  that  his  force 
consisted  at  the  start  of  **2  captains,  1  lieutenant,  3  ensigns,  2 
chaplains  whereof  one  is  for  the  Indians,  1  surgeon,  10  cadets  of  the 
regulars,  18  militia  officers,  3  volunteers,  and  about  400  colonists 
and  300  Indians,  including  those  domiciled  and  those  from  the 
Upper  country."  In  another  quarter  of  these  documents  we  dis- 
cover that  Lieutenant  Demuy  left  ^Montreal  the  16th  of  July  for 
Crown  Point  with  a  party  of  470,  mostly  Indians,  thence  for  Wood 
Creek,  scouting  and  "  felling  the  trees  on  both  sides  to  render  its 
navigation  impracticable  to  our  enemies."  Demuy  was  ordered  to 
wait  at  the  "  River  au  Chicot "  [Wood  Creek]  for  the  party  com- 
manded by  Vaudreuil,  which  he  did,  and  whom  he  joined.  Wood 
Creek  flows  from  the  south  into  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain  at 
what  is  now  Whitehall,  and  the  Poultney  River,  or  "  East  Bay,"  as 
it  used  to  be  called,  in  which  the  boats  of  Vaudreuil's  detachment 
were  left,  finds  its  way  into  the  lake  from  the  northeast  at  almost 
the  same  point.  The  doubt  as  to  the  numbers  with  which  Vaudreuil 
invested  Fort  Massachusetts  hinges  mainly  on  tlie  doubt  as  to  the 
number  that  Demuy  contributed  to  the  force  at  Wood  Creek.  Vau- 
dreuil left  Montreal  with  740  men.  In  the  detailed  account  of  his 
expedition  further  on,  seventeen  Indians  are  mentioned  as  having 
left  his  party  "  before  the  capture  of  the  fort."  Demuy  left  Montreal 
a  fortnight  earlier  with  470  men  for  preliminary  operations  on  Wood 
Creek,  but  with  special  orders  to  wait  for  and  join  the  later  party, 
which  he  did.  "  Several  of  these  Indians  have  formed  parties  and 
been  out  on  excursions,"  reads  the  record.  The  more  natural  inter- 
pretation of  this  language  is,  that  they  had  returned  and  rejoined 
Demuy  before  he  joined  the  larger  war-band  for  the  South.  If  only 
half  of  Derauy's  men  came  with  him  to  the  Hoosac,  the  whole  party 


130  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

would  have  mounted  up  to  950.  That  is  probably  about  the  number. 
Norton's  "  eight  or  nine  hundred  "  is  a  moderate  and  credible  state- 
ment. 

In  still  another  part  of  these  Paris  documents  is  the  following, 
which  is  quite  truthful  in  the  main,  although  shaky  in  spots:  — 

It  having  been  deliberated,  in  a  council  held  with  the  Canadians  and  Indians, 
that  an  attack  should  be  made  on  the  fort  called  Massachuset,  after  the  name 
of  that  Province,  Sieur  de  Rigaud  [Vaudreuil]  arrived  after  a  march  of  ten  days 
in  the  neighborhood  of  this  fort.  He  commenced  the  attack  on  it  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  30th  of  August,  keeping  up  an  incessant  fire  from  both  sides  until  the 
following  day,  when  the  garrison  surrendered  at  discretion.  Three  women  and 
five  children  were  found  in  it.  The  loss  on  the  part  of  the  English  was  not 
ascertained,  as  they  had  buried  all  their  dead,  except  one.  The  French  loss 
was  one  man  killed  and  twelve  wounded.  Sieur  Rigaud  was  among  the  latter. 
The  fort  was  burnt  on  the  same  day,  and  the  prisoner  having  stated  that  a  rein- 
forcement was  to  arrive  from  Dierfil,  Sieur  Rigaud  detached  sixty  Iroquois  and 
Abernakis  on  the  route  they  wrere  to  come.  These  Indians  having  met  this 
reinforcement,  which  consisted  only  of  nineteen  men,  defeated  it  and  brought 
in  four  prisoners  only,  all  the  remainder  having  been  killed. 

This  last  is  a  distortion  of  the  "  Bars  Fight "  in  Deerfield,  which 
will  presently  be  related  as  it  was.  The  accuracy  of  Norton's  words 
describing  the  Indian  yell  as  "hideous  acclamations,"  and  their 
method  of  rushing  forward  towards  an  enemy  and  then  instantly 
back  again  to  cover,  and  of  "  firing  incessantly  upon  us  on  every 
side "  without  aim  or  reference  to  the  probability  of  doing  execu- 
tion, is  confirmed  by  the  accounts  of  other  sieges  and  battles  in  the 
French  wars  and  particularly  by  the  scene  at  Braddock's  Defeat. 

Mr.  Hawks,  our  officer,  ordered  that  we  should  let  them  come  without  firing 
at  all  at  them,  until  they  should  approach  within  a  suitable  distance,  that  we 
might  have  a  good  prospect  of  doing  execution.  We  suffered  them  to  come  up 
in  a  body  till  they  were  within  twenty  rods  of  us,  and  then  we  fired  ;  upon  which 
the  enemy  soon  betook  themselves  to  trees,  stumps,  and  logs,  where  they  lay 
and  fired  incessantly  upon  us  ;  some  taking  opportunity  to  run  from  one  tree 
and  stump  to  another,  and  so  drew  nearer  to  the  fort.  This  they  did  in  a  very 
subtle  manner,  running  so  crooked  that  it  was  very  difficult  to  shoot  at  them 
with  any  good  prospect  of  success,  until  we  observed  that  when  they  came  to  a 
stump,  they  would  fall  down  ;  which  we  observing,  prepared  to  catch  them 
there  as  they  fell  down  by  the  stumps  ;  and  this  we  did  probably  with  success ; 
for  they  soon  left  off  this  method. 

John  Hawks  was  born  in  Deerfield,  Dec.  5,  1707,  and  died  there 
June  24,  1784 ;  and  the  headstone  above,  his  grave  was  still  standing 
legible  more  than  a  century  after  his  death,  in  the  old  and  aban- 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  131 

doned  God's  Acre  at  Deerfield.  His  courage  and  conduct  at  the 
siege  of  his  fort  and  afterwards,  deeply  impressed  the  susceptible 
French,  and  loaned  him  much  influence  at  Montreal  and  Quebec. 
In  February,  1748,  he  had  occasion  to  go  to  Canada  with  a  flag  of 
truce  for  an  exchange  of  prisoners,  and  was  treated  very  handsomely 
there.  His  young  nephew,  Samuel  Allen,  captured  at  the  Bars 
Fight,  had  become  so  attached  in  two  years  to  the  Indian  mode  of 
life  in  Canada,  that  he  would  not  voluntarily  return  with  his  uncle, 
and  the  latter  was  suffered  to  use  force  to  compel  him ;  and  besides, 
the  Governor  of  Canada  sent  six  Frenchmen  and  two  or  three 
Indians  as  a  guard  of  honor  to  accompany  the  Sergeant  home,  and 
they  came  with  him  as  far  (almost)  as  No.  4.  Hawks  continued 
useful  in  the  service  until  the  conquest  of  Canada,  and  was  conspic- 
uous on  the  right  side  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolution,  while  his 
pastor  and  more  influential  neighbors  on  both  sides  the  Connecticut 
were  Tories.  "In  Memory  of  Col.  Hawks,"  etc.,  runs  his  epi- 
taph. The  reference  in  Norton's  text  to  trees,  stumps,  and  logs, 
gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  ground  around  the  fort  in  August,  1746. 
These  were  the  stumps  of  the  pines,  whose  hewn  trunks  pinned 
together  and  locked  at  the  corners  formed  the  walls  of  the  fort; 
others  were  stumps  of  trees  cut  down  in  order  to  let  the  sun  in  on 
ground  where  corn  could  be  planted  and  grown;  deciduous  trees 
were  doubtless  mingled  in  with  the  pines,  and  had  been  cut  down 
for  fuel  and  other  purposes,  and  the  trunks  and  branches  would 
naturally  more  or  less  strew  the  ground ;  and,  unless  later  indica- 
tions along  the  Hoosac  interval  are  deceptive,  spruces  were  the 
trees  growing  in  the  swamp  to  the  west  and  northwest.  Remark- 
ably cool  and  level-headed  under  the  circumstances  were  the  Ser- 
geant and  the  Chaplain  and  the  Sharpshooters,  that  they  should 
calculate  by  inference  to  fire  where  the  Indians  would  probably 
be  in  an  instant,  rather  than  where  they  actually  were  at  the 
instant. 

About  this  time  we  saw  several  of  the  enemy  fall  and  rise  no  more  ;  among 
which  was  the  captain  of  the  St.  Francis  Indians,  who  was  one  of  the  foremost, 
and  called  upon  the  rest  to  press  on  upon  the  fort.  Sergeant  Hawks  got  an 
opportunity  to  shoot  him  into  the  breast,  which  ended  his  days.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  engagement,  the  General  sent  his  ensign  with  his  standard  (which 
he,  standing  behind  a  tree  about  thirty  rods  distant  from  the  fort,  displayed), 
the  General  also  walked  up  the  hill  within  about  forty  rods  of  the  fort,  where 
he  stoo<l  and  gave  his  orders ;  but  being  discovered  he  had  a  shot  or  two  fired  at 
him  ;  upon  which  he  moved  of!  ;  but  presently  after  comes  to  his  ensign,  where 
being  discovered,  he  received  a  shot  in  his  arm,  which  made  him  retreat  with  his 
ensign  to  their  camp. 


132  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

The  St.  Francis  Indians,  the  pride  and  courage  of  whose  captain 
was  thus  brought  low  by  the  skilled  aim  of  Sergeant  Hawks,  were 
Mission  Indians,  as  they  were  called,  —  that  is,  heathen  who  had 
been  baptized,  in  contradistinction  from  the  unmitigated  heathen, 
in  whose  company  they  fought  and  scalped  in  all  their  incursions. 
These  particular  Indians  were  Abenakis  from  the  region  of  our 
Maine,  who  had  been  domiciliated  by  the  French  missionaries  of  the 
order  of  St.  Francis  for  more  than  half  a  century  on  the  river  named 
after  their  saint  a  few  miles  above  its  opening  into  the  Lake  St. 
Peter,  which  is  an  immense  broadening-out  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
about  halfway  between  Quebec  and  Montreal.  The  river  St.  Francis 
rises  very  near  the  source  of  the  Connecticut,  in  the  Height  of  Land 
between  New  Hampshire  and  Canada.  The  village  of  that  name, 
where  these  Indians  lived,  which  was  destroyed  in  1759  by  Robert 
Eogers,  the  famous  partisan  ranger,  in  one  of  the  most  daring  and 
successful  raids  ever  made  on  this  continent,  had  been  the  pride  of 
the  French  Jesuits,  and  was  perhaps  the  most  influential  of  their 
stations  in  New  France.  Says  Parkman  of  these  Indians :  ^'They 
were  nominal  Christians,  and  had  been  under  the  control  of  their 
missionaries  for  three  generations ;  but  though  zealous  and  some- 
times fanatical  in  their  devotion  to  the  forms  of  Eomanism,  they 
remained  thorough  savages  in  dress,  habits,  and  character.  They 
were  the  scourge  of  the  New  England  borders,  where  they  surprised 
and  burned  farmhouses  and  small  hamlets,  killed  men,  women  and 
children  without  distinction,  carried  others  prisoners  to  their  vil- 
lage, subjected  them  to  the  torture  of  running  the  gantlet,  and  com- 
pelled them  to  witness  dances  of  triumph  around  the  scalps  of 
parents,  children  and  friends." 

To  any  one  familiar  with  the  lay  of  the  land  around  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts, there  is  very  little  difficulty  in  determining  with  exactness 
the  local  movements  of  General  Vaudreuil  and  his  ensign,  as  they 
are  graphically  described  at  this  stage  of  the  siege  by  the  keen-eyed 
Chaplain.  The  investing  force  had  formed  two  camps,  one  to  the 
northwest  of  the  fort,  where  the  General  had  his  headquarters,  and 
the  other  to  the  southeast,  on  the  bank  of  the  Hoosac,  where  its 
course  is  southwest.  The  carriage  road  on  the  north  of  the  fort, 
which  probably  follows  very  nearly  the  line  of  the  old  Indian  trail, 
hugs  the  edge  of  the  quartzite  hill  just  within  the  ordinary  range  of 
the  old  "  queen's  arm  "  of  those  days  ;  and  to  one  passing  east  from 
the  site  of  the  French  camp  there  was  then  and  is  now  a  shoulder  of 
the  hill  jutting  down  to  the  swamp,  and  when  the  General  "  walked 
up  the  hill  within  about  forty  rods  of  the  fort,  where  he  stood  and 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  133 

gave  his  orders,"  he  was  walking  up  on  this  shoulder,  and  the  place 
where  he  stood  may  be  pointed  out  to-day,  certainly  within  a  rod  or 
two.  Presently  venturing  down  on  the  low  ground,  where  his 
ensign  stood  with  the  lilied  banner  of  France,  he  received  a  shot  in 
his  arm,  the  scar  of  which  the  Chaplain  had  a  chance  to  see  after- 
wards upon  a  nearer  view. 

The  enemy  still  continued  to  fire  almost  incessantly  upon  us,  and  many  of 
them  crept  up  within  a  dozen  rods  of  the  fort.  We  were  straitened  for  want 
of  shot.  Several  of  our  men  being  newly  come  into  the  service,  and  for  want  of 
bullet  moulds,  had  not  prepared  for  any  long  engagement,  and  therefore  the 
sergeant  ordered  some  of  our  sick  men  to  make  bullets,  another  to  run  some 
shot,  having  shot-moulds.  This  put  him  upon  taking  particular  notice  of  the 
ammunition,  and  he  found  it  to  be  very  short,  and  therefore  gave  orders  that  we 
should  not  fire  any  more  than  we  thought  necessary  to  hold  the  enemy  back, 
unless  when  we  had  a  very  good  opportunity  and  fair  prospect  of  doing  execu- 
tion ;  so  that  we  fired  but  little.  We  had  sometimes  very  fair  shot,  and  had 
success.  We  saw  several  fall,  who,  we  are  persuaded,  never  rose  again.  We 
might  have  shot  at  the  enemy  almost  any  time  in  the  day,  who  were  in  open 
view  of  the  fort,  within  fifty  or  sixty  rods  of  the  same,  and  sometimes  within 
forty  and  less  ;  the  oflicers  sometimes  walking  about,  sword  in  hand,  viewing  of 
us,  and  others  walking  back  and  forth  as  they  had  occasion,  without  molestation, 
for  we  dare  not  spend  our  ammunition  upon  them  that  were  at  such  a  distance. 

The  men  characterized  by  Mr.  Norton  as  having  "  newly  come 
into  the  service,"  were  beyond  question  some  or  all  of  the  fourteen 
who  came  in  with  Dr.  Williams  the  Friday  night  before ;  and  the 
Chaplain's  language  seems  to  imply  that  it  was  the  business  of  the 
men  to  run  bullets,  each  for  himself,  and  so  be  "  prepared  for  any 
long  engagement";  but  as  the  sentence  is  not  grammatical,  so 
neither  is  it  quite  intelligible.  Only  eight  of  the  men  were  in 
health,  fourteen  were  sick,  and  the  good  policy  of  the  French 
officers  in  letting  the  fourteen  stout  hearts  pass  by  on  the  road  to 
Deerfield  the  Saturday  previous  now  vindicated  itself;  they  had  no 
interest  to  prevent  the  depletion  of  the  fort,  but  every  motive  to 
further  it ;  still,  some  of  the  sick  were  not  so  sick  but  they  could 
use  the  bullet  moulds,  and  others  run  some  buckshot,  having  moulds 
for  that  purpose,  though  it  appears  in  the  sequel  that  it  was  not  in 
accordance  with  the  unwritten  military  law  of  the  wilderness  to 
make  use  of  shot  in  such  warfare.  Sergeant  Hawks  then  first 
became  fully  aware  how  short  were  his  stores  of  ammunition.  It 
was  to  replenish  these  that  he  had  sent  out  the  fourteen  men.  No 
doubt  he  wished  them  back  ;  but  in  any  case  he  must  have  real- 
ized that  all  that  could  now  be  done  was  to  prolong  the  siege  as 
much  as  possible  before  the  inevitable  surrender  of  the  fort.     The 


134  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

orders  that  he  gave  to  spare  the  ammunition  were  cool  and  prudent. 
So  were  the  lessened  shots,  that  were  "very  fair  and  had  success." 
"  We  saw  several  fall  who  never  rose  again."  Our  brave  narrator 
belonged  to  an  orthodox  church  militant.  To  him  the  only  good 
Indian  (on  the  French  side)  was  a  dead  Indian.  The  French 
officers  seen  ''  walking  about  sword  in  hand,  viewing  of  us,"  were 
already  noted  men,  and  destined  to  become  exceedingly  noteworthy 
on  both  sides  the  ocean  before  the  surrender  of  Quebec  in  the  next 
decade.  Besides  Vaudreuil,  of  whom  we  shall  learn  something 
significant  later,  there  were  Demuy  and  La  Corne :  each  of  these, 
and  especially  the  last,  had  before  him  a  conspicuous  career  until 
the  downfall  of  New  France. 

Towards  evening  the  enemy  began  to  use  their  axes  and  hatchets.  Some 
were  thoughtful  that  they  were  preparing  ladders  in  order  to  storm  the  fort 
in  the  night ;  but  afterward  we  found  our  mistake,  for  they  were  preparing  fag- 
gots in  order  to  burn  it.  This  day  they  wounded  two  of  our  men,  viz.,  John 
Aldrich  they  shot  through  the  foot,  and  Jonathan  Bridgman  with  a  flesh  wound 
the  back  side  of  the  hip.  When  the  evening  came  on  the  sergeant  gave  orders 
that  all  the  tubs,  pails,  and  vessels  of  every  sort,  in  every  room,  should  be  filled 
with  water,  and  went  himself  to  see  it  done ;  he  also  looked  to  the  doors,  that 
they  were  made  as  fast  as  possible.  He  likewise  cut  a  passage  from  one  room 
to  another,  that  he  might  put  the  fort  into  as  good  a  posture  of  defence  as  might 
be,  in  case  they  should  attempt  to  storm  it.  He  distributed  the  men  into  the 
several  rooms.  While  he  was  thus  preparing,  he  kept  two  men  in  the  northwest 
mount,  and  some  in  the  great  house,  the  southeast  corner  of  the  fort,  to  watch 
the  enemy  and  keep  them  back. 

The  chief  interest  of  this  passage  is  the  clear  though  indirect  way 
in  which  is  shown  the  mode  of  construction  of  Fort  Massachusetts. 
Evidently  it  was  an  exact  pattern  of  Fort  Shirley,  of  which  our 
knowledge  happens  to  be  so  full  and  particular.  Of  course  the  well 
was  inside  of  the  walls,  and  probably,  as  at  Shirley,  in  one  corner. 
The  barracks,  or  rooms,  were  built  against  the  inside  wall,  with  a 
salt-box  roof,  as  at  the  Putney  fort  on  Great  Meadow,  which  John 
Perry  later  helped  to  construct  as  he  helped  to  construct  this. 
These  rooms  were  continuous  so  far  as  they  went,  for  Hawks  "  cut 
a  passage  from  one  room  to  another,"  and  "  distributed  the  men  into 
the  several  rooms."  The  "  mount,"  of  which  Norton  here  speaks, 
was  a  feature  of  all  the  blockhouses  built  in  those  times,  and  was  a 
sort  of  platform  of  boards  or  plank  thrown  across  the  upper  tier  of 
hewn  timbers  at  one  of  their  four  angles.  On  this  was  constructed 
a  rude  watch-box,  a  place  for  a  sentinel  somewhat  protected,  as  the 
platform  around  it  was  the  place  to  fire  from  and  protect  the  fort. 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  135 

There  were  no  loopholes  in  the  walls,  which  were  six  inches  thick, 
of  hewed  pines,  so  that  the  only  places  of  offence  were  these  mounts. 
It  was  from  this  northwest  mount,  built  towards  the  enemy's 
approach  and  the  camp  of  Vaudreuil,  that  the  latter  had  been 
wounded,  the  captain  of  the  St.  Francis  Indians  killed,  and  the 
shots  been  fired  that  "had  success";  and  it  was  while  standing  here 
that  Aldrich  and  Bridgman  were  wounded,  and  Thomas  Knowlton 
was  killed  the  next  day.  The  blockhouses  usually  were  furnished 
with  two  of  such  mounts,  on  opposite  angles,  but  the  language  here 
seems  to  imply  that  the  first  Fort  Massachusetts  had  but  one;  and 
in  place  of  the  other,  on  the  opposite  angle,  there  was  "  the  great 
house,"  the  upper  story  of  which  rose  above  the  walls  and  served 
the  purpose  of  both  mount  and  watch-box.  "  He  kept  two  men  in 
the  northwest  mount,  and  some  in  the  great  house,  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  fort,  to  watch  the  enemy  and  keep  them  back."  The 
lower  story  of  the  "  great  house  "  was  in  all  probability  the  officers' 
quarters,  and  perhaps  also  the  storehouse  of  provisions  and  ammu- 
nition, while  above  it  constituted  a  somewhat  safer  watch-box  and 
place  of  offence  than  the  other.  It  becomes  pretty  plain,  as  the 
narrative  proceeds,  and  as  one  is  able  to  put  things  together  and 
draw  the  proper  inference,  that  the  soldiers'  barracks  and  the  great 
house  were  built  against  the  south  wall  of  the  fort,  while  the 
"parade"  occupied  the  interior  space  on  the  north  side,  and  the 
gate  ^vith  its  strong  doors  was  an  opening  in  the  north  wall,  and 
the  well  with  its  two  posts  (either  for  well-sweep  or  other  means  of 
hoisting  the  water)  was  near  the  northeast  corner.  It  was  no  new 
device,  but  already  an  old  one,  for  Canada  Indians  to  prepare  and  to 
use  faggots  to  burn  defended  houses  and  forts  in  New  England  from 
the  outside ;  and  when  one  remembers  that  the  exterior  walls  of 
this  fort  were  pine  logs  with  a  twelvemonth  seasoning,  it  makes  the 
Sergeant's  pails,  tubs,  and  vessels  of  every  sort,  filled  with  water, 
seem  ridiculously  inadequate  for  extinguishing  the  possible  confla- 
gration, although  the  precaution  was  praiseworthy. 

I  was  in  the  mount  all  the  evening ;  it  was  cloudy  and  very  dark  the  beginning 
of  the  evening.  The  enemy  kept  a  conf5tant  fire  upon  us,  and,  as  I  tliought, 
approached  nearer  and  in  greater  numbers  tlian  they  had  in  the  daytime.  We 
had  but  little  encouragement  to  fire  upon  the  enemy,  having  but  the  light  of 
their  fire  to  direct  us,  yet  we  dared  not  wholly  omit  it,  lest  they  should  be 
emboldened  to  storm  the  fort.  We  fired  buckshot  at  them,  and  have  reason 
to  hope  we  did  some  execution,  for  the  enemy  complained  of  our  shooting  buck- 
shot at  that  time,  which  they  could  not  have  known  had  they  not  felt  some  of 
them.  They  continued  thus  to  fire  upon  us  until  between  eight  and  nine  at  night, 
then  the  whole  army  (as  we  supposed)  surrounded  the  fort,  and  shouted,  or 


136  ORIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

rather  yelled,  with  the  most  hideous  outcries,  all  around  the  fort.  This  they 
repeated  three  or  four  times.  We  expected  they  would  have  followed  this  with 
a  storm,  but  were  mistaken,  for  they  directly  set  their  watch  all  around  the 
fort ;  and  besides  their  watch  they  sent  some  to  creep  up  as  near  the  fort  as  they 
could,  to  observe  whether  any  persons  attempted  to  make  their  escape,  to  carry 
tidings  to  New  England. 

It  seems  odd,  that  the  good  Chaplain  should  have  located  the 
fort  in  his  mind  as  outside  of  New  England,  especially  as  its  very 
name  had  been  given  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  it  was  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  and,  as  Sir  William 
Johnson  said  afterwards  of  Lake  George,  "  to  ascertain  its  undoubted 
dominion  here."  But  his  passing  over  by  the  old  Indian  path  of  the 
Hoosac  Mountain,  that  gigantic  water-shed  between  the  valleys  of 
the  Deerfield  and  the  Hoosac,  and  his  being  immediately  plunged 
into  the  confusing  scenes  of  a  siege  by  800  French  and  Indians, 
more  or  less,  may  well  excuse  this  single  perturbation  in  his 
geography ;  and  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel,  that  in  his  journey  to 
Canada  he  manifested  an  uncommonly  correct  topographical  sense, 
though  he  was  in  all  probability  wrong  in  the  instance  when  he 
differed  from  Sergeant  Hawks  as  to  the  location  of  a  petty  stream 
affluent  to  Wood  Creek.  The  Chaplain  stood  in  his  lot,  and  shirked 
no  military  duty  ;  he  was  in  the  mount  in  the  early  evening  when  it 
was  very  cloudy  and  dark,  and  the  latter  part  of  the  night  he  kept 
the  regular  watch  there.  What  was  he  thinking  about  during  that, 
to  him,  momentous  night  before  the  surrender  of  the  fort  ?  The 
conjecture  may  safely  be  hazarded,  that  one  topic  of  his  thoughts 
was  his  wife  and  two  little  girls  left  behind  in  Fort  Shirley.  He 
had  intended  to  tarry  in  Fort  Massachusetts  about  a  month,  but  in 
less  than  a  week  there  was  no  Fort  Massachusetts  to  tarry  in  ;  as  a 
matter  of  fact  he  saw  neither  wife  nor  child  for  more  than  a  year ; 
as  a  matter  of  prospect  during  that  cloudy  night  on  watch,  the 
chances  of  life  at  all  were  scarcely  worth  looking  at.  But  he  did 
not  bate  a  jot  of  heart  or  hope.  His  was  the  true  New  England 
grit.  Hawks  and  Norton  bore  off  most  of  the  honors  that  Fort 
Massachusetts  ever  yielded  to  mortal  men. 

In  a  well-known  passage  the  Eoman  historian  Tacitus  writes, 
that  in  all  battles  it  is  the  eyes  that  are  first  conquered.  Not  on 
that  principle  did  the  Indians  fight,  but  on  the  principle  that  the 
ears  are  first  conquered.  According  to  all  accounts  the  Indian 
battle  yells  were  the  most  terrifying  sounds  ever  erupted  from 
human  throats  :  as  painted  and  daubed  and  bedevilled  the  looks  of 
these  creatures  were  enough  to  strike  terror  to  the  boldest  hearts ; 


FOliT   MASSACHUSETTS.  137 

and  when,  superadded  to  this,  their  unearthly  gutturals  and  infer- 
nal screeches  assailed  the  ears  from  all  points  of  the  compass  at 
once,  the  bravest  men  that  ever  bore  a  musket,  even  if  they  did  not 
yield  to  fright,  carried  the  sound  of  the  war-whoops  till  the  day  of 
their  death.  One  of  Braddock's  officers  wrote  three  weeks  after  his 
defeat  at  the  Monongahela,  where  there  were  fewer  French  and 
Indians  than  at  the  siege  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  —  "I  cannot  de- 
scribe the  horrors  of  that  scene ;  no  pen  could  do  it.  The  yell  of 
the  Indians  is  fresh  on  my  ear,  and  the  terrific  sound  will  haunt  me 
till  the  hour  of  my  dissolution.'*  Even  our  slow-going  and  adjec- 
tive-sparing narrator  reiterates  the  epithet  "  hideous,"  as  applied  to 
the  war-whoops  that  he  heard  around  the  fort,  three  or  four  times 
on  as  many  of  these  pages. 

The  body  of  the  army  then  drew  back  to  their  camps ;  some  in  the  swamp 
west  of  tlie  fort,  the  other  part  to  the  southeast,  by  the  river  side.  We  then 
considered  what  was  best  to  be  done  :  whether  to  send  a  post  down  to  Deerfield 
or  not.  We  looked  upon  it  very  improbable,  if  not  morally  impossible,  for  any 
men  to  get  off  undiscovered,  and  therefore  the  Sergeant  would  not  lay  his  com- 
mand upon  any  to  go  ;  but  he  proposed  it  to  several,  desired  and  encouraged 
them  as  far  as  he  thought  convenient ;  but  there  was  not  a  man  willing  to  ven- 
ture out.  So  the  Sergeant  having  placed  the  men  in  every  part  of  the  fort,  he 
ordered  all  the  sick  and  feeble  men  to  get  what  rest  they  could,  and  not  rep:ard 
the  enemy's  acclamations ;  but  to  lie  still  all  night  unless  he  should  call  for 
them.  Of  those  that  were  in  health,  some  were  ordered  to  keep  the  watch,  and 
some  lay  down  and  endeavored  to  get  some  rest ;  lying  down  in  our  clothes,  with 
our  arms  by  us.  I  lay  down  the  fore  part  of  the  night.  We  got  little  or  no 
rest.  The  enemy  frequently  raised  us  by  their  hideous  outcries,  as  though  they 
were  about  to  attack  us.    The  latter  part  of  the  night  I  kept  the  watch. 

Deerfield  was  the  nearest  town  of  any  size  to  the  line  of  forts, 
the  home  of  many  of  the  officers  and  men  in  garrison,  the  source  of 
most  of  their  commissary  supply,  and  the  only  hope  for  reinforce- 
ments in  case  of  exigency ;  accordingly,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the 
sergeant  and  the  chaplain  thought  of  Deerfield,  when  they  found 
that  the  fort  was  thoroughly  invested.  Indeed,  the  Sergeant,  in 
co-operation  with  the  Surgeon,  had  already  sent  fourteen  men  to 
Deerfield  to  act  as  convoy  to  stores  and  ammunition,  before  he  knew 
the  fort  was  to  be  invested,  though  he  had  "  discovered  some  signs 
of  the  enemy  " ;  an  urgent  letter  was  at  the  same  time  sent  to 
Captain  Williams  at  Deerfield,  tliat  he  "would  speedily  send  up 
some  stores  to  the  fort " ;  and  now  the  question  was  between  ser- 
geant and  chaplain,  whether  in  their  now  weakened  and  besieged 
state,  other  messengers  should  be  sent  after  the  former,  —  whether 
such  messengers  would  be  likely  to  "  get  off  undiscovered,"  that  is, 


138  OEIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

to  get  through  the  close  lines  of  the  besiegers,  —  and,  if  so,  whether 
they  would  be  likely  to  fetch  back  succor  in  season  to  prevent,  if 
that  were  possible,  the  surrender  of  the  fort.  The  long  stretches 
over  the  Hoosac  Mountain  were  a  minor  element  in  the  question, 
but  the  chief  thing  w^as  the  hostile  camps  on  either  side  of  the  fort, 
the  night  watch  of  the  French  set  all  round  the  fort,  and  besides 
"they  sent  some  to  creep  up  as  near  the  fort  as  they  could,  to 
observe  whether  any  persons  attempted  to  make  their  escape,  to 
carry  tidings  to  New  England."  It  was  madness,  under  the  circum- 
stances, to  send  anybody  out ;  whoever  went  would  by  so  much 
lessen  the  eight  men,  who  alone  of  the  twenty-two,  were  in  tolerable 
health.  The  Sergeant,  therefore,  would  not  lay  his  command  upon 
any  to  go ;  but  he  evidently  desired  that  one  or  more  should  make 
the  attempt,  for  he  proposed  it  to  several,  and  encouraged  them  as 
far  as  he  thought  convenient ;  but  it  was  in  every  respect  fortunate, 
that  no  one  could  be  persuaded  to  go. 

Wednesday  20. — As  soon  as  it  began  to  be  light,  the  enemy  shouted,  and 
began  to  fire  upon  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  ceased  for  a  Httle  time.  The 
Sergeant  ordered  every  man  to  his  place,  and  sent  two  men  up  into  the  watch- 
box.  The  enemy  came  into  the  field  of  corn  to  the  south  and  southeast  of  the 
fort,  and  fought  against  that  side  of  the  fort  harder  than  they  did  the  day 
before  ;  but  unto  the  northwest  side  they  did  not  approach  so  near  as  they  had 
the  first  day,  yet  they  kept  a  continual  fire  on  that  side.  A  number  went  up 
also  into  the  mountain  north  of  the  fort,  where  they  could  shoot  over  the  north 
side  of  the  fort  into  the  middle  of  the  parade.  A  considerable  number  of  the 
enemy  also  kept  their  axes  and  hatchets  continually  at  work,  preparing  faggots, 
and  their  stubbing  hoes  and  spades,  etc.,  in  order  to  burn  the  fort.  About 
eleven  o'clock,  Thomas  Knowlton,  one  of  our  men,  being  in  the  watch-box,  was 
shot  through  the  head,  so  that  some  of  his  brains  came  out,  yet  life  remained 
in  him  for  some  hours. 

Knowlton  was  the  only  one  of  the  defenders  of  the  fort  who  was 
killed  outright  during  the  siege.  That  the  body  was  not  removed 
from  the  watch-box  and  buried,  before  the  surrender  of  the  fort  and 
the  consequent  mutilation  of  the  remains  by  the  savages  and  the 
semi-savage  Frenchmen,  was  owing  to  the  appearance  of  life  still 
remaining  in  him  till  the  catastrophe  occurred.  Why  the  besiegers 
should  use  their  stubbing  hoes  and  spades,  as  well  as  their  axes  and 
hatchets,  in  preparing  faggots,  is  not  quite  clear,  unless  the  reason 
be  that  the  stubs  and  roots  of  bushes  cut  the  year  before  were  drier, 
and  so  more  suitable  to  their  purpose  of  burning  the  fort.  The 
reference  to  the  field  of  corn  to  the  south  and  southeast  of  the  fort 
is  interesting ;   for  the  planting  of   it,  and  the  hoeing,  must  have 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  139 

been  prosecuted  under  difficulties,  since  it  is  certain  that  no  trees 
had  been  felled  on  that  meadow  prior  to  the  spring  of  1745,  and 
since  Norton's  description  of  the  Indians  dodging  round  between 
the  stumps  within  gunshot  of  the  fort,  proves  that  the  planting 
there  did  not  differ  much  from  that  upon  many  another  "  burnt 
piece  "  in  New  England  before  and  since.  Yet  soldiers  in  garrison, 
when  no  enemy  is  near,  find  life  tedious  to  the  last  degree  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances.  The  young  farmers  and  mechanics 
in  Fort  Massachusetts,  in  May,  1746,  even  if  they  were  not  put  upon 
it  by  their  officers,  would  rather  work  out  of  doors  a  part  of  the 
time  than  not.  The  prospect  of  a  few  ears  apiece  of  "  roasted  " 
green  corn  in  September  may  have  still  further  stimulated  their 
zeal,  and  they  were  all  used  to  such  work  at  home.  It  was  this 
tedium,  doubtless,  as  well  as  a  desire  to  found  for  himself  a  home, 
that  led  one  of  the  soldiers,  John  Perry,  to  fence  in  a  few  acres  of 
wild  land  a  mile  west  of  the  fort,  and  build  him  a  loghouse 
thereon ;  and  perhaps  to  plant  around  it  a  few  hills  of  beans  and 
corn,  which  he  might  harvest  in  the  fall,  without  the  leave  of  the 
commander  at  the  fort ;  and,  at  any  rate,  conjecture  would  be  vain 
as  to  what  hands  harvested  the  corn  at  the  fort,  in  the  autumn  of 
1746.  That  place  was  then  utterly  deserted  of  men,  and  continued 
so  for  six  months,  —  no  human  habitation  nearer  than  the  house  of 
Eleazar  Hawks  in  Charlemont. 

For  one,  the  writer  is  very  thankful  for  the  incidental  statement 
that  a  number  of  the  besiegers  went  up  into  the  mountain  north  of 
the  fort,  where  they  could  shoot  over  the  north  side  of  the  fort  into 
the  middle  of  the  parade;  because,  along  with  other  evidence,  this 
goes  to  show  the  exact  situation  of  things  in  the  interior  of  the  fort. 
The  parade  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  interior ;  the  gate  in  the 
middle  of  the  north  wall  opened  directly  into  it ;  the  well,  with  its 
posts,  must  have  been  in  the  northeast  corner,  otherwise  the  parade 
would  have  been  cluttered  with  them ;  and  the  watch-box,  as  we 
know,  was  over  the  other  corner  on  that  side.  The  barracks  and  the 
"  great  house,"  accordingly,  must  have  been  built  against  the  south 
wall,  and  perhaps  also  against  a  part  of  the  walls  of  the  two  ends. 
This  was  almost  certainly  the  precise  state  of  things  in  the  interior 
of  Shirley  also,  as  the  ruins  of  that  fort  in  Heath  pretty  clearly  dis- 
close to  this  day ;  and  while  in  Pelham,  which  was  a  stockade,  and 
not  a  blockhouse  like  the  other  two,  the  well  was  in  the  centre  of 
the  enclosure,  there  is  good  evidence  to  be  found  on  the  spot  to  this 
day  that  the  gate  was  in  the  middle  of  the  north  wall,  as  it  cer- 
tainly was  in  Massachusetts. 


140  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

About  twelve  o'clock  the  enemy  desired  to  parley.  We  agreed  to  it,  and 
when  we  came  to  General  Vaudreuil,  he  promised  us  good  quarter  if  we  would 
surrender ;  otherwise,  he  should  endeavor  to  take  us  by  force.  The  Sergeant 
told  him  he  should  have  an  answer  within  two  hours.  We  came  into  the  fort 
and  examined  the  state  of  it.  The  whole  of  our  ammunition  we  did  not  judge 
to  be  above  three  or  four  pounds  of  powder  and  not  more  lead ;  and,  after 
prayers  unto  God  for  wisdom  and  direction,  we  considered  our  case,  whether 
there  was  any  probability  of  our  being  able  to  withstand  the  enemy,  for  we  sup- 
posed that  they  would  not  leave  us  till  they  had  made  a  vigorous  attempt  upon 
us,  and,  if  they  did,  we  knew  our  ammunition  would  be  spent  in  a  few  minutes' 
time,  and  then  we  should  be  obliged  to  lay  at  their  mercy. 

This  is  a  good  place  for  us  to  learn  something  about  this  Vaudreuil, 
with  whom  Hawks  and  Norton  parleyed,  and  to  whom  they  shortly 
afterwards  surrendered.  He  belonged  to  the  most  distinguished 
French  family  that  ever  resided  in,  or  held  government  over.  New 
France.  His  father.  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  was  Governor  of  Canada 
from  1703  till  his  death  at  Quebec  in  1725.  His  older  brother,  who 
succeeded  to  the  father's  title  of  Marquis  in  1748,  was  born  at 
Quebec  in  1698,  was  appointed  Governor  of  Louisiana  at  the  other 
extremity  of  New  France  in  1743,  and  became  in  1755  the  last  —  and 
perhaps  the  best  —  of  all  the  French  Governors  of  Canada.  Our 
Vaudreuil,  who  commonly  passed  by  the  name  of  Eigaud  de  Vau- 
dreuil, was  born  in  Montreal  Feb.  8,  1704,  became  town  major  of 
Three  Rivers,  and,  after  his  exploit  on  the  Hoosac,  was  almost  con- 
stantly employed  in  important  services  till  the  downfall  of  French 
Canada.  Ten  years  after  the  surrender  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  in 
conjunction  with  Montcalm,  he  captured  Oswego  with  1600  prison- 
ers,—  the  greatest  triumph  that  had  then  been  achieved  by  the 
French  arms  in  America.  "  The  cries,  threats,  and  hideous  bowl- 
ings of  our  Canadians  and  Indians,''  wrote  Vaudreuil,  "  made  them 
quickly  decide."  The  next  year,  1757,  he  was  given  by  his  brother 
the  chief  command  of  a  detachment  consisting  at  least  of  1600 
French  and  Indians,  sent  in  March  to  surprise  and  capture  Fort 
William  Henry  at  the  head  of  Lake  George.  It  was  brilliantly 
conducted,  and  came  near  being  successful.  All  the  outbuildings 
of  the  fort  were  burnt,  —  storehouses,  hospital,  saw-mill,  huts  of 
Stark's  rangers,  a  sloop  on  the  stocks,  and  piles  of  planks  and  cord- 
wood,  besides  two  sloops  ice-bound  in  the  lake  and  a  large  number 
of  batteaux  on  the  shore.  Montcalm,  who  did  not  like  it  that  Gov- 
ernor Vaudreuil  gave  the  chief  command  to  Rigaud,  wrote,  "I 
worked  at  the  place  of  the  last  affair,  which  might  have  turned  out 
better,  though  good  as  it  was.  If  I  had  had  my  way,  Levis  or 
Bougainville  would  have  had  charge  of  it.     However,  the  thing  was 


FOKT   MASSACHUSETTS.  141 

all  right  and  in  good  hands.  The  Governor,  who  is  extremely  civil 
to  me,  gave  it  to  his  brother ;  he  thought  him  more  used  to  winter 
marches."  And  the  truth  was,  that  the  fort  was  vigilantly  watched 
as  against  surprise  and  bravely  defended  as  against  assault,  the 
garrison  consisting  of  346  effective  men,  —  a  part  of  them  being 
Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian  rangers  from  New  Hampshire  under 
John  Stark,  —  and  Major  Eyre  and  the  other  British  officers  were 
resolute  and  capable  men.  Later  in  the  same  season  Vaudreuil  was 
an  important  commander  under  Montcalm  in  the  successful  siege 
and  destruction  of  Fort  William  Henry.  In  all  the  subsequent 
movements  for  the  defence  of  Montreal  and  Quebec  against  Amherst 
on  the  one  side  and  AVolfe  on  the  other,  both  the  brothers  Vaudreuil 
were  active  and  persistent  to  the  last,  —  Rigaud  in  the  field  as  soldier 
and  Pierre  in  council  as  Governor ;  and  when  it  was  all  over  with 
New  France,  the  two  betook  themselves  to  Paris  together,  —  the 
Governor  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  Bastille  on  charges  preferred  by 
the  friends  of  Montcalm,  though  afterwards  released  and  partly 
exonerated,  and  dying  in  17G4,  while  the  soldier-victor  at  Fort 
Massachusetts  was  still  living  at  St.  Germaine  in  1770. 

Had  we  all  been  in  health,  or  had  there  been  only  those  eight  of  us  that 
were  in  health,  I  believe  every  man  would  willingly  have  stood  it  out  to  the  last. 
For  my  part  I  should ;  but  we  heard  that  if  we  were  taken  by  violence  the  sick, 
the  wounded,  and  the  women  would  most,  if  not  all  of  them,  die  by  the  hands 
of  the  savages ;  therefore  our  oflBcer  concluded  to  surrender  on  the  best  terms  he 
could  get,  which  were  — 

I.  That  we  should  be  all  prisoners  to  the  French ;  the  General  promising 
that  the  savages  should  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  of  us. 

II.  That  the  children  should  all  live  with  their  parents  during  the  time  of 
their  captivity. 

III.  That  we  should  all  have  the  privileges  of  being  exchanged  the  first 
opportunity  that  presented. 

Besides  these  particulars,  the  General  promised  that  all  the  prisoners  should 
have  all  Christian  care  and  charity  exercised  towards  them  ;  that  those  who 
were  weak  and  unable  to  travel  should  be  carried  in  their  journey  ;  that  we 
should  all  be  allowed  to  keep  our  clothing  ;  and  that  we  might  leave  a  few  lines 
to  inform  our  friends  what  was  become  of  us. 

In  accordance  with  this  last  permission,  Norton  wrote  a  letter 
the  next  day,  though  he  dated  it  Aug.  20,  1746,  and  nailed  it  on  the 
west  post  of  the  well-sweep,  the  fort  having  been  burned  in  the 
meantime  by  VaudreuiPs  orders.  Norton  does  not  anywhere  give 
the  text  of  the  letter,  for  the  reason  doubtless  that  he  kept  no  copy 
of  it ;  but  it  was  found  a  few  days  afterward  and  carried  to  Deer- 
field,  and  it  ran  as  follows :  — 


142  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

These  are  to  inform  you  that  yesterday,  about  nine  of  the  clock,  we  were 
besieged  by,  as  they  say,  seven  hundred  French  and  Indians.  They  have 
wounded  two  men  and  killed  one  Knowlton.  The  General  De  Vaudreuil  desired 
capitulations,  and  we  were  so  distressed  that  we  complied  with  his  terms.  We 
are  the  French's  prisoners,  and  have  it  under  the  General's  hand,  that  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  shall  be  exchanged  for  French  prisoners. 

The  good  Chaplain  is  careful  in  this  letter  to  give  his  authority 
for  the  statement  that  the  besieging  army  consisted  of  "  seven  hun- 
dred " :  "  as  they  say,"  that  is,  the  French  officers ;  his  own  opinion, 
given  much  later,  after  he  had  marched  to  Canada  in  company  with 
this  army  was,  that  there  were  eight  or  nine  hundred ;  and  we  have 
already  gathered  reasons  from  the  contemporary  French  documents 
for  believing  that  even  this  was  an  underestimate.  When  the  French 
officers  saw  the  poverty  of  the  fort  and  the  paucity  of  its  defenders, 
and  realized  that  they  had  been  held  at  bay  for  thirty  hours,  it  was 
naturally  enough  their  care  to  belittle  their  own  force.  Although 
Korton  does  not  mention  it  in  connection  with  the  parley,  it  has 
come  down  to  us  on  the  authority  of  Hawks,  that  the  enemy  then 
displayed  their  own  means  of  capturing  the  fort,  such  as  axes,  hoes, 
spades,  a  quantity  of  fascines  ready  cut,  and  a  number  of  grenades. 

The  military  vigor  of  the  Chaplain  strikingly  appears  in  the  last 
passage  quoted.  He  was  one  who  "  would  willingly  have  stood  it 
out  to  the  last.''  In  this  respect  there  was  a  strong  resemblance 
between  him,  the  first  minister  of  the  gospel  who  ever  exercised  his 
functions  in  the  valley  of  the  Hoosac  within  the  limits  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  his  next  following  settled  successor  within  the  same  local 
limits,  Eev.  Whitman  Welch,  the  first  minister  of  Willi amstown, 
called  in  July,  1765.  The  "  minute  men,"  who  went  from  here  to 
Cambridge  ten  years  later,  were  his  parishioners ;  several  of  these 
were  drafted  in  the  late  autumn  to  go  up  the  Kennebec  with  Arnold 
to  surprise  Quebec.  Mr.  Welch  accompanied  these  as  a  volunteer, 
not  as  the  chaplain  of  the  detachment,  —  a  service  that  was  rendered 
by  Mr.  Spring  of  Newburyport,  —  but  apparently  because  he  liked 
enterprise  and  danger  and  the  military  life.  Zebadiah  Sabin  and 
David  Johnson,  two  of  his  parishioners,  were  subordinate  officers 
under  Arnold  in  this  expedition,  and  Welch,  who  was  fond  of  ath- 
letic exercises  and  excelled  in  them,  left  parish  and  wife  and  two 
children,  exactly  as  Norton  had  done,  and  doubtless  with  a  similar 
relish,  to  take  the  hazards  of  war ;  but  while  Norton  returned  from 
his  captivity  to  a  parish  in  Connecticut,  Welch  died  at  Quebec  in 
March,  1776,  of  the  small-pox,  as  did  also  many  of  his  compeers  in 
that  perilous  journey  through  the  wilderness. 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  143 

About  three  of  the  clock  we  admitted  the  General  and  a  number  of  his 
officers  into  the  fort.  Upon  which  he  set  up  his  standard.  The  gate  was  not 
opened  to  the  rest.  The  gentlemen  spake  comfortably  to  our  people ;  and  on 
our  petition  that  the  dead  corpse  might  not  be  abused,  but  buried,  they  said 
that  it  should  be  buried.  But  the  Indians,  seeing  that  they  were  shut  out,  soon 
fell  to  pulling  out  the  underpinning  of  the  fort,  and  crept  into  it  and  opened  the 
gates,  so  that  the  parade  was  quickly  full.  They  shouted  as  soon  as  they  saw 
the  blood  of  the  dead  corpse  under  the  watch-box ;  but  the  French  kept  them 
down  for  some  time  and  did  not  suffer  them  to  meddle  with  it.  After  some 
time  the  Indians  seemed  to  be  in  a  ruffle ;  and  presently  rushed  up  into  the 
watch-box,  brought  down  the  dead  corpse,  carried  it  out  of  the  fort,  scalped  it, 
and  cut  off  the  head  and  arms.  A  young  French  cut  off  one  of  the  arms  and 
flayed  it,  roasted  the  flesh,  and  offered  some  of  it  to  Daniel  Smead,  one  of  the 
prisoners,  to  eat,  but  he  refused  it.  The  Frenchman  dressed  the  skin  of  the 
arm  (as  we  afterwards  heard)  and  made  a  tobacco  pouch  of  it.  After  they  had 
plundered  the  fort,  they  set  it  on  fire,  and  led  us  out  to  their  camp. 

This  Daniel  Smead,  who  refused  to  become  a  cannibal  at  the 
dictation  of  a  semi-savage,  or  rather  double-savage,  was  one  of  a 
family  of  seven  (increased  the  next  day  to  eight),  all  taken  in  the 
fort  and  all  carried  captive  to  Quebec.  They  were  from  Pequaog, 
what  is  now  Athol.  The  father,  John  Smead,  this  son  Daniel,  and 
John  Smead,  Jr.,  were  paid  soldiers.  The  mother,  Mary,  and  three 
young  children  were  in  the  fort  in  a  position  of  dependence.  John, 
Jr.,  died  a  captive  in  Quebec  the  next  April.  "  He  was  taken  with 
me  at  Fort  Massachusetts.  He  was  seized  with  the  distemper  in 
October  last,  and  was  bad  for  a  time,  and  then  recovered  in  some 
good  measure,  and  after  a  little  time  relapsed,  and  as  he  did  several 
times,  till  at  last  he  fell  into  a  consumption,  of  which  he  died." 
This  Daniel  died  also  at  Quebec  a  little  more  than  a  month  later 
than  his  brother.  "Died  Daniel  Smead,  a  young  man.  He  was 
taken  with  me,  and  was  son  to  John  Smead.  He  was  first  taken 
sick  in  November,  and  by  frequent  relapses  was  worn  out,  and  fell 
into  a  purging,  by  which  he  wasted  away  and  died."  The  father, 
John  Smead,  returned  home  from  his  captivity  Aug.  31,  1747,  prob- 
ably bringing  with  him  his  three  younger  children ;  but  about  six 
weeks  after  his  return  he  was  travelling  from  Northtield  to  Sunder- 
land, when  he  was  killed  by  an  ambush  of  Indians  and  scalped. 

Vaudreuil  had  the  satisfaction  of  raising  the  lilied  banner  of 
France — Jieur-de-lis  —  on  the  top  of  the  fort  for  an  hour  or  two 
before  it  was  burned.  Undoubtedly  it  was  hoisted  at  the  summit  of 
the  "  great  house  "  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  fort.  Ten  years 
later,  when  the  French  capture  I  Oswego  and  burned  tlie  forts  and 
made  the  place  a  desert,  a  tall  cross  was  planted  amid  the  ruins, 


144  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

graven  with  the  words,  In  hoc  signo  vincunt;  and  near  it  was  set  a 
pole  bearing  the  banner  of  France,  with  the  inscription,  Manihus 
date  lilia  pleriis.  It  seems  queer  to  present  denizens  along  the 
Hoosac,  that  the  French  flag  should  ever  have  floated  even  for  an 
hour  over  its  waters  ! 

The  contrast  between  the  French  officers,  who  spoke  pleasantly 
and  kindly  to  the  prisoners,  and  the  young  Frenchman,  whether 
native  or  Canadian,  who  practised  the  barbaril^es  on  the  body  of  the 
dead  Knowlton,  is  one  that  French  society  in  Canada  perpetually 
presented  until  its  downfall.  The  exquisite  manners  of  Paris,  all 
the  proverbial  politeness  of  France,  pitched  its  tent  in  and  near  the 
residences  of  the  governors  of  Canada  and  of  such  courtly  gentle- 
men as  Montcalm,  whether  in  Quebec  or  Three  Kivers  or  Montreal, 
while  close  alongside  this  refinement,  speaking  the  patois  of  the 
country,  were  the  cruelty  and  falsity  and  barbarism  of  the  habitans 
and  fur-traders,  surpassing,  if  possible,  in  degradation  even  the 
Indians  themselves.  The  sight  of  Knowlton's  blood  dripping  down 
from  the  watch-box  to  the  ground,  roused  the  Indians  to  a  fierce 
desire  to  scalp  and  mutilate  the  body;  and  the  same  sight  roused 
the  young  Frenchman  to  flay  the  arm,  and  roast  and  eat  the  flesh  of 
the  dead  man. 

As  the  fort  was  now  shortly  plundered  and  set  on  fire  and  burnt 
to  the  ground,  and  the  prisoners  led  out  to  the  camp  of  the  French 
a  little  to  the  northwest,  our  last  opportunity  to  get  a  further 
glimpse  of  the  mode  in  which  it  was  constructed  is  offered  us  in 
the  passage  last  quoted.  It  is  evident  that  it  was  free  space  under 
the  watch-box  at  the  northwest  angle,  for  it  was  there  that  the 
Indians  saw  the  blood,  before  the  body  had  been  removed  from  the 
mount ;  which  is  another  circumstance  going  to  show  that  the  north 
side  was  the  free  and  open  side  of  the  fort,  —  the  space  under  the 
watch-box  at  the  west  end  and  the  space  around  the  well  at  the 
east  end  of  this  side  really  making  one  space  with  the  parade  in 
the  middle  of  it.  This  view  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the 
Indians  pulled  out  the  loose  stones  forming  the  underpinning  of  the 
fort,  crept  within,  and  opened  the  gate  that  was  certainly  on  the  north 
side,  "  so  that  the  parade  was  quickly  fall."  Then  they  shouted  as 
soon  as  they  saw  the  blood.  It  is  absolutely  certain  that  the  well, 
both  at  Shirley  and  Massachusetts,  was  in  the  northeast  angle. 
Norton  nailed  the  letter  on  the  west  post  of  the  well,  which  was 
not  burned  when  the  walls  of  the  fort  went  down  under  the  fire. 
Drake  ["  Particular  History,"  p.  120]  understands  this  to  mean  the 
west  arm  of  the  well-crotch,  within  which  the  well-sweep  worked. 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  145 

At  any  rate,  the  well-sweep,  if  there  was  one,  was  parallel  with  the 
east  wall  of  the  fort,  and  near  it ;  and  if  there  were  none,  one  can- 
not see  why  there  should  be  any  "  west  post "  of  the  well  at  all,  on 
which  a  letter  could  be  nailed.  It  will  be  noticed  by  the  pains- 
taking reader  (not  by  others),  that  this  arrangement  put  the  well  as 
much  out  of  the  way  as  it  could  possibly  be  put  in  the  interior  of 
such  an  enclosure,  doubtless  very  near  to  the  east  wall  and  to  the 
north  wall  at  their  junction.  It  may  be  only  a  chance  coincidence, 
or  it  may  indicate  a  custom  obtaining  in  blockhouses  in  those  times  : 
at  any  rate  it  is  a  fact,  that  when  General  Amherst  built  his  great  fort 
at  Crown  Point,  the  "  big  well "  was  placed  in  the  northeast  angle  also. 

We  had  been  at  their  camp  but  a  little  time,  when  Mons.  Doty,  the  Gen- 
eral's  interpreter,  called  me  aside,  and  desired  me  to  speak  to  our  soldiers,  and 
persuade  them  to  go  with  the  Indians  ;  for  he  said  that  the  Indians  were  desir- 
ous that  some  of  them  should  go  with  them;  and  said  that  Sergeant  Hawks, 
myself,  and  the  families,  should  go  with  the  French  officers.  I  answered  him 
that  it  was  contrary  to  our  agreement,  and  the  General's  promise  ;  and  would 
be  to  throw  away  the  lives  of  some  of  our  sick  and  wounded.  He  said,  no  ; 
but  the  Indians  would  be  kind  to  them  ;  and  though  they  were  all  prisoners  to 
the  French,  yet  he  hoped  some  of  them  would  be  willing  to  go  with  the  Indians. 

The  French  were  in  close  alliance  for  peace  and  war  with  the 
Indian  tribes  of  Canada  and  the  West,  but  they  were  troublesome 
allies  at  the  best,  and  in  moments  of  excitement  were  utterly  uncon- 
trollable. Montcalm  writes :  "  You  would  take  them  for  so  many 
masqueraders  or  devils.  One  needs  the  patience  of  an  angel  to  get 
on  with  them."  They  abandoned  Dieskau  to  a  man  in  the  battle  of 
Lake  George.  Montcalm  himself  by  his  utmost  endeavors  could 
not  prevent  their  massacre  of  his  plighted  prisoners  after  the  sur- 
render of  Fort  William  Henry.  They  could  not  be  made  to  under- 
stand, still  less  to  respect,  the  obligation  of  pledges.  In  the  case 
before  us,  Vaudreuil  had  promised  more  than  he  could  perform ;  he 
had  bitten  off  more  than  he  could  chew.  The  Indians  insisted  on 
their  claim  to  escort  the  bulk  of  the  prisoners  to  Canada,  to  present 
them  to  the  Governor-General  themselves,  and  so  be  able  the  better 
to  claim  an  expected  reward.  The  spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  the 
capitulation  put  all  the  prisoners  into  the  care  of  the  French  officers 
and  men ;  and  this  was  fully  recognized  by  Vaudreuil  in  his  sending 
his  interpreter  to  Norton,  and  asking  him  to  persuade  the  soldiers 
to  go  with  the  Indians  voluntarily.  Why  did  the  General  send 
Monsieur  Doty  to  Norton  rather  than  to  Hawks,  the  proper  officer  ? 
If  an  innocent  conjecture  may  be  hazarded,  it  may  have  been  a 
religious  scruple  on  the  part  of  Vaudreuil,  a  sense  at  least  of  the 


146  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

sanctity  of  a  promise,  that  would  be  violated  if  he  sent  the  prisoners 
among  the  Indians ;  and  so,  if  their  religious  leader  would  consent 
to  it  and  get  the  consent  of  some  of  the  soldiers,  his  own  conscience 
would  be  the  better  satisfied.  It  was  a  compliment  to  the  Chaplain 
at  any  rate,  and  no  disrespect  to  the  Sergeant;  but  the  scheme, 
whatever  its  motive,  did  not  work,  and  the  General  was  left  to  settle 
it  with  his  conscience  the  best  he  could ;  the  Indians  must  be 
placated  in  any  event  and  so  the  terms  of  the  surrender  were 
strained,  even  if  not  broken. 

We  spoke  to  Sergeant  Hawks,  and  he  [Doty]  urged  it  upon  him.  We  pro- 
posed it  to  some  of  our  men  who  were  in  liealth,  whether  they  were  willing  to  go 
or  not,  but  they  were  utterly  unwilling.  I  returned  to  Doty,  and  told  him  we 
should  by  no  means  consent  that  any  of  our  men  should  go  with  the  Indians. 
We  took  the  General  to  be  a  man  of  honor,  and  hoped  to  find  hira  so.  We 
knew  that  it  was  the  manner  of  the  Indians  to  abuse  their  prisoners,  and  some- 
times to  kill  those  that  failed  in  traveling  and  carrying  packs,  which  we  knew 
that  some  of  our  men  could  not  do ;  and  we  thought  it  little  better  for  the 
General  to  deliver  them  to  the  Indians  than  it  would  be  to  abuse  them  himself, 
and  had  I  thought  that  the  General  would  have  delivered  any  of  our  men  to  the 
savages,  I  should  have  strenuously  opposed  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  for  I  had 
rather  have  died  in  fight,  than  to  see  any  of  our  men  killed  while  we  had  no 
opportunity  to  resist.  He  said  that  the  General  would  see  that  they  should  not 
be  abused  ;  and  he  did  not  like  it  that  I  was  so  jealous  and  afraid.  I  told  him  I 
was  not  the  ofi&cer,  but  as  he  spake  to  me,  so  I  had  freely  spoken  my  mind,  and 
discharged  my  duty  in  it,  and  he  had  no  reason  to  be  offended,  and  I  hoped  the 
General  would  not  insist  on  this  thing,  but  would  make  good  his  promise  to  all 
the  prisoners. 

These  were  no  fancied  fears  of  Norton's  in  respect  to  the  sick  and 
wounded  among  the  prisoners,  for  he  was  familiar  with  the  story  of 
the  captivities  to  Canada  that  had  taken  place  in  Queen  Anne's  War, 
and  particularly  with  the  "  Redeemed  Captive,"  Rev.  John  Williams's 
account  of  the  sack  of  Deerfield  in  1704.  Of  the  112  captives  taken 
from  Deerfield  at  that  time,  seventeen  were  killed  or  died  on  the 
march  to  Canada,  and  among  these  was  Mrs.  Williams,  wife  of  the 
minister,  who  was  tomahawked  at  the  foot  of  a  hill  in  what  is  now 
Greenfield.  Everybody  in  New  England  in  1746  was  familiar  with 
these  facts  from  the  popularity  of  Williams's  little  book  with  the 
above  title,  published  in  1707,  in  which  he  gave  an  interesting  nar- 
rative of  the  adventures  of  the  captives,  and  which  was  soon  in 
everybody's  hands.  Still,  it  must  be  owned,  that  in  the  present 
instance  these  vigorously  expressed  fears  for  the  feeble  captives 
proved  in  the  issue  to  be  groundless.  These  captives  were  extraor- 
dinarily well  treated,  as  we  shall  see.     Perhaps  Vaudreuil's  qualms 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  147 

of  conscience,  if  he  had  any,  over  the  terms  of  capitulation,  made 
him  all  the  more  scrupulous  that  no  harm  should  come  to  the  sur- 
rendered from  the  Indians. 

He  [Doty]  went  to  the  General,  and  after  a  little  time  the  officers  came  and 
took  away  John  Perry  and  his  wife,  and  all  the  soldiers  but  Sergeant  Hawks, 
John  Smead  and  Moses  Scott  and  their  families,  and  distributed  them  among 
the  Indians.  •  Some  French  officers  took  the  care  of  the  families,  namely, 
Smead's  and  Scott's,  and  Mens.  Demuy  took  me  with  him,  and  M.  St.  Luc 
Lacom  took  Sergeant  Hawks  with  him,  and  so  we  reposed  that  night,  having  a 
strong  guard  set  over  us. 

The  reason  why  Rebecca  Perry  and  her  husband  were  placed  in 
the  care  of  the  Indians,  while  the  other  two  women  with  their  hus- 
bands and  the  five  children  were  taken  charge  of  by  the  French 
officers,  seems  to  have  been  that  they  had  no  children  as  impedi- 
ments. The  Indians  were  to  go  ahead  in  the  march,  and  the  French 
to  bring  up  the  rear.  Eleven  in  all  were  put  with  the  French,  and 
nineteen  were  given  over  to  the  Indians.  The  Sergeant  and  the 
Chaplain  were  very  honorably  treated,  for  the  two  highest  officers 
in  command,  next  to  the  General,  took  these  with  them  respectively, 
namely.  La  Come  took  Hawks,  and  Demuy,  Norton.  La  Come,  like 
Vaudreuil,  was  a  native  Canadian.  His  father.  Captain  La  Come, 
town  major  of  Three  Rivers  in  1719,  started  his  son,  who  had 
received  in  baptism  the  name  of  the  third  evangelist,  St.  Luc,  into 
public  life  the  next  year,  and  the  same  time  that  the  first  Governor 
Vaudreuil  was  paving  a  way  in  life  for  his  own  two  sons,  one  of 
whom  became  his  successor  as  the  last  Governor  of  Canada,  and  the 
other  distinguished  himself  first  in  the  capture  of  Fort  Massachu- 
setts. La  Come  became  during  the  last  fifteen  years  of  New  France 
a  successful  partisan  officer  after  a  type  of  his  own.  He  was  active 
and  able  and  ruthless  and  tireless.  His  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
Indian  languages  gave  him  a  wonderful  influence  over  the  motley 
tribes  that  danced  the  war-dance  at  Montreal  or  Quebec.  He  seemed 
to  be  everywhere  where  there  was  council  and  carnage.  Now  at 
Niagara,  now  at  La  Chine  Rapids,  once  and  again  in  Acadia,  where 
he  was  in  command  of  2500  men,  extremely  serviceable  in  the 
reduction  of  Fort  William  Henry,  and  standing  indifferently  by 
while  maddened  Indians  massacred  the  prisoners  surrendered  with 
the  fort,  wounded  at  the  rapids  of  Lake  Ontario  in  1759,  and  again 
wounded  at  the  capture  of  Quebec,  shipwrecked  on  his  way  to  France 
when  all  was  over  in  Canada,  yet  saved  from  the  sea  by  a  miracle, 
and  finding  his  way  back  to  Quebec  by  another  miracle  of  physical 
endurance,  where  he  wrote  a  journal  of  the  voyage,  —  his  was  a 


148  ORIGINS  IN  WILLI AMSTOWN. 

figure  which  only  New  France  in  her  last  days  could  have  produced, 
or  would  have  tolerated. 

Writes  Parkman  in  a  memorable  passage :  ^  — 

Worst  of  all  was  the  fate  of  the  Augitste,  on  board  of  which  was  the  bold  but 
ruthless  partisan,  Saint-Luc  de  la  Corne,  his  brother,  his  children,  and  a  party 
of  Canadian  officers,  together  with  ladies,  merchants,  and  soldiers.  A  worthy- 
ecclesiastical  chronicler  paints  the  unhappy  vessel  as  a  floating  Babylon,  and 
sees  in  her  fate  the  stern  judgment  of  Heaven.  It  is  true  that  New  France 
ran  riot  in  the  last  days  of  her  existence  ;  but  before  the  Auguste  was  well  out 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  she  was  so  tossed  and  buffeted,  so  lashed  with  waves  and 
pelted  with  rain,  that  the  most  alluring  forms  of  sin  must  have  lost  their  charm, 
and  her  inmates  passed  days  rather  of  penance  than  transgression.  There  was 
a  violent  storm  as  the  ship  entered  the  Gulf ;  then  a  calm,  during  which  she 
took  fire  in  the  cook's  galley.  The  crew  and  passengers  subdued  the  flames 
after  desperate  efforts,  but  their  only  food  thenceforth  was  dry  biscuit.  Off  the 
coast  of  Cape  Breton  another  gale  rose.  They  lost  their  reckoning  and  lay 
tossing  blindly  amid  the  tempest.  The  exhausted  sailors  took  in  despair  to 
their  hammocks,  from  which  neither  commands  nor  blows  could  rouse  them, 
while  amid  shrieks,  tears,  prayers,  and  vows  to  Heaven,  the  Auguste  drove 
towards  the  shore,  struck,  and  rolled  over  on  her  side.  La  Corne,  with  six 
others,  gained  the  beach,  and  towards  night  they  saw  the  ship  break  asunder, 
and  counted  a  hundred  and  fourteen  corpses  strewn  along  the  sand.  Aided  by 
Indians  and  by  English  officers.  La  Corne  made  his  way  on  snow-shoes  up  the 
St.  John,  and  by  a  miracle  of  enduring  hardihood,  reached  Quebec  before  the 
end  of  winter. 

Lieutenant  Demuy,  who  took  Chaplain  Norton  in  charge  for  the 
journey  to  Canada,  was  son  of  the  Captain  Demuy  of  the  French 
regulars  in  New  France,  who  was  appointed  Governor  of  Louisiana 
in  1707,  and  who  died  on  his  journey  thither  to  assume  that  posi- 
tion. The  son  left  an  excellent  record  in  Canada,  with  no  word,  so 
far  as  appears,  to  mar  it.  When  he  was  appointed  to  command  at 
the  Lake  of  the  Two  Mountains  in  1746,  he  was  reported  to  Paris 
by  his  superiors  as  "  a  prudent,  wise,  and  sedate  man,  and  a  very 
exact  officer  in  all  that  appertains  to  the  King's  service " ;  he 
became  afterwards  commandant  at  La  Prairie,  and  still  later  at 
Detroit ;  and  he  seems  to  have  possessed  remarkable  influence  over 
the  Indians,  both  over  the  Mission  Indians  and  those  from  the 
farthest  west  and  south. 

Thursday^  21.  —  In  the  morning  I  obtained  liberty  to  go  to  the  place  of  the 
fort,  and  set  up  a  letter,  which  I  did,  with  a  Frenchman  and  some  Indians  in 
company.  I  nailed  the  letter  on  the  west  post.  This  morning  I  saw  Josiah 
Reed,  who  was  very  weak  and  feeble  by  reason  of  his  long  and  tedious  sickness. 
I  interceded  with  the  General  for  him,  that  he  would  not  send  him  with  the 

1  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  v.  2,  p.  384. 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  149 

Indians,  but  could  not  prevail.  I  also  interceded  with  the  General  for  John 
Aldrich,  who,  being  wounded  in  the  foot,  was  not  able  to  travel ;  but  the  inter- 
preter told  me  they  must  go  with  the  Indians,  but  they  should  not  be  hurt ;  and 
they  had  canoes  a  little  down  the  river,  in  which  the  weak  and  feeble  should  be 
carried.  We  then  put  up  our  things  and  set  on  our  march  for  Crown  Point, 
going  down  the  river  in  Hoosuck  road.  I  was  toward  the  front,  and  within 
about  a  half  a  mile  I  overtook  John  Perry's  wife  ;  I  passed  her,  M.  Derauy 
traveling  apace.  I  spoke  with  her,  and  asked  her  how  she  did  ?  She  told  me 
that  her  strength  failed  her  in  traveling  so  fast.  I  told  her  God  was  able  to 
strengthen  her.  In  him  she  must  put  her  trust,  and  I  hoped  she  was  ready  for 
whatever  God  had  to  call  her  to.  1  had  opportunity  to  say  no  more.  We  went 
about  four  miles  to  the  place  where  the  army  encamped  the  night  before  they 
came  upon  us.  Mere  I  overtook  neighbor  Perry,  which  surprised  me,  for  I 
thought  he  had  been  behind  me  with  the  French,  but  he  was  with  the  Indians. 
I  a.sked  him  after  his  health.  He  said  he  was  better  than  he  had  been.  I 
inquired  after  his  wife.  He  said  he  did  not  know  where  she  was,  but  was  some- 
where with  the  Indians,  which  surprised  me  very  much,  for  I  thought  till  then 
she  was  with  the  French. 

Josiah  Read  was  from  Rehoboth  in  the  Old  C'oluny.  He  was  sick 
of  the  prevailing  distemper  before  the  fort  was  besieged,  and  was 
doubtless  treated  by  the  Indians  after  the  surrender  with  all  the 
consideration  that  was  possible,  an  Indian  carrying  him  on  his  back. 
He  died  at  the  place  of  the  first  encampment  during  this  (Thurs- 
day) night ;  and  though  Norton  suggests  a  little  later  a  fear  that  he 
may  have  been  murdered,  it  became  perfectly  clear  after  the  return 
of  the  surviving  captives  that  the  man  died  of  his  malady.  John 
Aid  rich  was  of  Mendon  in  Worcester  County,  and  was  one  of  the 
two  wounded  in  the  watch-box  on  the  first  day  of  the  siege.  When 
the  rest  of  his  surviving  companions  in  captivity  returned  to  their 
several  homes  the  next  year,  John  Aldrich  and  one  other  were  left 
sick  in  Quebec,  but  these  two  also  returned  afterwards,  and  were 
paid  their  wages,  twenty-five  shillings  a  month,  for  the  year  and 
more,  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Colony.  The  captives  started  Thurs- 
day morning  for  Crown  Point  from  Vaudreuil's  camp  near  the  fort, 
the  Indians  in  general  in  front  and  the  French  in  the  rear,  though 
soon  more  or  less  commingled  on  the  march,  making  their  way  as 
best  they  could  "  down  the  river  in  Hoosuck  road  "  towards  the  first 
resting-place  four  miles  to  the  west  where  there  is  a  decided  bend  of 
the  river  to  the  north.  Norton's  use  of  the  term,  **  road,"  here, 
shows  that  the  immemorial  Mohawk  trail  was  even  then  much 
travelled  back  and  forth.  It  was  a  road.  After  crossing  the  stream 
at  Fort  Massachusetts,  it  ran  thenceforth  along  its  northern  bank 
and  usually  near  to  the  water,  unless  the  interval  were  low  and 
wet,  in  which  case  the  Indians  always  hugged  the  edge  of  the  higher 


150  ORIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

land,  or  unless  there  were  a  considerable  bend  in  the  stream,  in 
which  case  the  Indians  made  the  short  cut  as  unerringly  as  a  modern 
engineer.  The  place  where  Norton  overtook  John  Perry's  wife  was 
near  or  at  the  place  where  her  husband  had  built  their  house  a  short 
time  before,  and  stocked  it  with  the  goods  to  which  reference  has 
been  had  already,  and  which  the  struggling  Indians  bringing  up  the 
rear  burned  in  passing.  The  considerable  confusion  into  which 
Norton  falls  in  this  paragraph  concerning  the  Perrys,  betrays  the 
fact  that  he  wrote  out  his  narrative  some  time  after  the  events,  from 
notes  taken  at  the  time ;  for  he  tells  us  expressly  a  little  way  back 
that  Perry  and  his  wife,  with  the  bulk  of  the  soldiers,  were  distrib- 
uted among  the  Indians,  while  here  he  twice  expresses  much  sur- 
prise to  find  them  in  the  company  of  the  Indians  —  "for  I  thought 
till  then  she  was  with  the  French." 

The  Hoosac  meadow  in  Williamstown,  on  which  the  band  of  cap- 
tives rested  for  a  while  about  noon  of  the  first  day's  march,  has  been 
from  that  day  to  this  an  interesting  place.  "  We  went  about  four 
miles  to  the  place  where  the  army  encamped  the  night  before  they 
came  upon  us."  The  place  is  now  called  the  Eiver  Bend  Farm. 
There  has  been  for  many  years  a  steam  saw-mill  where  the  river 
begins  to  bend  northward,  which  has  more  or  less  disfigured  the 
meadow,  and  the  tracks  of  the  Fitchburg  railroad  curving  round  the 
bend  and  requiring  considerable  cutting  and  filling,  to  say  nothing 
of  a  deposit  of  gravel  which  has  been  carried  off  in  large  quantities 
for  ballasting,  have  still  further  disfigured  and  transformed  it ;  but 
when  perhaps  for  centuries  the  Indians  used  to  make  a  sort  of  camp 
and  stopping-place  upon  this  curve  covered  with  primeval  forests, 
of  which  enormous  pines  formed  a  part,  it  was  one  of  the  loveliest 
places  in  all  New  England ;  and  when  about  twenty-five  years  after 
the  present  passage,  the  farm  was  fairly  cleared  up,  it  became,  per- 
haps, the  most  fertile  farm  in  Williamstown,  and  certainly  the  resi- 
dence and  tavern-stand  of  its  most  prominent  and  patriotic  citizen. 
Indian  arrow-heads  and  other  Indian  relics  have  always  been  found 
in  its  ploughed  fields,  and  even  so  late  as  1887.  And  notwithstand- 
ing the  cut-up  and  demoralized  surface,  Samuel  Abbott,  a  graduate 
of  the  College  of  that  year,  found  several  valuable  relics  of  Indian 
occupation  on  the  place.  Next  to  Josiah  Read,  who  died  a  few 
miles  down  the  river  a  few  hours  later,  the  sickest  of  the  captives 
was  a  lad  named  Benjamin  Simonds,  of  Ware  River,  then  twenty 
years  old,  who  lived  to  own  the  broad  meadow,  and  to  build  upon  it 
the  stately  house  still  standing,  of  which,  as  well  as  of  him,  we  shall 
be  likely  to  learn  more  in  the  sequel. 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  151 

Here  we  sat  down  for  a  considerable  time.  My  heart  was  filled  with  sorrow, 
expecting  that  many  of  our  weak  and  feeble  people  would  fall  by  the  merciless 
hands  of  the  enemy.  And  as  I  frecjuently  heard  the  savages  shouting  and  yell- 
ing, trembled,  concluding  that  they  then  murdered  some  of  our  people.  And 
this  wa.s  my  only  comfort,  that  they  could  do  nothing  against  us,  but  what  God 
in  hLs  holy  Providence  permitted  them  ;  but  was  filled  with  admiration  wlien  I 
saw  all  tlie  prisoners  come  up  with  us,  and  John  Aldrich  carried  upon  the  back 
of  his  Indian  master.  We  set  out  again,  and  had  gone  but  a  little  way  before 
we  came  up  with  Josiah  Read,  who  gave  out.  I  expected  they  would  have 
knocked  him  on  the  head  and  killed  him,  but  an  Indian  carried  him  on  his  back. 
We  made  several  stops,  and  after  we  had  traveled  about  eight  miles  we  made  a 
considerable  stay,  where  we  refreshed  ourselves,  and  I  had  an  opportunity  to 
speak  to  several  of  the  prisoners ;  especially  John  Smead,  and  his  wife,  who 
being  near  her  time,  was  filled  with  admiration  at  the  goodness  of  God  in 
strengthening  her  to  travel  so  far. 

The  cause  of  the  shouting  and  yelling  of  the  savages,  here  referred 
to  by  Norton,  may  very  probably  have  been  the  burning  of  John 
Perry's  premises,  at  that  time  the  only  house  in  the  Hoosac  valley 
till  they  came  down  to  Dutch  Hoosac,  where  they  burned,  the  next 
day,  seven  houses  and  fourteen  barns,  and  a  large  quantity  of  wheat, 
and  slaughtered  many  hogs  and  cattle,  doubtless  accompanying  the 
devastation  with  similar  whooping  and  outcry.  Every  vestige  of 
this  alread}'  thriving  settlement  at  the  junction  of  the  Little  Hoosac 
with  the  Hoosac  went  up  in  flames;  one  of  the  proprietors  named 
Samuel  Bowen  was  killed,  and  the  loss  in  that  single  neighborhood 
was  estimated,  at  the  time,  as  £50,000  New  York  currency.  The 
French  account  of  the  doings  of  this  party  returning  from  the  sack 
of  Fort  Massachusetts  is  not  exaggerated  as  much  as  usual :  "  Barns, 
mills,  churches,  and  tanneries  were  destroyed,  and  the  harvest  laid 
waste  for  a  distance  of  thirty  or  forty  miles."  Indeed,  the  small 
party  of  French  and  Indians  returning  from  the  attack  on  Fort 
Massachusetts  two  months  before,  when  Elisha  Nims  was  killed,  and 
Gershom  Hawks  wounded  there,  slaughtered,  in  Dutch  Hoosac, 
nearly  one  hundred  animals  belonging  to  the  Dutch  and  English 
farmers.  The  valley  is  this  time  trod  by  an  army  that  leaves  noth- 
ing of  value  movable  or  burnable  behind  it.  But  we  are  getting  a 
little  ahead  of  Norton's  narrative. 

I  saw  John  Perry's  wife.  She  complained  that  she  was  almost  ready  to  give 
out.  She  complained  also  of  the  Indian  that  she  went  with,  that  he  threatened 
her.  I  talked  with  a  French  officer,  and  he  said  that  she  need  not  fear,  for  he 
would  not  be  allowed  to  hurt  her.  Mons.  Demuy,  with  a  number  of  men,  set 
out  before  the  army,  so  I  took  my  leave  of  her,  fearing  I  should  never  see  her 
more.  After  this  Sergeant  Hawks  went  to  the  General  and  represented  her 
case  to  him.    So  he  went  and  talked  to  the  Indians,  and  he  [her  master]  was 


152  OKIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

kind  to  her  after  that.  After  we  had  traveled  round  the  fields,  I  thought  he 
was  about  to  leave  the  river,  which  increased  my  fears.  But  I  found  out  the 
reason  ;  for  they  only  went  to  look  some  buildings  to  plunder,  and  burn  them. 

Vaudreuil  was  true  to  his  after  promise,  even  if  he  had  proved 
false  to  the  exact  terms  of  surrender.  No  captives  in  like  circum- 
stances ever  had  less  cause  to  complain  of  their  treatment  on  the 
whole.  These  conferences  were  had,  and  this  result  was  reached, 
while  the  slow  march  was  progressing  through  the  present  town  of 
Pownal,  Vermont,  and  approaching  and  passing  the  present  line  of 
the  state  of  New  York.  The  valley  of  the  Hoosac  narrows  decidedly 
after  passing  into  Petersburg,  and  the  river  turns  sharply  to  the 
west,  till  the  valley  suddenly  broadens  to  receive  into  itself  the 
valley  of  the  Little  Hoosac  at  the  junction  of  the  two  streams. 
These  united  valleys,  at  their  place  of  union,  are  now  called,  for 
railway  reasons,  Petersburg  Junction.  They  were  formerly  called, 
from  the  prevailing  nationality  of  the  farmers  there,  Dutch  Hoosac. 
The  meadows  here  are  very  broad,  and  have  always  been  very  pro- 
ductive. Here  located  himself  in  1735,  Bernardus  Bratt,  a  Dutch- 
man, who  married  in  that  year,  Catharine  Van  Vechten,  and  who 
built  his  house  very  near  the  present  railway  station.  He  built  the 
first  saw-mill  and  the  first  grist-mill  in  this  district.  These  mills, 
and  a  large  quantity  of  grain,  lumber,  9,nd  other  property,  both  his 
and  his  neighbors',  were  burned  by  our  Indians  at  this  time.  "They 
went  to  look  some  buildings  to  plunder,  and  burn  them."  They 
went  up  the  Little  Hoosac  and  burned  every  farm-house  and  barn  in 
what  is  now  North  Petersburg.  They  performed  the  same  pleasing 
service  for  the  Bovies  and  Brimmers  and  Bowens  and  Van  Der 
Vericks,  on  whose  meadow,  directly  to  the  south  of  Bratt's,  the 
whole  army  encamped  for  the  night.  Dec.  1,  of  this  year,  Norton 
notes  in  his  diary  the  death  at  Quebec  of  Gratis  Van  Der  Verick, 
who  had  been  a  captive  for  a  year,  and  had  been  taken  at  Saratoga, 
and  Avho  may  have  belonged  to  the  family  then  occupying  what  has 
since  been  called  the  "  Joseph  Case  farm,"  and  is  now  called  (1887) 
from  its  present  owner,  the  "  Edward  Green  "  farm,  on  which  Vau- 
dreuil, with  his  motley  force  and  his  prisoners,  made  their  first 
night's  encampment,  after  leaving  the  fort  for  good. 

A  little  before  sunset  we  arrived  at  Van  Der  Verick' s  place,  where  we  found 
some  of  the  army,  who  had  arrived  before  us,  but  most  of  them  were  still 
behind  ;  and  I  had  the  comfort  of  seeing  the  greatest  part  of  the  prisoners  come 
up :  God  having  wonderfully  strengthened  many  who  were  weak ;  the  French 
carrying  the  women.  There  were  some  few  that  tarried  behind  about  two 
miles,  where  Mrs.  Smead  was  taken  in  travail :  And  some  of  the  French  made 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  153 

a  seat  for  her  to  sit  upon,  and  brought  her  to  the  camp,  where  about  ten  o'clock, 
she  was  graciously  delivered  of  a  daughter,  and  was  remarkably  well.  The  child 
also  was  well.  But  this  night  Josiah  Read,  being  very  ill,  either  died  of  his  ill- 
ness, or  else  was  killed  by  the  enemy  ;  which,  I  could  never  certainly  know,  but 
I  fear  he  was  murdered. 

From  Fort  Massachusetts  to  Van  Der  Verick's  place,  the  first  day's 
journey  towards  Canada,  was  not  far  from  fourteen  miles  as  the 
river  runs.  Nature  put  her  seal  of  beauty  and  bounty  upon  the 
spot,  and  Providence  marked  it  with  displays  of  graciousness,  that 
doubtless  came  in  answer  to  prayer;  the  French  showed  unwonted 
kindness  to  the  sick  women,  bringing  Mrs.  Scott  and  Mrs.  Perry  to 
the  camp,  carrying  them ;  and  when  Mrs.  Smead  was  taken  in  travail 
some  two  miles  back  from  the  camp,  it  was  French  officers  and 
soldiers  who  tenderly  tarried  for  her,  made  a  seat  for  her  to  sit 
upon,  and  carried  her  in  their  arms  to  the  camp  on  the  meadow, 
which  was  then  made  memorable  forever  by  the  birth  and  baptism 
of  a  Christian  child. 

Friday,  22.  — This  morning  I  baptised  John  Smead's  child.  lie  called  its 
name  Captivity.  The  French  then  made  a  frame  like  a  bier,  and  laid  a  buck 
skin  and  bear  skin  upon  it,  and  laid  Mrs.  Smead,  with  her  infant,  thereon ;  and 
80  two  men  at  a  time  carried  them.  They  also  carried  Moses  Scott's  wife  and 
two  children,  and  another  of  Smead's  children.  The  Indians  also  carried  in 
their  canoes,  Benjamin  Simonds  and  John  Aldrich  and  Perry's  wife,  down  the 
river  about  ten  miles. 

At  least  two  canoes  had  been  brought  by  the  Indians  from  the 
head  of  Lake  Champlain,  where  most  of  their  boats  were  left  to 
await  their  return,  up  to  the  junction  of  the  Hoosacs,  and  here  they 
took  into  these  for  the  next  stage  of  their  journey  homeward,  the 
sick  man,  and  the  wounded  man,  and  the  invalid  woman,  all  of 
whom  had  been  in  Indian  charge  from  the  start.  Their  birch-bark 
eanoes  and  paddles  were  extremely  light,  and  were  easily  borne  over 
the  shorter  or  longer  carrying-places,  which  intermitted  the  water- 
ways between  Canada  and  the  Colonies,  by  whichever  of  the  usual 
routes  these  ways  were  attempted.  There  was  less  land-carriage  by 
Lake  George  or  Wood  Creek  to  the  Hudson,  or  by  any  one  of  the 
three  routes  over  the  Green  Mountains  to  the  Connecticut,  than  by 
the  route  chosen  on  this  occasion  by  Owl  Kill  to  the  Hoosac. 

"We  had  remarkable  smiles  of  Providence.  Our  men  that  had  been  sick,  grew 
better  and  recovered  strength.  The  enemy  killed  some  cattle  which  they  found 
in  the  meadow  ;  so  that  we  had  plenty  of  fresh  provisions  and  broth,  which  was 
very  beneficial  to  the  sick.  I  then  expressed  a  concern  for  the  feeble  people, 
understanding  that  we  were  to  leave  the  river,  and  travel  through  the  wilder- 


154  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

ness  near  sixty  miles  ;  but  Mons.  Demuy  told  me  I  need  not  fear,  for  the  Gen- 
eral had  promised  those  Indians  a  reward  who  had  the  care  of  the  feeble  persons, 
if  they  would  be  kind  and  carry  them  through  the  journey.  This  night  I  visited 
most  of  the  prisoners.  This  night,  also,  died  two  Indians  of  their  wounds.  The 
enemy  had  got  four  horses. 

Scarcely  less  picturesque  than  the  first  was  this  second  night^s 
encampment  at  St.  Croix,  the  junction  of  the  Walloomsac  with  the 
Hoosac.  The  encampment  was  on  the  land  of  Garret  Van  Ness, 
whose  acquaintance  we  have  already  made  in  connection  with  sup- 
plies for  Fort  Massachusetts.  The  horses  obtained  for  the  couriers 
to  carry  the  good  news  to  Canada,  undoubtedly  belonged  to  Van 
Ness,  for  he  owned  two  miles  or  more  of  the  land  between  the 
mouth  of  the  Walloomsac  and  the  mouth  of  Owl  Kill,  where  is 
now  the  hamlet  of  Eagle  Bridge.  From  Van  Der  Verick's  to  Eagle 
Bridge,  the  second  day's  more  comfortable  journey,  is  pretty  nearly 
ten  miles.  Here  all  hands  were  to  leave  the  line  of  the  Hoosac, 
and  push  on  nearly  due  north,  into  the  then  unsettled  wilderness, 
now  Washington  County,  to  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain,  where  is 
now  the  town  of  Whitehall.  The  canoes,  with  the  two  or  three 
sick  ones,  might,  perhaps,  be  pushed  up  the  Owl  Kill  a  few  miles 
above  its  mouth,  and  then  all  the  rest  would  be  land  journey  to  the 
lake. 

Saturday,  25.  —  This  morning  the  General  sent  off  an  officer  with  some  men 
to  carry  news  to  Canada.  This  day  we  left  the  river  and  traveled  in  the  wilder- 
ness, in  something  of  a  path,  and  good  traveling  for  the  wilderness,  something 
east  of  north,  about  fifteen  miles ;  the  French  still  carrying  Smead's  and  Scott's 
wives  and  children  ;  the  Indians  finding  horses  for  Benjamin  Simonds  and  John 
Aldrich.  Perry  being  released  from  his  pack,  was  allowed  to  help  hisi  wife,  and 
carry  her  when  she  was  weary.  About  three  in  the  afternoon  they  were  alarmed 
by  discovering  the  tracks  of  a  scout  from  Saratoga.  This  put  them  into  a  con- 
siderable ruffle,  fearing  that  there  might  be  an  army  after  them.  But  I  pre- 
sumed that  they  need  not  be  concerned  about  it.  The  body  of  the  army  lodged 
between  two  ponds,  but  part,  with  a  number  of  the  prisoners,  were  sent  for- 
ward about  two  miles,  till  they  crossed  Sarratago  river ;  it  is  there  twenty  rods 
wide,  but  shallow  water.  This  night  also  died  two  more  Indians  of  their 
wounds. 

This  paragraph  is  one  of  extreme  importance  both  historically  and 
geographically,  and  has  been  often  heretofore,  if  not  always,  wholly 
misinterpreted.  So  good  a  geographer  and  historian  as  Samuel  G. 
Drake  explained  the  "  Sarratago  river,''  as  "  doubtless  the  Hudson 
river."  It  is,  in  fact,  no  other  than  the  Batten  Kill.  The  proof  of 
this,  and  the  reason  why  Norton,  following  the  usage  of  the  time, 
called  the  stream  "  Sarratago  Eiver,"  as  the  same  much  higher  up  in 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  155 

the  hills  was  also  called  in  Captain  Melvin's  more  famous  "  Journal," 
in  1748,  will  come  forth  into  clear  light  as  we  go  on.  Once  and 
again  and  again  the  present  writer  has  gone  carefully  over  every 
foot  of  ground  covered  by  this  passage,  which  was  the  third  day's 
march  of  the  captives,  and  satistied  himself  by  personal  inspection, 
not  only  as  to  the  exact  spot  of  the  lodging-place  "  between  two 
ponds,"  which  is  the  water-shed  between  the  Hoosac  and  the  Batten 
Kill,  but  also  as  to  the  exact  place  of  their  crossing  the  river,  which 
is  called  to  this  day  "  the  ford."  Their  route  lay  directly  up  Owl 
Kill  on  the  west  side  of  it,  just  as  the  public  road  now  runs  from 
Eagle  Bridge  to  Cambridge,  and  thence  north  along  the  present  road 
to  Salem,  through  what  is  now  Jackson  Center,  and  then,  after  bend- 
ing a  little  to  the  right  between  Long  Pond  and  McLean  Pond,  found 
the  "divide,"  and  there  was  their  camp  for  the  night.  Dead  Pond, 
apparently  without  inlet  or  outlet,  lies  just  upon  the  water-shed. 
Then  from  Big  Pond  (just  north)  there  flows  a  tiny  stream  through 
Little  Pond  to  reach  the  kill  below.  These  are  the  so-called  Jackson 
Ponds.  The  ground  is  low  and  swampy  along  this  little  tributary 
of  the  kill,  and  so  the  Indian  path  turned  to  the  left,  keeping  the 
higher  ground,  and  then  went  through  a  little  pass  between  high 
hills,  and  came  directly  down  to  the  present  ford  over  tlie  Batten 
Kill  at  East  Greenwich.  A  substantial  farmhouse  now  flanks  the 
old  Indian  trail  on  the  west  just  before  the  ford  is  reached.  Much 
narrower  now  are  mountain  streams  than  they  were  140  years  ago, 
and  Norton's  "twenty  rods"  have  shrunk  to  less  than  half  that 
width. 

The  whole  of  what  is  now  Washington  County,  and  the  western 
slopes  of  the  Green  Mountains  adjoining  it,  across  both  of  which  the 
Batten  Kill,  in  a  prevailingly  western  direction,  finds  its  way  to  the 
Hudson,  was  in  the  early  times  Iroquois  Country,  or  the  hunting 
grounds  of  the  Six  Nations.  Lake  Champlain  was  the  "Lake  of 
the  Iroquois."  The  river  Kichelieu  draining  the  lake  into  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  the  territory  on  both  sides  of  the  lake  and  of  its 
outlet,  was  the  mutual  battle-ground  of  the  Mohawks  with  the 
Canada  Indians.  AV rites  Slafter  in  his  "Champlain":  "This  region 
occupied  a  peculiar  relation  to  the  hostile  tribes  on  the  north  and 
those  on  the  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  was  the  battle-field,  or 
war-path,  where  they  had  for  many  generations,  on  each  returning 
summer,  met  in  bloody  conflict.  The  territory  between  these  con- 
tending tribes  was  neutral  ground.  Mutual  fear  had  kept  it  open 
and  uninhabited."  Samuel  Champlain  and  two  French  arquebusiers 
were  the  first  civilized  witnesses  and  partakers  of  one  of  these  con- 


156  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

flicts  in  1609,  between  Mohawks  on  one  side  and  Montagnais  and 
Hurons  and  Algonqiiins  on  the  other,  on  a  spot  since  become  famous 
all  the  world  over,  —  Ticonderoga.  The  path,  therefore,  up  which 
Vaudreuil  led  his  army  and  his  captives  from  the  Hoosac  to  Lake 
Champlain,  was  an  old  Mohawk  war-path,  less  trodden,  it  may  be, 
than  the  great  east  and  west  one  to  which  it  lay  at  right  angles, 
because  the  Six  Nations  usually  went  up  to  their  battles  at  the 
north  by  the  Hudson  and  its  carrying-place  to  Wood  Creek.  Norton 
says,  however,  "  in  something  of  a  path,  and  good  traveling  for  the 
wilderness."  Later,  when  the  Six  Nations  had  dwindled,  they  gave 
over  by  solemn  treaty  to  the  Stockbridge  Indians,  who  were  a  part 
of  the  Mohegans,  with  whom  the  Six  Nations  were  friendly,  these 
hunting  grounds  of  Washington  County  and  western  Vermont. 
Annually  passed  up  from  southern  Berkshire  these  hunting  parties 
of  the  Indians  through  Williamstown  into  these  gameful  forests  at 
the  north,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  add  that  their  alleged  rights  in  the 
lands  w^ere  respected  by  the  whites,  when  these  lands  came  to  be 
settled  and  subdued.  In  possession  of  the  writer  is  the  original 
manuscript  memorandum  drawn  up  at  Bennington,  Nov.  30,  1767, 
with  the  autograph  signatures  appended  of  101  land  owners  in  the 
towns  of  southwestern  Vermont,  which  reads  as  follows :  — 

Whereas  the  Stockbridge  Indian  Tribe,  Col.  Jacobs  and  others,  Challenge 
twelve  or  more  Townships  of  land  Situate  and  being  On  the  West  Line  of  the 
Province  of  New  Hampshire,  as  Chartered  by  Benning  Wentworth  Esq.  Gov- 
ernor of  s<i  Province,  and  the  s^  Indian  Tribe  are  Willing  and  will  be  Ready  On 
the  First  day  of  January  next  to  Treat  with  us  or  any  one  of  us  Respecting 
their  Title,  and  will  at  that  time  Likewise  appoint  a  Meeting  at  which  meeting 
They  will  make  it  Appear  That  They  are  the  Sole  Owners  Thereof  and  have  the 
only  Proper  and  Lawful  Right  to  Sell  and  Convey  the  Same  ;  and  Whereas  we 
the  Subscribers  whose  names  are  hereunto  Perfixed,  being  Willing  and  desirous 
to  make  Sure  to  Ourselves  and  Successors  a  good  and  SuflBcient  title  to  the 
Interests  which  we  now  Possess,  and  to  make  such  Addition  or  Additions 
Thereto  as  Shall  be  Thought  Proper  and  Conducive  to  our  Several  Interests 

,         f  Mr.  Jedidiah  Dewey  ^  „_  ,       ^         ^  t.i    ..  x    m      x 

^y    •{  r^     ^    -T         T^  Do-r^^  Whome  we  depute  and  Elect  to  Treat 

•^      iCapt.  John  Fassett  &  S.  Fay  J  ^ 

with  s<i  tribe  or  Such  of  them  as  will  be  necessary  to  treat  with  In  order  to  ye 

procurement  of  a  proper  title  to  Such  Land  and  Lands  Lying  and  being  as 

afores'd,  In  Consideration  of  all   which  we   Severally  Engage  For  ourselves 

Heirs  Ex'"3  and  Administrators  to  pay  or  Cause  To  be  paid  to  the  s^^  Jedidiah, 

John  or  Stephen  the  Severall  Sum  or  Sums  According  to  our  Proprietorship  As 

will  Appear  by  y^  Charter  afores'd  both  y^  Sum  and  Sums  which  he  or  they  may 

give  for  s^  Land  or  Lands  and  y^  Cost  and  Cost  Necessarily  Arising  by  means  of 

the  Procurement  of  s^i  Title  and  to  pay  Such  Sum  and  Sums  of  money  Unto 

ye  s<i  Jedidiah  John  or  Stephen  at  Such  time  and  times  as  he  or  they  Shall  agree 

with  the  s'l  Tribe  Indian  or  Indians.     Witness  Each  of  our  hands  &c. 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  157 

It  does  one's  eyes  good  to  run  over  these  101  autographs  of  the 
earliest  settlers  of  Pownal  and  Bennington  and  Shaftesbury  and 
Arlington  and  Manchester,  for  they  are  firm  and  strong  and  full  of 
character,  every  one  of  them  legible  after  all  the  foldings  and  unfold- 
ings  of  the  sheet  (written  on  both  sides)  during  the  past  century 
and  a  quarter.  This  paper  was  drawn  up  by  Leonard  Robinson, 
and  signed  also  by  Samuel  and  Moses  and  Silas  Robinson,  all  four 
of  them  sons  of  Captain  Samuel  Robinson,  founder  of  Bennington 
and  father  of  Vermont,  who  died  in  London,  on  business  for  the 
settlement,  two  months  before  this  paper  was  signed;  and  of  the 
rest  of  the  signers,  almost  every  one  was  a  marked  man  in  his  own 
locality,  and  many  of  them  lived  to  distinguish  themselves  in  one 
way  and  another  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  Dewey,  chairman 
of  the  committee  empowered  to  treat  with  the  Stockbridges,  and 
both  his  colleagues,  sign  among  the  very  first.  Perhaps  the  finest 
autograph  of  the  whole  is  that  of  Moses  Robinson,  afterwards  Chief 
Justice,  Governor,  and  United  States  Senator,  of  Vermont.  Seth 
Warner's  autograph  is  here,  and  two  others  of  the  same  family,  all 
spelling  their  name  "  Worner  " ;  and  Scotch-Irish  names,  Breaken- 
ridges,  Stewarts,  Cochrans,  Armstrongs,  Clarks,  and  others  are  min- 
gled in  with  Saffords,  Harwoods,  Pratts,  Rudds,  Harmons,  and 
others.  Now,  this  old  paper  proposing  to  buy  off  Indian  rights  to 
Iroquois  hunting  grounds  in  southern  Vermont  fully  confirms  what 
is  otherwise  known,  namely,  that  an  old  Indian  hunting  trail  branched 
otf  to  the  right  from  the  main  one  leading  north,  u])  which  our  cap- 
tives are  slowly  wending  their  way,  probably  following  up  the 
Batten  Kill  to  its  head  sources  in  the  Green  Mountains. 

But  why  did  Norton  in  1746  and  Melvin  in  1748  call  the  Batten 
Kill  *•  Sarratago  river"?  For  the  first  time  the  means  are  now  at 
hand,  not  only  satisfactorily  to  answer  this  question,  but  also  to 
give  a  succinct  history  of  Fort  Saratoga,  which  gave  birth  to  the 
old  name  of  this  stream,  but  whose  site  and  fate  and  even  name 
have  been  a  confused  uncertainty  for  a  century  past. 

In  the  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  our  modern  word 
"  Saratoga  "  is  spelled  in  nineteen  separate  ways,  Indian  and  Dutch 
and  French  and  English,  and  all  the  different  spellings  are  given  in 
the  index.  Several  distinct  derivations  of  the  word  from  Indian 
roots  have  been  suggested  from  time  to  time,  but  no  one  of  them 
seems  to  be  in  itself  probable,  and  at  any  rate  no  one  of  them  has 
been  generally  accepted.  Perhaps  one  reason  for  this  unsuccessful 
etymological  quest  after  the  origin  of  the  word  may  be  found  in  the 
uncertainties  as  to  the  locality  to  which  it  was  first  affixed  as  a  name. 


158  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

The  earliest  ascertainable  historical  reference  to  a  place  bearing  this 
name  is  found  in  a  Report  of  Governor  Dongan's  to  his  superiors  in 
England  in  the  year  1687,  in  the  course  of  which  he  says :  — 

I  have  done  my  endeavors  and  have  gone  so  far  in  it  that  I  have  prevailed 
with  the  Indians  to  consent  to  come  back  from  Canada  on  condition  that  I  pro- 
cure for  them  a  peece  of  land  called  Serachtague  lying  upon  Hudson's  river 
above  forty  miles  above  Albany  and  there  furnish  them  with  Priests.  There- 
upon and  upon  a  petition  of  the  people  of  Albany  to  mee  setting  forth  the 
reasonableness  and  conveniency  of  granting  to  the  Indians  their  requests  I  have 
procured  the  land  for  them,  altho  it  has  been  formerly  patented  to  people  at 
Albany,  and  have  promised  the  Indians  that  they  shall  have  Priests  and  that  I 
will  build  them  a  church  and  have  assured  the  people  of  Albany  that  I  would 
address  to  his  Majesty  as  to  your  Lordships  that  care  may  be  taken  to  send  over 
by  the  first  Five  or  Six  it  being  a  matter  of  great  consequence. 

This  reference  proves  that  the  place  so  named  abutted  at  least 
upon  the  North  River.  The  next  significant  reference  is  in  Major 
Peter  Schuyler's  journal  of  his  military  expedition  to  Canada  in  1691, 
in  which,  after  mentioning  his  first  day's  march  from  Albany  ^' about 
24  miles,  until  we  came  to  the  still  water  in  the  evening,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  We  marched  to  Saraghtoga,  16  miles  distance."  This  also 
implies  that  the  place  was  on  the  river  bank,  because  Schuyler  was 
on  a  military  march  and  would  naturally  take  the  shortest  route,  and 
because  his  entries  make  it  evident  that  he  did  not  leave  the  river 
till  he  crossed  it  to  reach  Wood  Creek.  Saratoga,  therefore,  was  on 
the  river,  and  on  the  west  bank  of  it. 

A  later  entry  of  Schuyler's  on  this  same  expedition  throws  fur- 
ther light  on  the  locality  in  question.  He  speaks  of  "a  party  of 
80  Mohawks  at  a  Lake  right  over  Saraghtoga."  This  must  mean 
what  we  now  call  Saratoga  Lake,  and  his  phrase  "  right  over  Sar- 
aghtoga," must  mean  "  right  over  "  west  or  back  from  a  place  then 
so  named,  to  a  place  now  so  named. 

The  same  inferences  are  even  more  clearly  drawn  from  the  journal 
of  General  John  Winthrop,  during  a  march  of  Connecticut  soldiers 
up  the  North  River  in  1690.  He  writes,  August  1,  "  Quartered  this 
night  at  a  place  called  the  Still  Water  soe  named  for  that  the  water 
passeth  soe  slowly,  as  not  to  be  discerned,  yet  at  a  little  distance 
both  above  and  below  is  disturbed  and  rageth  as  in  a  great  sea,  occa- 
sioned by  great  rocks  and  great  falls  therein  "  ;  and  August  2,  '•  Quar- 
tered this  night  at  a  place  called  Saratogo,  about  50  English  miles 
from  Albany,  where  is  a  blockhouse  and  some  of  the  Dutch  soldiers." 
King  William's  War,  in  which  both  Schuyler  and  Winthrop  oper- 
ated against  the  French  in  Canada,  was  brought  to  a  close  by  the 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  159 

Peace  of  Ryswick  in  1G97,  and  in  the  interval  between  that  and 
Queen  Anne's  War  there  are  several  notices  of  Saratoga,  of  which 
the  most  significant  dates  from  1698  as  follows  :  "  liegarding  Cher- 
agtoge,  a  post  on  the  Hudson  river,  28  miles  north  of  Halve  Moon, 
I  could  not  get  there,  though  I  had  set  out  for  that  purpose,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  freshet  in  the  rivers  and  other  imj^ediments,  which 
it  was  impossible  for  me  to  surmount.  I  shall  observe,  however, 
with  submission  to  your  Excellency,  that  I  learned,  by  minute 
inquiries  that  I  instituted,  that  the  farms,  which  were  only  seven  in 
number,  as  well  as  the  fort  which  was  built  there  in  Leisler's  time, 
have  been  entirely  ruined  by  the  last  war ;  since  which  time  they 
have  never  been  thought  of,  and  the  settlers  have  never  thought  of 
returning  thither ;  and,  also,  because  the  French  claim  this  country 
as  dej^ndent  on  them,  notwithstanding  we  have  had  possession  of 
it  a  great  many  years.  I  think  it  would  not  be  useless  to  have  a 
small  fort  built  there  of  palisades,  with  a  small  stone  tower  in  the 
centre,  to  maintain  possession,  and  encourage  the  settlers  to  build 
and  take  up  their  residence  there  again." 

When  Queen  Anne^s  War  began  to  threaten  the  colonies,  and 
particularly  New  York,  Lord  Cornbury,  the  Governor,  and  Robert 
Livingston,  the  Patroon,  became  anxious  that  Saratoga  should  be 
fortified  ;  for  the  former  wrote  in  1702  :  — 

I  propose  there  should  be  a  stockadoed  fort  at  Saractoga,  a  place  Six  and 
twenty  miles  above  the  Half  Moon  upon  Hudson's  River,  and  is  the  farthest 
settlement  we  have.  If  a  large  stockadoed  Fort  is  made  there,  it  will  not  only 
secure  our  settlements  there,  but  it  will  be  a  retreat  for  our  Rivers  Indians  upon 
all  occasions,  and  the  charge  will  be  very  little  over  £200,  The  number  of  men 
that,  in  my  opinion,  will  be  necessary  for  the  defence  of  these  places  now,  in 
time  of  "War,  will  be  six  hundred  foot  thus  to  be  disposed  of  :  four  hundred  men 
at  Albany,  a  captain  and  one  hundred  men  at  Schenectady,  forty  men  at  Nus- 
tigione  under  the  command  of  a  Lieuteiiant,  a  Lieutenant  and  thirty  men  at  the 
Half  Moon,  and  a  Lieutenant  and  thirty  men  at  Saractoga,  which  just  makes 
six  hundred  men. 

And  Livingston  wrote  the  next  year  as  follows  :  — 

But  if  the  taking  of  Canada  can  not  be  efifected  next  summer,  then  it  will  be 
highly  requisite  that  the  fronteers  of  Albany  be  better  secured,  and  that  the 
fort  which  my  Lord  Cornbury  has  begim,  be  not  only  compleated  with  all  speed, 
but  that  there  be  a  stone  fort  built  at  Shinnectady  also,  and  Stockadoe  Forts  at 
Nastagione,  Half  Moon,  Sarachtoge,  Skachhooke  and  Kinderhoek,  and  garri- 
soned with  soldiers. 

So  far  all  historical  references  to  Saratoga  have  been  to  a  locality 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson  on  both  sides  of  a  rocky  stream, 


160  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

now  called  Fish  Creek,  striking  the  Hudson  at  right  angles  in  the 
present  village  of  Schuylerville.  On  this  stream,  near  its  mouth, 
the  Schuyler  family,  of  Albany,  built  mills  very  early ;  the  "  seven 
farms,"  already  alluded  to,  were  on  the  banks  of  this  creek.  The 
name  "  Saratoga "  attached  itself  strongly  to  a  straggling  village 
slowly  growing  up  along  the  bank  of  the  river  and  on  the  banks  of 
the  creek ;  and  it  was  here  that  General  Burgoyne  burnt  the  mills 
of  General  Schuyler,  and  finally  surrendered  his  army  to  General 
Gates,  in  1777 ;  all  the  operations  leading  to  which  surrender  are 
often  (though  wrongly)  called  the  battle  of  Saratoga.  But  in  1709, 
in  the  course  of  Queen  Anne's  War,  Colonel  Schuyler,  great-uncle 
to  General  Schuyler,  built  a  stockade  fort  directly  opposite  the 
mouth  of  Fish  Creek  on  a  moderate  elevation  upon  the  east  bank  of 
the  Hudson,  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  present  town  of  Easton, 
Washington  County,  and  this  structure  came  to  be  called  Fort  Sara- 
toga. As  the  great  military  route  to  and  from  Canada  had  hitherto 
been  by  Wood  Creek,  Colonel  Schuyler  seems  to  have  thought  that 
Albany  would  be  better  covered  by  a  fort  here  on  the  east  bank, 
and  another  fort  was  built  the  same  summer  higher  up  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  river  at  "  the  great  carrying-place  "  to  Wood  Creek,  and 
named  Fort  Nicholson,  afterwards  Fort  Edward.  Now  as  Fort 
Saratoga  was  built  and  long  maintained  about  a  mile  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Batten  Kill,  and  quite  in  the  line  east  and  west  of 
the  main  stretches  of  that  stream,  it  is  as  natural  as  can  be  that 
the  stream  itself  came  to  be  known  as  "  Sarratago  Eiver,"  as  both 
Norton  and  Melvin  called  it.  Speaking  generally  for  that  century, 
it  may  be  said,  that  "  Saratoga  "  meant  Fish  Creek  with  the  land 
and  buildings  on  either  side  of  it,  and  "  Fort  Saratoga "  meant  the 
present  Corliss  Hill  and  farm  on  the  eastern  bank  opposite. 

Fort  Saratoga  had  a  most  interesting  history,  which  only  comes 
within  our  beat  incidentally.  We  should  have  known  nothing  of 
its  mode  of  construction,  had  it  not  been  for  the  journey  of  a 
Swedish  naturalist  up  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Hudson  in  1749,  just 
forty  years  after  its  erection.  Peter  Kalm,  in  his  "Travels  in 
North  America,"  writes  as  follows  :  — 

Saratoga  has  been  a  fort  built  of  wood  by  the  English,  to  stop  the  attacks  of 
the  French  Indians  upon  the  English  inhabitants  in  these  parts,  and  to  serve  as 
a  rampart  to  Albany.  It  is  situated  on  a  hill,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river 
Hudson,  and  is  built  of  thick  posts  driven  into  the  gi'ound,  close  to  each  other, 
in  the  manner  of  palisades,  forming  a  square,  the  length  of  whose  sides  was 
within  reach  of  a  musket-shot.  At  each  corner  are  the  houses  of  the  officers, 
and  within  the  palisades  are  the  barracks,  all  of  timber.     This  fort  has  been 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  161 

kept  in  order  and  was  garrisoned  till  the  last  war,  when  the  English  themselves 
set  fire  to  it,  not  being  able  to  defend  themselves  in  it  against  the  attacks  of  the 
French  and  their  Indians  ;  for  as  soon  as  a  party  of  them  went  out  of  the  fort, 
some  of  these  enemies  lay  concealed,  and  either  took  them  all  prisoners,  or  shot 
them.  I  shall  c)nly  mention  one  out  of  many  artful  tricks  which  were  played 
here,  and  which  both  the  English  and  French  who  were  present  here  at  that  time 
told  me  repeatedly.  A  party  of  French,  with  their  Indians,  concealed  them- 
selves one  night  in  a  thicket  near  tlie  fort.  In  the  morning  some  of  their 
Indians,  as  they  liad  previously  resolved,  went  to  have  a  nearer  view  of  the 
fort.  The  English  fired  upon  them,  as  soon  as  they  saw  them  at  a  distance  ;  the 
Indians  pretended  to  be  wounded,  fell  down,  got  up  again,  ran  a  little  way,  and 
dropped  again.  Above  half  the  garrison  rushed  out  to  take  them  prisoners  ;  but 
as  soon  as  they  were  come  up  with  them,  the  French  and  the  remaining  Indians 
came  out  of  the  bushes,  betwixt  the  fortress  and  the  English,  surrounded  them 
and  took  them  prisoners.  Those  who  remained  in  the  fort  had  hardly  time  to 
shut  the  gates,  nor  could  they  fire  upon  the  enemy,  because  they  equally  exposed 
their  countrymen  to  danger,  and  they  were  vexed  to  see  their  enemies  take  and 
carry  them  off  in  their  sight,  and  under  their  cannon.  Such  French  artifices  as 
these  made  the  English  weary  of  their  ill-planned  fort.  We  saw  some  of  the 
palisades  still  in  the  ground.  There  was  an  island  in  the  river,  near  Saratoga, 
much  better  situated  for  a  fortification. 

We  may  probably  estimate  Professor  Kalm's  "  gunshot "  as  forty 
rods,  making  the  stockade  a  square  enclosing  an  acre  of  ground.  In 
1745,  at  the  opening  of  King  George's  War,  another  Colonel  Schuy- 
ler, uncle  of  the  General,  was  engaged  to  strengthen  Fort  Saratoga 
by  building  six  blockhouses  within  the  enclosure  of  the  palisades, — 
a  matter,  as  all  other  matters  connected  with  the  forts  in  that  war, 
causing  endless  wrangling  between  the  Assembly  of  New  York  and 
the  Governor,  George  Clinton  the  elder.  In  November  of  that  year, 
1745,  a  famous  French  partisan  officer,  Marin,  surprised  with  his 
Indians  the  hamlet  of  Saratoga  on  Fish  Creek,  burnt  to  ashes 
twenty  houses  and  an  old  fort  there,  killed  and  scalj^ed  over  thirty 
persons,  and  carried  off  captive  more  than  sixty  i)ersons  besides. 
Just  before  this,  Governor  Clinton  had  sent  up  six  eighteen-pounders 
to  Fort  Saratoga,  which  was  probably  not  then  molested  by  Marin  ; 
and  two  or  three  months  later,  the  New  York  Assembly  voted,  at 
the  instance  of  the  Schuyler  family,  £150  to  further  strengthen 
Fort  Saratoga  by  building  a  new  fort,  which  may  have  been  a  little 
distance  removed  from  the  old  stockade,  or  may  have  been  within  or 
in  some  way  attached  to  tliat.  At  any  rate,  the  new  fort,  which  was 
150x140  feet,  was  named  Fort  Clinton  after  His  Excellency  the 
Governor.  To  finish  here  the  story  of  this  fort,  we  must  anticipate 
a  little  the  main  narrative,  and  say  that  the  same  La  Corne  St.  Luc, 
who  in  August,  1746,  courteously  conducted  John  Norton  as  his  cap- 


162  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

tive  across  "  Sarratago  River,"  in  June,  1747,  conducted  a  remark- 
ably successful  attack  by  French  and  Indians  upon  Fort  Clinton,  on 
whose  walls  were  then  mounted  six  eighteen-pounders  and  six 
twelve-pounders.  It  was  he  who  practised  the  stratagem  on  the 
garrison  as  correctly  related  above  by  Professor  Kalm.  We  will 
condense  La  Corne's  own  account  of  the  attack  and  its  results,  as  it 
is  preserved  in  the  Paris  documents,  and  as  it  is  confirmed  in  all 
essential  respects  from  English  sources  also. 

La  Corne,  with  two  subordinate  officers,  about  twenty  Frenchmen, 
and  200  Indians  of  different  nations,  started  from  Crown  Point  at 
midnight,  June  23,  1747,  "  for  Sarratau,  to  endeavor  to  find  a  good 
opportunity  to  strike  some  good  blow  on  the  English  or  Dutch  gar- 
rison at  Fort  Klincton,  as  they  call  it."  They  crossed  over  the 
Hudson  to  the  west  side,  and  sent  on  a  scout  of  eight  to  see  what 
was  going  on  at  the  fort.  These  reported  ^'  that  some  forty  or  fifty 
English  were  fishing  in  a  little  river  [Fish  Creek]  which  falls  into 
that  of  Orange  [the  Hudson]  on  this  side  the  fort."  "  I  sent  St.  Ours 
to  see  where  the  river  could  be  crossed,  and  to  watch  the  movements 
of  the  fort.  He  returned  to  say  that  he  had  found  a  good  place,  and 
that  several  Englishmen  were  out  walking."  The  next  day  the 
whole  force  crossed  over  to  the  east  side  half  a  league  above  the 
fort,  although  the  Abenaki  Indians  were  opposed  to  it,  doubtless 
because  they  were  afraid  of  the  mounted  cannon,  as  all  Indians 
always  were.  La  Corne  promised  to  give  his  gun,  which  was  a 
double  barrel,  to  the  first  man  who  should  take  a  prisoner. 

Waited  all  day  to  see  if  any  person  would  come  out.  Made  a  feint,  to  induce 
them  to  come  out.  Demanded  of  the  chiefs  six  of  their  swiftest  and  bravest 
men,  commanded  them  to  lie  in  ambush  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  within  eight 
paces  of  the  fort,  at  daybreak,  to  fire  on  those  who  should  come  out  of  the  fort, 
and  to  try  and  take  a  scalp,  and  if  the  fort  returned  their  fire  to  pretend  to  be 
wounded,  and  to  exhibit  some  difficulty  in  getting  off,  so  as  to  induce  the  enemy 
to  leave  the  fort.  Those  who  lay  in  ambush  fired  on  two  Englishmen,  who 
came  out  of  the  fort  at  break  of  day  on  the  thirtieth  [June],  and  who  came 
towards  them.  The  fort  made  a  movement  to  come  against  our  scouts,  who 
withdrew.  About  a  hundred  and  twenty  men  came  out  in  order  of  battle,  headed 
by  two  lieutenants  and  four  or  five  other  officers.  They  made  towards  our  people, 
in  order  to  get  nearer  to  them  by  making  a  wheel.  They  halted  at  the  spot  where 
our  scouts  had  abandoned  one  of  their  muskets  and  a  tomahawk.  Sieur  de  St. 
Luc  arose  and  discharged  his  piece,  crying  to  all  his  men  to  fire  ;  some  did  so,  and 
the  enemy  fired  back,  and  the  fort  let  fly  some  grape,  which  spread  consterna- 
tion among  the  Indians  and  Canadians,  as  it  was  followed  by  two  other  dis- 
charges of  cannon  ball.  Our  men  then  rushed  on  them,  and  routed  the  enemy, 
whom  they  pursued  within  thirty  toises  of  the  fort  fighting.  Some  threw  them- 
selves into  the  river  and  were  killed  by  blows  of  the  hatchet,  and  by  gun  shots. 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  163 

Forty-five  prisoners  were  taken  and  twenty -eight  scalps.  The  number  of  those 
drowned  could  not  be  ascertained.  One  lieutenant,  who  commanded,  with  four 
or  five  other  officers,  was  killed,  and  one  lieutenant  was  taken  prisoner.  About 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  as  well  as  they  could  judge,  came  out  of  the  fort, 
without  daring  to  advance.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  or  thirty  who  might 
have  been  in  the  sortie  from  the  fort,  some  twenty  or  twenty-five  only  appear  to 
have  re-entered  it.  The  fort  might  be  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  by  one 
hundred  wide,  with  six  wooden  redoubts  for  barracks  ;  four  in  the  angles  of  the 
fort  and  two  in  the  centre  of  the  two  main  curtains,  which  have  been  protracted 
to  enlarge  the  fort  that  was  one  half  too  small  when  it  was  first  visited  by  Sieur 
Marin ;  but  exi)eriencing  such  harassing  from  the  French  and  Indians,  they 
apprehended  some  new  attacks  from  us ;  however,  it  had  not  been  rabbeted 
when  M.  Marin  was  there. 

This  frightful  mishap  in  June,  together  with  perpetual  misunder- 
standings and  bickerings  with  his  Assembly,  led  Governor  Clinton 
in  November  to  order  the  abandonment  and  the  burning  of  Fort 
Saratoga.  The  cannon  were  taken  back  to  Albany.  When  Professor 
Kalm  was  on  the  spot  about  eighteen  months  later,  apparently  all 
that  he  saw,  at  any  rate  all  that  he  mentioned,  were  some  of  the  old 
palisades  of  1709  still  standing,  that  had  naturally  enough  escaped 
the  fire  that  destroyed  Fort  Clinton.  In  the  course  of  a  century 
tradition  had  nearly,  if  not  entirely,  lost  trace  of  the  fort,  of  its  site, 
and  even  of  its  name,  which  was  usually  transferred  over  to  Fish 
Creek,  when  Asa  Fitch,  an  antiquarian  whose  dwelling  was  on  the 
Batten  Kill,  reascertained  from  Kalm  that  the  fort  was  on  the  east- 
ern bank  of  the  river,  and  published  the  fact  in  one  of  the  volumes  of 
the  "  New  York  Agriculture,"  that  it  was  located  about  a  mile  south 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Batten  Kill.  Whether  he  ever  visited  and  more 
definitely  determined  its  site,  does  not  now  appear.  In  1886,  in 
company  with  his  friend,  Isaac  Collins,  the  present  writer  studied 
in  detail  upon  the  spot  the  probable  location  of  Fort  Saratoga.  He 
satisfied  himself  beyond  any  reasonable  doubt  that  the  site  of  the 
fort  was  on  the  ground  now  occupied  by  the  two  houses  and  farm 
buildings  of  the  Corliss  family,  where  there  is  just  about  an  acre  of 
comparatively  level  land,  right  upon  the  bank  of  the  river,  as  La 
Corne's  description  makes  necessary,  though  lifted  decidedly  above 
it,  as  Kalm's  term  "hill"  makes  necessary;  while  the  crowning 
evidence  was  discovered  by  him  with  the  assistance  of  a  venerable 
lady  who  had  spent  her  life  upon  the  little  plateau,  in  indubitable 
traces  of  a  very  old  road,  coming  up  from  the  river's  brink  and  just 
skirting  the  edge  of  the  level,  and  passing  on  east  towards  and  into 
the  road  to  Galesville  and  Greenwich  and  Cambridge,  where  we 
know  there  was  a  Revolutionary  road,  along  which  Baum's  soldiers 


164  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

crossing  the  river  at  Schuylerville  made  their  way  to  the  battle-field 
of  Bennington.  Trees  larger  round  than  a  large  man's  body  were 
growing  in  the  very  bed  of  this  old  road  up  the  bank,  depressed,  as 
such  roads  always  are,  below  the  general  level  of  the  ground.  Up  this 
old  road,  beyond  a  question,  were  dragged  from  the  landing  Clinton's 
eighteen-pounders  and  twelve-pounders  to  mount  upon  the  walls  of 
his  fort  above;  and  up  this  old  road,  equally  beyond  a  question, 
were  dragged  from  the  same  landing  the  four  brass  cannon  by  the 
Hessians,  that  played  their  part  in  the  battle  of  Bennington. 

The  exact  relations  of  Fort  Clinton  to  old  Fort  Saratoga  will 
perhaps  never  be  determined.  La  Corne's  references  to  the  enlarge- 
ment of  Fort  Clinton  after  Marin's  first  visit  there,  and  to  the  fact 
that  it  was  not  "  rabbeted  '^  when  Marin  was  there,  are  enigmatical, 
though  the  probabilities  are  very  strong  that  Clinton  was  set  up 
within  or  very  near  the  palisades  of  old  Saratoga ;  because  a  French 
detachment  sent  out  from  Crown  Point  at  the  end  of  November, 
coming  into  the  neighborhood  and  hearing  that  the  fort  had  been 
burnt,  visited  the  spot  to  verify  the  fact,  judged  that  three  weeks 
had  passed  since  the  burning,  and  reported  that  twenty  chimneys 
were  left  standing,  that  some  small  grenades  and  a  twelve-pound 
shot  had  not  been  removed,  that  the  well  had  been  infected,  that, 
judging  by  the  marks  of  the  wheels,  the  caston  had  been  removed, 
and  that  from  the  ground  occupied  at  the  landing  by  the  batteaux, 
there  might  have  been  ninety  of  these.  Now  twenty  chimneys  are 
a  preposterous  number  for  one  small  fort,  with  only  "six  wooden 
redoubts  for  barracks";  the  rest  of  the  chimneys  must  have  belonged 
to  some  or  all  of  the  six  blockhouses  ordered  to  be  built  within  the 
enclosure  of  the  old  palisades.  The  chimneys  of  Clinton  were  evi- 
dently not  distinguishable  from  the  other  chimneys  left  standing 
after  the  burning  of  the  fort;  and,  therefore,  Clinton  must  have 
been  a  part  of  old  Fort  Saratoga. 

The  news  of  the  destruction,  by  Ncav  York  authority,  of  the  Sara- 
toga fort  was  bad  news  indeed  to  the  whole  colony  of  Massachusetts. 
Their  entire  frontier  towards  the  northwest  was  now  uncovered  to 
hostile  incursions  of  French  and  Indians.  Fort  Massachusetts  had 
been  rebuilt  in  the  spring  of  1747,  as  we  shall  shortly  learn  in  detail, 
and  mutual  arrangements  were  sought  to  be  entered  into  in  July 
between  the  two  colonies  as  represented  by  Governor  Shirley  and 
Governor  Clinton,  by  which  a  hundred  men  should  be  kept  con- 
stantly on  the  scout  between  Forts  Massachusetts  and  Saratoga.  It 
was  not  without  bitterness,  therefore,  and  a  sense  of  needless  and 
pitiless  exposure  that  Massachusetts  learned,  late  in  the  autumn,  of 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  165 

the  voluntary  destruction  of  their  only  barrier  towards  the  north- 
west against  Crown  Point  and  Canada. 

We  must  now  return  both  in  time  and  place  from  this  long  but 
not  profitless  digression,  to  Norton's  narrative  and  our  poor  captives 
toiling  northward. 

LonVs  day,  24.  — This  day  we  set  out  in  the  morning  and  came  to  Sarratago 
river,  crossed  it,  and  came  to  our  company,  which  had  been  before  us.  Here 
we  came  to  a  rich  piece  of  meadow  ground  and  travelled  in  it  about  five  miles. 
We  had  good  travelling  this  day.  We  crossed  several  pieces  of  good  meadow 
land.  We  went  about  eighteen  miles.  John  Terry's  wife  performed  this  day's 
journey  without  help  from  any.  Our  sick  and  feeble  persons  were  remarkably 
preserved  to-day  ;  for  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  there  fell  a  very  heavy 
shower  of  rain,  which  wet  us  through  all  our  clothes.  Mrs.  Smead  was  as  wet 
as  any  of  us,  and  it  being  the  third  day  after  her  delivery,  we  were  concerned 
about  the  event ;  but  through  the  good  Providence  of  God  she  never  perceived 
any  harm  by  it,  nor  did  any  other  person  but  Miriam,  the  wife  of  Moses  Scott, 
who  hereby  catched  a  grievous  cold.  This  night  we  lodged  in  a  meadow,  where 
was  a  run  of  water,  which  makes  a  part  of  Wood  Creek. 

Mr.  Norton  kept  a  good  eye  on  all  the  members  of  his  peeled 
and  scattered  flock,  but  he  did  not  know  all  that  was  going  on  among 
the  French  and  Indians,  his  companions.  He  reports  when  they  all 
were  south  of  the  Batten  Kill,  that  there  was  a  considerable  ruffle 
among  them,  on  discovering  the  tracks  of  a  scout  from  Saratoga,  as 
if  there  might  be  an  army  after  them.  On  the  other  hand,  Vaudreuil 
reports  to  his  suj^eriors  in  Quebec,  that  he  detached  a  party  of  Abena- 
kis  to  proceed  towards  Fort  Saratoga,  that  they  met  seventeen  sol- 
diers belonging  to  the  fort,  took  four  of  them  and  scalped  four  others, 
and  that  the  rest,  pursued  by  the  Indians,  who  killed  some  o^  them, 
threw  themselves  precipitately  into  the  fort.  Vaudreuil  also  reported 
in  the  same  connection  the  success  of  about  thirty  Abenakis,  detached 
by  him  immediately  after  the  taking  of  Fort  Massachusetts  to  go  to 
Beertield,  who  took,  he  said,  five  or  six  scalps.  This  was  the  Bars 
Fight  in  Deerfield,  in  which  five  persons  were  killed,  one  wounded, 
and  one  taken  captive ;  two  of  the  Indians  were  killed  also.  The 
fourth  day's  journey  of  the  captives  was  the  longest  yet  made  by 
them,  —  eighteen  miles.  It  is  easy  to  trace  the  path  on  the  spot,  or 
even  by  a  good  map,  such  as  Fitch's  map  of  Washington  County. 
It  ran  nearly  due  north  from  the  Batten  Kill  up  on  the  west  side  of 
McNob's  Lake,  where  the  present  road  runs  to  the  little  hamlet  of 
Lakeville,  and  then  up  on  the  west  side  of  the  large  and  beautiful 
Cossayuna  Lake,  where  there  is  no  road  at  present,  but  are  still  "  the 
several  pieces  of  good  meadow  land,"  and  thence  between  the  hills 
of  the  present  town  of  Argyle  up  into  the  more  open  land  of  the 


166  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

town  of  Hartford,  and  still  up  to  the  lodging-place  for  the  night, 
"  where  was  a  run  of  water  which  makes  a  part  of  Wood  Creek,"  that 
is  to  say.  Mud  Creek,  so-called,  which  is  a  branch  of  East  Creek, 
which  itself  falls  into  Wood  Creek,  near  Smith's  Basin,  on  the 
present  Champlain  Canal.  All  the  geographical  notes  in  this  part 
of  Drake's  "  French  and  Indian  War  "  are  utterly  wide  of  the  mark. 
There  are  no  such  streams  and  branches  as  those  copiously  referred 
to  in  notes  on  pages  266  and  267. 

Monday,  25.  —  This  morning  we  set  out  and  travelled  about  eleven  miles. 
We  had  something  rough  travelling  to-day.  We  quickly  left  the  small  stream  we 
lodged  by  at  our  right  hand  to  the  east  of  us,  and  travelling  a  few  miles  over 
some  small  hills  and  ledges,  came  to  a  stream  running  from  east  to  west,  about 
two  or  three  rods  in  width,  and  about  two  feet  deep.  We  crossed  it  our  general 
course  being  north.  We  travelled  about  two  or  three  miles  farther  and  came  to 
a  stream  running  from  southwest  to  northeast,  about  six  rods  in  width,  which 
we  crossed.  And  this  stream  (which  we  suppose  to  be  Wood  Creek)  according 
to  the  best  of  my  remembrance,  and  according  to  the  short  minute  that  I  made 
of  this  day's  travel,  we  left  at  the  right  hand  to  the  east  of  us ;  but  Sergeant 
Hawks  thinks  I  am  mistaken,  and  that  we  crossed  it  again,  and  left  it  at  the  left 
hand  west  of  us.  I  won't  be  certain,  but  I  cannot  persuade  myself  that  I  am 
mistaken.  The  French  and  Indians  helping  our  feeble  people,  we  all  arrived 
well  at  our  camp,  which  was  by  a  couple  of  ponds.  Some  few  who  were 
before  us  went  to  the  drowned  land. 

This  day's  journey  was  the  fifth  from  Fort  Massachusetts,  and 
the  last  performed  wholly  by  land.  Its  topographical  notices  are 
extremely  interesting,  and  enable  one  to  follow  the  path  with  abso- 
lute certainty.  Norton  was  mistaken,  and  Hawks  was  certainly 
right,  in  the  little  matter  of  geography  in  dispute  between  them. 
In  the  morning's  start  they  left  Mud  Creek  to  the  right,  and  still 
bearing  northeast,  they  passed  aver  some  small  slate  hills  and  ledges 
in  the  modern  town  of  Granville,  and  soon  struck  the  Pawlet  Eiver 
in  the  present  village  of  North  Granville.  The  river  runs  here  from 
east  to  west  just  as  the  Chaplain  describes  it,  and  they  crossed  it  in 
a  due  northerly  course.  Two  or  three  miles  further  they  came  to 
the  same  stream  again  in  Guilder's  Hollow,  where  it  was  then,  and 
is  still,  nearly  double  the  width  it  has  at  North  Granville,  partly 
because  it  was  lower  down  in  its  course,  and  partly  because  it  was 
shallower  there.  It  has  a  course  there  from  southwest  to  northeast. 
But  the  straight  and  best  way  to  their  night's  camping -place  at  what 
is  now  East  Whitehall,  led  them  to  cross  the  same  stream  the  third 
time,  and  then  to  leave  it  on  the  west,  just  as  Hawks  said  they  did. 
The  good  Chaplain  made  his  "  minute  "  too  soon,  or  else  a  bit  care- 
lessly, for   after  the  second  crossing  it  would  have  been  simply 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  167 

impossible  for  him  to  reach  his  niglit's  lodging  on  the  hillside  with- 
out crossing  the  third  time  also.  Hawks,  too,  kept  a  careful  journal 
of  the  captivity,  which  was  extant  well  into  this  century,  but  never 
printed,  and  long  ago  disappeared.  Both  journalists  alike  supposed 
the  stream  they  crossed  to  be  Wood  Creek,  while  it  was  in  reality 
the  east  branch  of  that  historic  stream,  uniting  with  it  a  mile  or  so 
south  of  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain,  and  contributing,  perhaps,  as 
much  water  to  that  short  stretch  of  stream  as  its  far  more  famous 
fellow  of  the  west.  The  Indians  called  the  Pawlet  River  Mettoicee, 
a  beautiful  name,  which  ought  forever  to  supersede  the  more  prosaic 
one,  especially  as  it  takes  its  rise  in  Dorset  and  not  in  Pawlet, 
through  which  indeed  it  flows. 

The  camp  at  the  close  of  the  last  day's  march  was  near  to  what  is 
now  East  Whitehall,  and  "  Herbert's  Pond,"  so-named,  is  with  very 
little  question  one  of  the  "  couple  of  ponds  "  by  which  they  slei)t, 
and  there  is  at  the  present  time  a  considerable  peat  bog  close  by 
Herbert's,  which  may  well  have  been  the  other  of  the  two  jionds. 
If  any  wonder  why  Vaudreuil  led  his  force  so  far  to  the  eastward 
of  his  objective,  namely,  the  place  where  his  boats  had  been  left 
two  weeks  before  in  the  mouth  of  the  Poultney  River,  or  East  Bay, 
as  it  used  to  be  called,  just  before  its  junction  with  Wood  Creek 
and  the  united  entrance  into  Lake  Champlain,  the  ready  answer  is 
found  in  Norton's  repeated  reference  to  the  "drowned  lands."  All 
around  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain,  both  up  the  East  Bay  and  also 
up  Wood  Creek  for  considerable  distances,  were  low  and  swampy 
lands,  liable  to  be  overflowed,  and  such  as  the  old  Indian  trails  were 
always  sure  to  avoid,  when  possible;  by  leaving  the  Mettowee  at 
the  west,  and  skirting  along  the  highlands  to  the  east,  they  found 
dry  ground  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  though  the  distance  was 
decidedly  greater,  the  going  was  decidedly  better. 

Tuesday,  26.  — This  day  we  took  our  journey.  Our  course  in  the  morning 
something  west  of  north.  In  travelling  about  three  or  four  miles  we  came  to  a 
mountain,  a  steep  ascent  about  eighty  or  one  hundred  rods,  but  not  rocky. 
After  we  passed  this  mountain  our  course  was  about  west,  five  or  six  miles,  till 
we  came  to  the  drowned  lands.  When  we  came  to  the  canoes,  the  stream  ran 
from  northeast  to  southwest.  We  embarked  about  two  o'clock  ;  the  stream 
quickly  turned  and  ran  to  the  north.  We  sailed  about  eighteen  or  twenty  miles 
that  night,  and  encamped  on  the  east  side  of  the  water. 

The  writer  has  twice  been  over  on  foot  the  ground  of  this  last 
morning's  tramp  of  the  captives.  The  present  public  road  from 
East  Whitehall  to  Whitehall  undoubtedly  follows  in  general  the  foot- 
steps of  General  Vaudreuil.     The  old  path,  however,  turned  to  the 


168  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

right  from  the  present  lay  of  that  road  a  mile  or  more  from  the 
town,  along  a  little  lift  of  higher  ground  down  to  the  place  (or  near 
it)  where  there  is  now  a  bridge  over  the  Poultney  River,  or  East 
Bay,  and  where  "the  stream  ran  from  northeast  to  southwest." 
There  most  of  the  canoes  had  been  deposited  a  fortnight  before. 
The  crowd  embarked  without  ceremony,  the  stream  quickly  turned 
to  the  north,  they  rowed  with  the  current  the  afternoon  and  evening, 
and  encamped  that  night  in  what  is  now  Benson,  Vermont,  and, 
perhaps,  at  what  is  now  Benson  Landing. 

Wednesday^  27.  — We  embarked  about  nine  o'clock,  and  sailed  to  Crown 
Point,  something  better  than  twenty  miles.  Some  of  the  army  went  in  the 
night  before,  and  some  before  the  body  of  the  army.  The  sails  were  pulled 
down,  and  the  canoes  brought  up  abreast,  and  passed  by  the  fort  over  to  the 
northeast  point,  saluting  the  fort  with  three  volleys,  as  we  passed  by  it,  the 
fort  returning  the  salute  by  the  discharge  of  the  cannon.  This  was  about  twelve 
o'clock.  Here  we  tarried  till  the  4th  of  September.  I  lodged  in  an  house  on 
the  northeast  point.  We  all  arrived  better  in  health  than  when  we  were  first 
taken. 

Lakes  George  and  Champlain  with  their  inlets  are,  of  course, 
within  the  basin  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  formed  the  only  natural 
route  between  the  colonies  and  Canada  for  all  their  traffic  in  time 
of  peace,  and  their  military  expeditions  back  and  forth  in  war-time. 
The  shores  had  been  a  sort  of  neutral  ground  as  between  French  and 
English  ever  after  King  William's  War.  After  the  Peace  of  Utrecht, 
in  1713,  the  hostile  feeling  between  the  two  subsided  a  good  deal, 
especially  in  Europe ;  and  Crown  Point,  a  bold  northerly  projection 
from  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Champlain,  about  seventy-five  miles 
north  of  Albany,  became  quite  an  important  trading-station  as 
between  the  English  of  New  York  and  the  northern  Indians  of 
Canada  until  1731,  when  the  Erench  authorities  at  Montreal  sent  a 
party  to  occupy  Crown  Point,  and  soon  built  a  fort  there  and  made 
a  settlement  also  on  the  east  side  of  the  water,  at  a  place  now  called 
Chimney  Point.  This  movement  of  the  French  startled  both  New 
York  and  New  England.  The  Assembly  of  the  former  resolved  that 
"  this  encroachment,  if  not  prevented,  would  prove  of  the  most  per- 
nicious consequence  to  this  and  other  colonies."  They  sent  formal 
notice  of  the  intrusion  to  Pennsylvania,  Connecticut,  and  Massachu- 
setts, and  applied  for  aid  to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations  in 
England.  That  body  supported  their  complaints,  but  Robert  Wal- 
pole,  the  Minister,  counselled  peace,  and  the  French  quietly  occupied 
both  shores  of  the  lake  at  that  point.  They  called  their  military 
work  there  Fort  St.  Frederic,  which  remained  in  their  hands  a  sharp 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  169 

and  constant  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  English  throughout  two  succes- 
sive wars,  until,  in  17o9,  the  year  of  the  capture  of  Quebec,  a  large 
English  force,  under  General  Amherst,  pushing  on  towards  a  junction 
with  General  Wolfe,  comj^elled  the  garrison  there  to  unite  with  that 
just  ousted  from  Ticonderoga  in  a  common  flight  down  the  lake  to 
its  outlet.     Crown  Point  is  twelve  miles  below  Ticonderoga. 

At  the  time  of  this  enforced  visit  to  Crown  Point  by  Chaplain 
Norton  in  1746,  Fort  St.  Frederic  was  at  the  height  of  its  military 
strength  and  political  domination.  Next  to  Quebec,  it  was  the 
strongest  post  in  New  France.  It  had  grown  from  a  wooden  stock- 
ade, authorized  to  be  erected  by  the  French  king  on  the  8th  of  May, 
1731,  cai)able  of  accommodating  a  garrison  of  thirty  men  only,  to  a 
strong  fortress  built  of  limestone,  with  a  tower  of  three  stories, 
bomb-proof,  capable  in  1731  of  holding  120  men  in  garrison,  and 
subsecpiently  strengthened  and  enlarged,  containing  within  its  walls 
a  small  chapel,  whose  vesper  bell  called  to  their  evening  prayers  the 
scarred  veteran  of  France,  and  the  voluble  Canadian,  and  the  rude 
husbandman  whose  hut  stood  outside  the  fort.  The  very  northern- 
most point  of  the  cape  was  occupied  by  this  impressive  fortification, 
from  which  the  shore  falls  back  a  little  on  both  sides,  eastward  to 
the  deep  channel  of  the  lake,  and  w^estward  to  a  broad  bay  of  back 
water  constituting  the  cape  on  that  side.  This  position  explains  the 
ceremony  of  the  salute  described  by  the  good  Chaplain  here.  Vau- 
dreuil's  boats  had  already  passed  in  the  channel  of  the  lake  the 
northeast  point,  where  stood  a  stone  windmill,  serving  also  the  pur- 
poses of  a  redoubt,  and  where  there  were  also  one  or  more  good 
houses ;  but  the  main  fort  must  be  first  saluted,  and  so  "  the  sails 
were  pulled  down,  and  the  canoes  brought  up  abreast,  and  passed  by 
the  fort  over  to  the  northeast  point,  saluting  the  fort  with  three 
volleys  as  we  passed  by  it,  the  fort  returning  the  salute  by  the  dis- 
charge of  the  cannon."  The  Chaplain  was  lodged  with  his  custodian, 
M.  Demuy,  "  in  a  house  on  the  northeast  point,"  where,  evidently, 
the  best  quarters  were  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  fort.  The  laud  is 
high  and  dry  there. 

Thursday,  28.  — This  day  I  was  invited  by  Monsieur  Demuy  to  go  over  and 
see  the  fort,  whicli  I  did.  It  is  something  an  irregular  form,  having  five  sides 
to  it ;  the  ramparts  twenty  feet  thick,  the  breastwork  two  feet  and  a  half,  the 
whole  about  twenty  feet  hi.sh.  There  were  twenty-one  or  twenty-two  guns 
upon  the  wall,  some  four  and  six  pounders,  and  there  may  be  some  as  large  as 
nine  pounders.  The  citadel,  an  octagon,  built  three  stories  high,  fifty  or  sixty 
feet  diameter,  built  with  stone  laid  in  lime,  the  wall  six  or  seven  feet  thick, 
arched  over  the  second  and  third  stories  for  bomb-proof.     In  the  chambers  nine 


170  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

or  ten  guns  ;  some  of  them  may  be  nine  pounders,  and  I  believe  none  less  than 
six,  and  near  twenty  patararoes.  But  as  my  time  was  short,  I  cannot  be  very 
particular.  They  have  stores  of  small  arms,  as  blunderbusses,  pistols,  and 
muskets.     This  night  proved  very  cold  and  stormy. 

This  detailed  description  of  Fort  St.  Frederic  is  the  earliest  in 
point  of  time  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  any  quarter.  The 
French  officers  were  doubtless  very  glad  to  exhibit  the  great  strength 
of  the  work  to  Norton  and  Hawks,  in  order  that  they  might  report 
the  same  to  their  constituent,  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  which 
then  and  afterwards  had  a  deep  interest  in  its  construction  and 
approaches.  Very  fortunately,  we  have  a  parallel  and  independent 
account  of  the  fort  from  the  pen  of  the  celebrated  Swedish  traveller, 
Peter  Kalm,  written  three  years  later  than  Norton's,  namely,  in  1749. 

Fort  St.  Frederic  is  built  on  a  rock  consisting  of  black  line  slates,  and  is 
nearly  quadrangular,  has  high  and  thick  walls,  made  of  the  same  limestone,  of 
which  there  is  a  quarry  about  half  a  mile  from  the  fort.  On  the  eastern  part 
of  the  fort  is  a  high  tower,  which  is  proof  against  bomb  shells,  provided  with 
very  thick  and  substantial  walls,  and  well  stored  with  cannon  from  the  bottom 
almost  to  the  very  top,  and  the  governor  lives  in  the  tower.  In  the  terre  plaine 
of  the  fort  is  a  well-built  little  church  and  houses  of  stone  for  the  officers  and 
soldiers.  There  are  sharp  rocks  on  all  sides  towards  the  land  beyond  cannon- 
shot  from  the  fort,  but  among  them  are  some  which  are  as  high  as  the  walls  of 
the  fort  and  very  near  them.  Within  one  or  two  musket-shots  to  the  east  of 
the  fort  is  a  windmill,  built  of  stone,  with  very  thick  walls,  and  most  of  the 
flour,  which  is  wanted  to  supply  the  fort,  is  ground  here.  This  windmill  is  so 
constructed  as  to  serve  the  purpose  of  a  redoubt,  and.  at  the  top  of  it  are  five  or 
six  small  pieces  of  cannon. 

July  6,  1889,  a  beautiful  and  memorable  day,  the  writer  spent 
alone  on  the  Point  in  critically  examining  the  present  ruins  of  the 
fort  St.  Frederic  in  its  two  parts,  the  main  and  the  windmill  redoubt 
on  the  northeast  point  "within  one  or  two  musket-shots  of  the  fort." 
The  circular  redoubt,  on  which  the  windmill  stood,  was  so  firmly 
and  scientifically  built  that  the  United  States  had  no  occasion  to 
stir  a  stone  of  the  exterior  construction,  when,  one  hundred  and 
forty  years  after  the  French  engineer  laid  it  out,  a  national  light- 
house was  built  up  in  the  centre  of  it,  exactly  where  the  windmill 
stood.  The  modern  engineer  indeed  dug  deep  within  and  erected 
a  structure  that  looks  as  if  it  would  last  forever,  but  it  will  not 
probably  outlast  the  far  older  circular  rim  that  encloses  it. 

The  ruins  of  the  proper  fort,  perhaps  fifty  rods  to  the  westward  of 
the  lighthouse,  show  the  thorough  work  of  the  French  in  destruc- 
tion, as  well  as  in  original  construction.  In  July,  1759,  General 
Amherst,  having  captured  Ticonderoga,  sent  forward  immediately 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  171 

200  of  Rogers'  Rangers  to  examine  the  jwsition  of  the  French  at 
Crown  Point,  with  orders  to  seize  and  hokl,  at  all  hazards,  some 
strong  post  near  the  fort.  But  before  the  Rangers  could  reach  their 
objective,  the  French  had  utterly  destroyed  their  fort,  burned  all 
their  surrounding  settlements,  and  joined  the  retreating  garrison  of 
Ticonderoga  in  a  common  dropping  down  the  lake  to  Isle  aux  Noix. 
The  glory  of  Fort  St.  Frederic  was  gone  forever. 

With  the  clear  and  complementary  accounts  of  Norton  and  Kalm 
in  one's  hand,  however,  it  is  not  difficult  on  the  spot  to  reconstruct 
in  the  mind's  eye  the  old  fortress  in  its  general  features.  Portions 
of  the  tower  still  frown  over  the  lower  desolations  of  rampart  and 
barrack  and  chapel.  It  does  not  look  as  if  many  of  the  scattered 
stones  had  ever  been  carried  away ;  and  there  can  be  but  little 
doubt  that  thorough  excavations  there  would  reveal  the  breast- 
work nearly  entire,  the  foundation-walls,  at  least,  of  the  chapel  and 
barracks,  something  of  the  magazine,  and  perhaps  other  parts  and 
piles  ostentatiously  shown  to  Norton.  In  less  than  a  week  after 
the  departure  of  the  French,  Amherst  reached  Crown  Point  with 
his  large  army  of  11,000  men,  and  immediately  traced  out  the  lines 
of  a  new  fort  about  200  yards  west  of  the  site  of  St.  Frederic.  He 
had  no  need  to  meddle  with  materials  already  accursed  by  Gallic 
and  papistic  hands,  however  accessible  they  were ;  for  the  lime- 
stone was  abundant  there  even  above  ground,  and  he  cut  a  broad 
ditch  entirely  around  his  fort  out  of  the  solid  rock,  and  used  the 
fragments  taken  out  to  construct  the  massive  barracks  that  are  still 
standing,  as  impressive  in  their  lofty  desolation  as  the  prostrate 
ruins  of  St.  Frederic.  The  whole  circuit  of  Amherst's  fort,  meas- 
uring along  the  ramparts,  was  a  trifle  less  than  half  a  mile,  or,  to 
be  exact,  2559  feet.  The  ramparts  were  about  twenty-five  feet 
thick,  and  nearly  the  same  in  height,  and  were  built  of  solid 
masonry,  the  lime  having  been  burnt  on  the  spot.  The  curtains 
varied  in  length  from  fifty-two  to  100  yards;  and  in  the  century  and 
a  third  since  the  fort  was  built  and  abandoned, — for  the  conquest  of 
Quebec  and  Montreal  the  next  year  put  an  end  to  New  France  and 
made  useless  the  fortress,  — the  grass  has  grown  over  the  rampart 
and  its  bastions,  and  made  of  portions  of  their  summit  a  i)leasant 
promenade.  The  gate,  as  usual,  was  in  the  north  wall ;  and  from 
the  northeast  bastion  was  a  covered  way,  still  clearly  traceable, 
leading  down  to  the  water.  The  well  within  the  works  was  ninety 
feet  deep,  eight  feet  in  diameter,  cut  down  with  enormous  labor  into 
the  solid  limestone.  The  fort  was  never  wholly  completed,  but  it  is 
said  to  have  cost  the  English  government  about  £2,000,000  sterling. 


172  ORIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

There  is  at  present  but  a  single  house  upon  the  Point.  Nor  is 
there  another  on  the  cape  in  sight,  from  the  ramparts  of  the  fort. 
The  farmer  who  occupies  the  house  and  owns  the  land  enclosing 
the  old  forts,  is,  curiously  enough,  a  Frenchman,  hospitable  to  the 
occasional  stranger  who  visits  the  Point  out  of  historic  curiosity, 
though  his  wife  is  an  American  woman,  and  his  daughters  (as 
befits  the  local  succession  of  events)  speak  only  English,  attending 
school  at  Port  Henry  on  the  west  side  of  the  bay.  His  cattle 
graze  at  will  within  and  without  the  enclosures  of  Amherst's  fort, 
and  are  estopped  from  falling  into  the  old  well  by  a  rude  brush  heap 
that  covers  it  over.  In  contrast  with  its  former  turmoils  of  war, 
the  present  peaceful  desolations  of  Crown  Point  are  blessed. 

Besides  this  description  of  Crown  Point  as  it  was  in  1746,  by  the 
worthy  Chaplain  from  the  Hoosac  valley,  and  many  subsequent 
points  of  contact  between  the  two  localities,  it  is  fitting  that  the 
historian  of  William stown  and  Williams  College  should  here  call 
attention  to  the  important  scientific  labors  at  Crown  Point,  and  in 
its  neighborhood,  of  Professor  Ebenezer  Emmons,  who  was  the 
indefatigable  teacher  here  of  several  branches  of  natural  history, 
particularly  geology,  between  1833  and  1863.  He  was  the  first  to 
apply  the  term  "chazy  limestone"  to  the  rock  called  by  the  English 
translator  of  Kalm's  "  Travels,"  "  black  line  slates,"  and  thus  to 
distinguish  scientifically  a  peculiar  form  of  that  rock  very  abundant 
on  the  west  shores  of  Lake  Champlain,  out  of  which  both  its  great 
military  fortresses  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point  were  con- 
structed, from  the  common  kinds  of  limestone  found  almost  every- 
where. After  he  was  appointed  in  1836  one  of  the  commission 
to  make  a  geological  survey  of  New  York,  he  made  careful  soundings 
to  ascertain  the  depth  of  the  water  in  various  parts  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  and  found  it  to  be  300  feet  four  miles  north  of  Westport ;  he 
was  credibly  informed  that  soundings  of  600  feet  had  been  made  in 
other  places  in  that  part  of  the  lake ;  and  as  the  surface  of  the  lake 
is  only  ninety-three  feet  above  tide  water,  he  gave  it  as  his  opinion 
that  its  bottom,  in  spots,  may  be  at  least  500  feet  below  the  ocean 
level.  Professor  Emmons  also  particularly  examined  the  phenome- 
non of  "  Split  E-ock,"  a  few  miles  above  Crown  Point,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  lake,  which  had  always  been  supposed  to  be  the  result  of 
the  action  of  an  earthquake,  famous  in  Canada  as  having  occurred 
in  the  year  1663 ;  and  pronounced  the  separation  to  have  been 
probably  occasioned  by  the  wearing  away  or  decomposition  of  an 
intermediate  mass  of  rock  containing  a  large  quantity  of  pyritous 
iron.     The  good  Professor  was  appointed,  in  1856,  the  state  geologist 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  173 

of  North  Carolina,  and  was  busily  engaged  in  that  survey  when  the 
Civil  War  broke  out,  and  interrupted  his  labors.  He  returned  north, 
and  died  in  1863.  He  was  for  some  years  a  practising  physician  in 
Williamstown.  The  struggle  of  his  life  was  to  maintain  the  reality 
and  scientific  importance  of  his  own  discovery  of  what  he  named 
the  "Taconic  System,"  referred  to  in  the  following  terms  from 
Appleton's  "Annual  Cyclopedia  "  of  1861:  "The  assent  of  geolo- 
gists to  the  Taconic  System  advocated  by  the  late  Professor  Emmons, 
after  so  many  years  of  disbelief,  is  anotho"  i"-^<^"K'"  ^f  tlie  triumph 
of  investigation  over  preconceived  errors. 

Friday  J  29.  —  This  morning  Smead's  and  Scott's  families  were  brought  out  of 
their  tents  into  the  house,  that  they  might  be  more  comfortable.  It  rained  and 
was  very  cold  all  the  day,  and  at  night  the  wind  was  very  high. 

Captivity  Smead,  the  baby  born  at  the  first  encampment  at  the 
junction  of  the  Little  Hoosac  with  the  Hoosac,  was  now  just  one 
week  old,  and  the  mother  had  with  her  three  other  children,  all 
young;  and  Mrs.  Moses  Scott  had  two  young  children  also;  no 
wonder  these  were  taken  out  of  their  tents  into  the  house,  that  they 
might  be  more  comfortable.  The  south  and  east  winds  have  a  fair 
sweep  over  northeast  point,  where  the  windmill  was  and  the  light- 
house is,  and  the  cry  of  a  new-born  child  appeals  to  the  humanity 
of  man  always  and  everywhere. 

LorcVs  day,  31.  —  We  had  the  liberty  of  worshipping  God  together  in  a  room 
by  ourselves.  This  day  about  twelve  o'clock,  the  enemy  who  went  off  from  us 
from  Hoosuck  the  morning  after  we  were  taken,  returned,  and  brought  in  six 
scalps,  viz.,  Samuel  Allen,  Eleazar  Hawks,  Jun.,  two  Amsdels,  all  of  Deerfield  ; 
Adonijah  Gillet  of  Colchester,  Constant  Bliss  of  Hebron,  and  one  captive,  viz., 
Samuel  Allen,  son  to  him  who  was  killed.  He  was  taken  with  hLs  father  and 
Eleazar  Hawks.  The  Amsdels  and  Gillet  were  killed  in  Deerfield  South 
Meadow,  August  25th.  The  Indians  also  acknowledged  they  lost  one  man  there. 
This  lad  told  us  they  had  not  then  heard  in  Deerfield  of  their  taking  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts. A  young  Hatacook  Indian  was  his  master,  and  carried  him  to  St. 
Francois. 

This  is  an  indirect  but  accurate  account  of  the  "Bars  Fight," 
so-called,  in  the  southwest  Meadow  of  Deerfield,  five  days  after  the 
taking  of  Fort  Massachusetts.  There  are  several  contemporary 
accounts  of  this  affair.  The  French  account  is  as  follows:  "Sixty 
Abernakis  belonging  to  this  force  went,  after  the  fight  [at  Hoosac], 
to  lie  in  wait  for  twenty  Englishmen  who  were  to  come  to  the  said 
fort,  according  to  the  report  of  the  prisoners ;  but,  not  meeting  with 
them,  went  further,  and  some  returned  with  seven  scalps,  one  Eng- 


174  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

lishman  and  one  negro.'^     The  journal  of  Deacon  Noah  Wright,  of 
Deerfield,  runs  in  this  wise  :  — 

August  25th,  1746.  — In  the  southwest  corner  of  Deerfield  meadows  a  num- 
ber of  Indians  came  upon  our  men  at  work,  killed  and  scalped  Samuel  Allen, 
Eleazar  Hawks,  and  one  of  Captain  Holson's  soldiers  named  Gillet,  and  two  of 
the  Widow  Amsden's  children ;  taken  captive,  one  boy  of  Samuel  Allen's,  and 
chopped  a  hatchet  into  the  brains  of  one  of  his  girls.  They  are  in  hopes  that  she 
will  recover.  One  man  killed  one  of  the  Indians,  who  got  one  gun  from  them 
and  lost  three  guns  by  them. 

Rev.  Benjamin  Doolittle,  of  Northfield,  who  died  in  January,  1749, 
left  also  a  brief  record  of  this  fight,  which  is  utilized  in  Drake's 
"  Particular  History."  He  gives  as  a  reason  why  the  Indians  "  went 
further,"  their  ^'  not  being  satisfied  with  the  spoil "  gathered  at  Fort 
Massachusetts.  He  says  also  of  Eunice  Allen,  who  was  struck  down 
by  a  blow  of  a  tomahawk,  "  which  was  sunk  into  her  head,"  that  the 
enemy  in  their  haste  omitted  to  scalp  her,  and  that  she  afterwards 
recovered.  Indeed,  all  three  of  the  children  of  Samuel  Allen,  who 
was  killed  and  scalped,  were  living  as  late  as  1793;  this  Eunice, 
Caleb,  who  was  pursued  but  escaped,  and  Samuel,  the  captive  whom 
Sergeant  Hawks  brought  home  with  him  from  Canada  the  next 
August.  "  This  lad  told  us  they  had  not  then  heard  in  Deerfield 
of  their  taking  Fort  Massachusetts."  Norton  seems  surprised, 
that  what  occurred  on  the  west  side  of  Hoosac  Mountain,  Au- 
gust 20,  was  not  known  in  Deerfield,  thirty  miles  to  the  eastward, 
August  25.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  that  news  did  not  reach  Deerfield 
until  August  30,  as  we  learn  from  Deacon  Wright's  diary :  — 

August  30, 1746.  — A  post  this  day  returned  to  and  from  fort  Massachusetts, 
and  brings  us  news  that  the  fort  was  taken  and  burnt  to  ashes,  and  we  can't 
learn  here  as  there  is  one  man  escaped.  I  am  in  some  doubt  that  there  are  some 
that  are  taken  captive  and  gone  to  Canada,  and  so  I  ain't  altogether  without 
hopes  of  seeing  some  of  them  again. 

The  speed  made  by  the  scalping  party  from  Deerfield  Meadow  to 
Crown  Point,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  just  six  days,  was 
much  better  than  the  speed  of  the  news  of  the  capture  of  the  fort, 
thirty  miles  in  just  ten  days. 

Sept.  1-3.  —  We  tarried  still  at  Crown  Point.  The  weather  was  something 
lowry,  but  warm.  I  lived  with  the  General  and  about  half  a  dozen  more  officers, 
who  lodged  in  the  same  house.  Our  diet  was  very  good,  it  being  chiefly  fresh 
meat  and  broth,  which  was  a  great  benefit  to  me.  We  had  also  plenty  of  Bor- 
deaux wine,  which  being  of  an  astringent  nature,  was  a  great  kindness  to  me 
(having  at  that  time  something  of  the  griping  and  bloody  fiux).  While  we  lay 
here,  we  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Hon.  John  Stoddard,  Esq.,  at  Northampton,  to 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  175 

give  him  a  particular  account  of  our  fight  and  surrender ;  as  also  some  other 
private  letters  ;  the  French  gentlemen  giving  us  encouragement  that  they  would 
send  them  down  by  some  of  their  scouts  to  some  part  of  our  frontiers,  and  leave 
them  so  that  they  should  be  found  ;  but  I  have  not  heard  of  them  since,  and  con- 
clude that  they  destroyed  them. 

It  is  not  certain  whether  any  of  these  letters  ever  reached  the 
English  "frontiers  "  or  not ;  Deacon  Wright  saw  a  letter  the  11th  of 
September  following,  written  by  Mr.  Norton,  about  the  siege  and 
surrender  of  the  fort;  but  it  is  more  likely  to  have  been  the  letter 
nailed  by  the  Chaplain  ^'  on  the  west  post "  the  morning  after  the 
surrender.  Our  readers  shall  see  the  entry  in  Wright's  journal, 
verbatim^  and  then  they  may  decide  for  themselves.  It  is  but  fair  to 
premise  that  Mr.  Drake  considered  the  letter  referred  to,  to  be  the 
one  written  from  Crown  Point  to  Colonel  Stoddard. 

Sept.  II,  1746.  — I  saw  a  letter  wrote  by  Mr.  Norton  at  Hoosick  after  the 
fort  was  taken,  and  he  says  that  they  were  besieged  by  several  hundred  French 
and  Indians,  and  they  being  brought  to  a  great  strait,  the  enemy  prepared  a  vast 
quantity  of  faggots  in  order  to  burn  down  the  fort  by  force,  but  the  French 
General  came  to  them  for  capitulation,  and  told  them  if  they  would  resign  up 
the  fort  he  would  treat  them  all  well  and  carry  them  to  Canada  ;  that  they 
should  be  redeemed  as  soon  as  there  was  any  opportunity,  and  if  not  he  would 
kill  them  all.  And  so  they  resigned  up  the  fort,  and  lost  but  one  man,  named 
Knowlton;  and  had  two  wounded,  and  so  all  the  rest  are  gone  to  Canada.  He 
says  they  are  all  well  used  by  the  enemy. 

We  shall  now  no  longer  follow,  in  order  and  in  detail,  the  copious 
diary  of  the  Chaplain's  journey  to  Quebec,  and  of  what  happened 
to  him  and  his  fellow-captives  on  the  way  thither,  and  after  they 
arrived  there  ;  not  because  the  entries  are  not  interesting  and  instruc- 
tive, but  because  comparatively  few  of  them  bear  directly  on  Fort 
Massachusetts  and  the  straight  course  of  our  story.  The  captives 
embarked  with  their  victors  at  Crown  Point,  for  Canada,  on  Thurs- 
day, the  4th  of  September,  which  was  the  sixteenth  day  from  their 
capture.  They  encamped  the  first  night  on  the  New  York  side  of 
the  lake,  in  a  cave  so  clearly  described,  that  it  might,  doubtless,  be 
easily  identified  at  this  day ;  and  the  next  time  on  the  Vermont  side, 
at  a  place  afterwards  called  Windmill  Point  by  the  English,  a  few 
miles  below  Burlington.  In  this  voyage  down  the  lake,  they  did 
not  see  an  inhabited  house  on  either  side,  or  meet  a  living  person, 
till  on  Sunday  they  entered  the  Richelieu  River,  and  met  a  boat  with 
three  men  in  it,  who  brought  a  packet  of  letters  for  the  French 
officers,  containing  what  the  latter  called  "news,"  very  favorable  to 
the  French  cause  in  Europe,  the  accuracy  of  which,  the  bold  Chap- 


176  ORIGINS   IN  WILLI AMSTOWN. 

lain  disputed  to  their  faces,  which  led  to  a  warm  political  debate 
between  them,  over  the  battle  of  Culloden  Moor  the  preceding 
April,  and  over  the  House  of  Stuart  and  the  Catholic  religion  in 
general.  It  seems  odd  enough  in  our  time,  to  think  of  Celt  and 
Briton  hotly  disputing  in  September,  whether  the  Duke  of  Cumber- 
land were  killed  at  Culloden  in  April,  and  whether  the  House 
of  Hanover  —  "  Cromwell's  faction ''  —  were  about  to  yield  to  the 
young  Pretender.  The  place,  too,  of  the  debate  in  the  uninhabited 
wilds  of  Canada,  and  the  uncertainty  of  both  parties  to  it,  as  to  the 
facts  alleged,  in  which  both  were  afterwards  proven  to  be  largely 
wrong  and  slightly  right,  add  to  the  queerness  of  the  scene. 

Before  night  of  this  Sunday  they  reached  the  village  and  fort  of 
Chambly,  which  is  thirty-seven  miles  below  the  present  boundary 
line  of  British  America.  The  French  officers  were  in  high  spirits. 
M.  Demuy  told  Norton  the  next  day  another  piece  of  news,  namely, 
"that  one  of  their  men-of-war  had  taken  an  English  man-of-war 
near  Louisburg,  after  a  whole  day's  engagement ;  that  the  blood  was 
midleg  deep  upon  the  Englishman's  deck  when  he  surrendered." 
"  They  fought  courageously,"  retorted  Norton.  "  True,  but  they 
were  taken  notwithstanding."  "Moreover,  they  have  taken  three 
hundred  and  twenty  men  out  of  her,  who  are  coming  up  to  Quebec, 
where  you  shall  see  them. "  They  got  to  Montreal  two  days  later, 
where  the  Town  Major  and  many  former  captives  from  New 
England  came  to  visit  the  Chaplain.  He  was  courteously  entertained 
while  there  at  the  house  of  M.  Demuy,  who  took  him  to  see  the 
Governor.  The  Governor  said  little  to  him,  but  told  him  that  after  a 
few  days,  he  must  send  him  with  the  rest  of  the  prisoners  to  Quebec. 
The  "few  days"  proved  to  be  but  two,  when  they  embarked  in 
boats,  all  but  six  men,  who  were  yet  with  the  Indians,  and  John 
Perry's  wife,  who  had  already  gone  on  to  Three  Rivers,  for  Quebec. 

Saturday^  13.  —  This  day  we  had  a  fair  wind,  and  sailed  down  the  river 
twenty -five  leagues,  when  we  arrived  at  the  Three  Rivers.  We  went  into  an 
inn.  The  General  [Vaudreuil]  and  some  others  of  the  gentlemen  which  went 
down  with  us  presently  went  out  to  the  Governor's,  leaving  only  their  soldiers 
to  guard  us.  And  after  a  little  time  the  Governor  sent  for  Sergeant  Hawks  and 
me  to  come  and  sup  with  him.  Accordingly  we  went,  and  were  courteously  and 
sumptuously  entertained  by  him  ;  and  while  we  sat  at  supper  the  gentlemen  fell 
into  discourse  about  the  wars,  and  about  the  wounds  they  had  received.  The 
General's  wound  was  discoursed  upon,  and  the  Governor  desired  Sergeant  Hawks 
to  show  his  scars,  which  he  did.  The  Governor  then  informed  us  of  a  fight  he 
had  been  in  at  sea  in  former  wars  in  which  he  received  fifteen  wounds,  and  he 
showed  us  several  scars.  This  I  thought  was  a  very  remarkable  thing,  that 
he  should  receive  so  many  wounds,  and  yet  have  his  life  spared.  This  night 
John  Perry's  wife  was  also  brought  to  us,  and  added  to  our  number. 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  177 

Monday,  15.  — This  day  we  sailed  seven  leagues  and  came  to  Quebec.  We 
were  landed  at  the  east  point  of  the  town  where  St.  Lawrence  meets  with  Loretto, 
and  were  conducted  up  by  a  number  of  soldiers  through  the  lower  town  to  the 
Governor-General's,  where  I  was  taken  into  his  private  room,  and  he  desired  me 
to  tell  what  news  we  had  in  New  England.  I  told  him  of  considerable  news  we 
had  from  Europe  concerning  the  Duke  of  Cumberland's  victory  over  the  rebels. 
He  seemed  to  have  a  gi'eat  mind  to  persuade  me  that  the  Duke  was  killed,  but  I 
told  him  he  was  alive  and  well.  I  told  him  of  several  other  pieces  of  news,  but 
none  very  good  for  the  French.  He  told  me  he  had  heard  that  we  designed  an 
expedition  against  Canada.  He  Jisked  what  there  was  in  it.  I  told  him  that  I 
lived  at  a  great  distance  from  Boston,  and  could  say  but  little  about  it.  I  had 
heard  that  his  majesty  had  sent  over  to  some  of  the  governors  in  America,  that 
he  had  thoughts  of  an  expedition  against  Canada,  and  would  have  them  in  readi- 
ness to  assist  him,  in  case  he  should  send  a  fleet  over.  He  inquired  what  it  was 
that  had  put  it  by.  Something,  he  said,  was  the  matter.  I  told  him  I  could  not 
tell ;  so  he  seemed  to  be  pretty  easy. 

Marquis  de  la  Galissoniere  was  the  Governor-General  of  Canada, 
with  whom  this  interesting  conversation  was  had.  He  wiis  a  hunii> 
back ;  but  his  deformed  person  was  animated  by  a  bold  spirit  and  a 
penetrating  intellect.  He  was  a  devoted  student  of  natural  science, 
and  a  very  distinguished  naval  officer  of  France.  He  had  but 
recently  come  to  Quebec  as  Governor-General,  and  was  only  des- 
tined to  remain  less  than  three  years ;  but  he  stayed  long  enough  to 
give  his  King  most  excellent  advice,  as  to  the  matter  of  increasing 
the  population  of  Canada  by  new  colonists,  as  to  a  plan  of  uniting 
Canada  and  Louisiana  by  chains  of  forts  strong  enough  to  hold  back 
the  British  colonists,  and  as  to  the  management  and  Christianization 
of  the  Indians.  In  short,  he  was  one  of  the  ablest  and  best  of  a  long 
line  of  French  governors  of  Canada,  closed  in  1759  by  Pierre  Vau- 
dreuil,  the  best  of  all,  son  of  Philippe  de  Vaudreuil,  Governor  from 
1703  till  liis  death  in  1725,  and  brother  of  Rigaud  de  Vaudreuil, 
captor  of  Fort  Massachusetts.  The  two  brothers  returned  to  France 
on  the  downfall  of  French  Canada,  the  late  Governor  to  be  impris- 
oned in  the  Bastille  on  charges  preferred  by  the  friends  of  Montcalm, 
and  stripped  of  most  of  his  possessions,  though  exonerated  and  re- 
leased, and  the  brave  soldier  was  still  living  at  St.  Germaine  in  1770. 

After  this  I  was  conducted  to  the  Lord  Intendant's,  who  inquired  also  after 
news,  both  of  me  and  Sergeant  Hawks  ;  after  which  he  gave  us  a  glass  of  wine  ; 
then  we  were  conducted  to  the  prisoners'  house,  which  is  a  guard-house  standing 
by  a  battery  towards  the  southwest  end  of  the  town,  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  in  length,  and  twenty  in  width,  and  two  stories  high  ;  and  we  made  to 
the  number  of  one  hundred  and  five  prisoners.  Here  we  had  the  free  liberty  of 
the  exercise  of  our  religion  together,  which  was  matter  ol  comfort  to  us  in  our 
affliction.    Sergeant  Hawks  and  myself  were  put  into  the  Captain's  room. 


178  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

The  Governor-General  and  the  Intendant  of  Canada  answered  to 
those  officials  in  a  French  province  at  home.  The  Governor  was 
usually  a  military  noble,  and  the  Intendant  drawn  from  the  legal 
class.  The  Governor  was  superior  in  rank  to  the  Intendant,  since 
he  commanded  the  troops,  conducted  relations  with  foreign  colonies 
and  Indian  tribes,  and  took  precedence  on  all  occasions  of  ceremony. 
Unlike  the  provincial  Governor  in  France,  he  had  great  and  substan- 
tial power.  As  we  have  already  seen,  there  were  local  governors  at 
Montreal  and  Three  Rivers ;  but  their  power  was  carefully  curbed, 
and  they  were  forbidden  to  fine  or  imprison  any  person,  without  au- 
thority from  Quebec.  The  Intendant,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  sort 
of  official  spy  on  the  Governor-General,  of  whose  proceedings  and 
of  everything  else  that  took  place,  he  was  required  to  make  report 
to  the  home  government.  The  Governor,  too,  wrote  long  letters  to 
the  Minister  of  State ;  and  each  of  the  two  colleagues  was  jealous 
of  the  letters  of  the  other.  Indeed,  the  French  Court  did  not  desire 
the  perfect  accord  of  the  two  officials ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  did  it 
desire  them  to  quarrel ;  while  it  aimed  to  keep  them  on  such  terms, 
as,  without  disturbing  the  machinery  of  administration,  should  make 
each  of  them  a  fair  check  on  the  other.^ 

Tuesday,  16.  —  This  day  there  came  some  gentlemen  to  see  me,  among  whom 
was  Mr.  Joseph  Portois,  who  understands  the  English  tongue,  and  Mr.  Pais, 
who,  Mr.  Portois  told  me,  was  his  kinsman,  and  that  he  was  a  Protestant,  and 
came  on  purpose  to  see  me,  and  to  show  me  a  kindness.  He  gave  me  twenty- 
four  livres  in  cash.  From  this  time  to  the  23d  there  was  nothing  remarkable 
happened  only  this, — that  the  Jesuits  and  some  unknown  gentlemen,  under- 
standing I  was  short  on  it  for  clothing,  sent  me  several  shirts,  a  good  winter 
coat,  some  caps,  a  pair  of  stockings,  and  a  few  handkerchiefs,  which  were  very 
acceptable. 

About  a  week  after  this,  David  Warren  and  Phinehas  Forbush, 
two  of  the  captured  garrison,  who  had  been  behind  with  the  Indians, 
came  into  the  prison  at  Quebec,  and  reported  that  John  Aldrich  was 
still  in  the  hospital  at  Montreal.  A  few  days  later,  Jacob  Shepherd, 
of  Westboro,  another  of  the  fort-captives  who  had  been  behind 
with  the  Indians,  was  brought  into  the  common  prison-house ;  and 
on  Sunday,  October  5,  the  remaining  three  of  the  enforced  stragglers 
came  in,  namely,  Nathaniel  Hitchcock,  Stephen  Scott,  and  John 
Aldrich.  The  entire  number  captured  at  Fort  Massachusetts  were 
now  together  in  the  prison,  except  Josiah  Eeed,  who  had  died 
at  Dutch  Hoosac  (now  Petersburg  Junction)  two  days  after  the 
surrender ;  but  his  place  had  been  taken,  so  to  speak,  by  Captivity 

1  See  at  length  Parkman's  Old  Regime,  265,  et  seq. 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  179 

Smead,  the  infant  born  the  same  night  that  he  died  and  at  the  same 
place,  but  the  full  ranks  of  the  thirty  were  soon  to  be  thinned  by 
death,  as  we  shall  see. 

Wednesday,  22.  —  I  sent  a  petition  to  his  lordship,  the  General  of  Canada  or 
New  France,  to  permit  me  to  go  liome  to  New  England,  upon  a  parole  of  honor, 
setting  me  a  suitable  time,  and  I  would  returu  again  to  him  ;  but  I  could  not 
prevail. 

The  good  Chaplain  does  not  obtrude  his  private  griefs  even  upon 
the  pages  of  his  private  journal;  but  he  was  doubtless  thinking, 
when  he  sent  in  his  petition,  of  his  young  wife  and  two  little  girls 
left  in  the  garrison  at  Fort  Shirley  two  montlis  before,  when  he 
expected  to  return  to  them  from  Fort  Massachusetts  in  "  about  a 
month."  One  of  the  little  girls  he  was  never  destined  to  see  alive. 
Captain  Ephraim  Williams,  the  founder  of  the  College,  commanded 
Fort  Shirley  that  autumn  and  winter,  and  doubtless  ministered  as 
best  he  could  to  the  wants  of  this  poor  woman. 

Friday.,  31.  —  Here  I  shall  speak  of  the  sickness  that  prevailed  among  the 
prisoners.  It  had  generally  been  very  healthy  in  the  prison  before  this  fall ; 
for  though  there  had  been  some  prisoners  there  sixteen  months,  and  about  fifty 
nine  months,  yet  there  had  but  two  died.  But  our  people  who  were  taken  at 
sea  by  the  two  French  men-of-war,  viz. ,  the  Lazora  and  Le  Castore,  found  a 
very  mortal  epidemical  fever  raged  among  the  French  on  board  their  ships,  of 
which  many  of  them  died.  The  prisoners  took  the  infection,  and  a  greater  part 
of  them  were  sick  while  they  lay  in  Jebucta  [Chebucto]  harbor  ;  yet  but  one  or 
two  of  them  died  of  it.  Some  of  them  were  taken  with  the  distemper  upon  their 
passage  to  Canada,  and  so  brought  the  infection  into  the  prison  ;  and  the  fever 
being  epidemical,  soon  spread  itself  into  the  prisons,  to  our  great  distress.  Those 
who  brought  it  into  the  prison  most  recovered,  and  so  there  were  many  others 
that  had  it  and  recovered ;  but  the  recovery  of  some  was  but  for  a  time,  —  many 
of  them  relapsed  and  died. 

Nov.  17.  —  Died  Nathan  Fames.  He  belonged  to  Marlborough  in  the  prov- 
ince of  the  Massachusetts  Bay;  was  taken  with  me  at  Fort  Massachusetts, 
August  20,  174(3. 

The  sickness  increasing  and  spreading  itself  so  greatly,  we  sent  a  very  hum- 
ble petition  to  his  lordship,  the  Governor-General,  entreating  that  the  sick 
might  be  removed  out  of  the  hospital,  lest  the  whole  prison  should-  be  infected  ; 
but  he  refused  to  send  our  people  to  the  hospital,  for  they  told  us  that  their  hos- 
pital was  full  of  their  own  sick  ;  yet  he  did  not  wholly  neglect  our  petition,  but 
ordered  that  one  of  the  most  convenient  rooms  in  the  prison  should  be  assigned 
for  the  sick,  where  they  should  all  be  carried,  and  have  their  attendance,  and 
this  was  directly  done,  and  the  sick  were  all  brought  in. 

Dec.  11.  —  Died  Miriam,  the  wife  of  Moses  Scott.  She  was  taken  with  me 
at  Fort  Massachusetts.  She  got  a  cold  in  her  journey,  which  proved  fatal,  her 
circumstances  being  peculiar.  She  was  never  well  after  our  arrival  at  Canada, 
but  wasted  away  to  a  mere  skeleton,  and  lost  the  use  of  her  limbs. 


180  ORIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. ' 

Dec.  23.  —  Died  Rebecca,  the  wife  of  John  Perry.  She  was  taken  with  me 
at  Fort  Massachusetts,  August  20th,  1746.  Her  illness  was  different  from  all  the 
rest.  She  had  little  or  no  fever  ;  had  a  cold,  and  was  exercised  with  wrecking 
pains  until  she  died. 

Dec.  24.  —  I  was  taken  with  the  distemper  ;  was  seized  with  a  very  grievous 
pain  in  the  head  and  back  and  a  fever ;  but  I  let  blood  in  the  morning,  and  took 
a  good  potion  of  physic,  and  in  a  few  days  another ;  so  that  I  soon  recovered 
again. 

The  sickness  thus  increasing,  there  were  many  taken  sick  [in  the  prison], 
which  I  don't  pretend  to  mention.  The  sickness  also  got  into  the  prison-keeper's 
family.  He  lost  a  daughter  by  it,  the  4th  instant  [January].  Upon  this  the 
Governor  ordered  a  house  to  be  provided  for  the  sick,  where  they  were  all  car- 
ried the  12th  instant,  about  twenty  in  number,  with  three  men  to  attend  them  ; 
and  after  this  when  any  were  taken  sick,  they  were  carried  out  to  this  house. 

The  Chaplain  did  not  forget,  in  the  prison-house  of  his  foes  and 
amid  personal  sicknesses,  that  he  was  a  minister  of  the  glad  tidings. 
On  this  4th  of  January,  the  day  the  prison-keeper's  daughter 
died,  as  we  learn  from  another  source  than  his  own  journal,  he 
preached  two  discourses  from  Psalm  60  :  11,  —  "  Give  us  help  from 
trouble ;  for  vain  is  the  help  of  man."  He  had  quoted,  however, 
m  his  diary,  when  the  sickness  first  began,  several  passages  of 
Scripture  from  both  the  Testaments,  of  which  these  two  may  serve 
as  samples :  "  My  virgins  and  my  young  men  are  gone  into  cap- 
tivity."    "  Abroad  the  sword  devoureth,  at  home  there  is  death." 

Jan.  23.  —  Died  Samuel  Lovet,  after  near  a  month's  sickness.  He  was  taken 
with  me.     He  was  the  son  of  Major  Lovet  of  Mendon. 

Feb.  11.  — Died  in  the  morning,  Moses  Scot,  son  to  Moses  Scot.  He  was  a 
child  of  about  two  years  old,  and  died  with  the  consumption. 

March  21.  —  This  day  died  Samuel  Goodman  of  South  Hadley.  He  was 
taken  with  me  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  died  of  the  scurvy. 

March  29.  —  Died  Mary,  the  wife  of  John  Smeed,  after  a  tedious  sickness 
of  about  eight  weeks  ;  was  taken  with  me. 

This  was  the  brave  woman  who  was  delivered  of  a  child  about 
thirty-six  hours  after  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  at  the  junction  of 
the  Little  Hoosac  with  the  Hoosac  Eiver. 

April  7.  —  Died  John  Smeed  Jun.  He  was  taken  with  me  at  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts. He  was  seized  with  the  distemper  in  October  last,  and  was  bad  for  a 
time,  and  then  recovered  in  some  good  measure,  and  after  a  little  time  relapsed, 
and  as  he  did  several  times,  till  at  last  he  fell  into  a  consumption,  of  which  he 
died. 

April  12.  —  Died  Amos  Pratt.  He  was  taken  with  me.  He  had  a  hard  turn 
of  the  fever  in  November  and  December,  but  recovered ;  was  taken  again  the 
latter  end  of  March,  and  so  continued  till  he  died. 

The  28th  of  this  instant,  when  the  prisoners  were  all  confined  in  their  rooms, 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  181 

but  one  or  two  in  the  lower  room  cooking  the  pot,  the  prison-house  took  fire. 
It  began  on  the  ridge.  We  supposed  that  it  catched  by  sparks  lighting  upon  it. 
It  being  very  dry,  and  something  windy,  it  soon  spread  upon  the  house,  and  we 
could  not  come  at  it,  having  no  ladder,  to  quench  it.  There  were  no  lives  lost, 
but  many  lost  their  bedding  and  clothing.  We  were  conducted  by  a  strong 
guard  to  the  governor's  yard,  where  we  were  kept  till  near  night,  when  we  were 
conducted  to  the  back  of  the  town  to  the  old  wall,  in  the  bow  of  which  they 
had  set  up  some  plank  tents  something  like  sheep's  pens.  We  had  boards  flung 
down  to  lay  our  beds  upon,  but  the  tenUs  generally  leaked  so  much  in  wet  weather, 
tliat  none  of  us  could  lie  dry,  and  had  much  wet  weather  this  month.  The 
gentlemen  of  our  room  sent  in  a  petition  the  beginning  of  May,  that  they  might 
be  removed  to  some  more  convenient  place.  Upon  which  we  had  a  house  built 
for  us  in  the  prisoners'  yard,  about  twenty  feet  square,  into  which  we  removed 
the  23d  instant  [May].  This  was  something  more  comfortable  than  the  tents. 
In  this  yard  we  were  confined,  having  the  wall  behind  it  and  at  each  end,  and 
the  fort  side  picketed  in,  and  a  guard  of  about  twenty  men  to  keep  us  day  and 
night. 

May  13.  —  Died  Daniel  Smeed,  a  young  man.  He  was  taken  with  me,  and 
was  son  to  John  Smeed.  He  was  first  taken  sick  in  November,  and  by  frequent 
relapses  was  worn  out,  and  fell  into  a  purging,  by  which  he  wasted  away  and 
died. 

May  17.  —  Died  Captivity  Smeed,  an  infant  about  nine  months  old,  daughter 
to  John  Smeed. 

May  20.  —  I  was  taken  ill  with  a  grievous  pain  in  my  head,  and  a  sore  eye, 
that  I  was  almost  blind  with  it.  The  21st  I  yielded  to  be  sick.  Capt.  Roberts 
and  Capt.  Williams  were  also  both  of  them  very  sick,  being  taken  a  few  days 
before  me.  This  day  I  was  blooded,  having  something  of  the  fever.  The  23d 
I  was  blooded  again  ;  the  doctor  also  gave  me  a  bottle  of  eye-water,  and  advised 
me  not  to  be  concerned  about  the  fever.  I  was  sensible  they  did  not  apprehend 
how  ill  I  was.  I  entreated  of  him  to  give  me  a  potion  of  physic,  which  he  did, 
the  25th,  and  it  worked  very  well.  In  the  night  I  fell  into  a  sweat,  and  was  in 
hopes  it  would  go  off,  but  I  was  sadly  disappointed,  for  I  grew  worse  the  next 
day.  My  reason  departed  from  me  and  returned  not,  until  the  14th  of  June. 
Part  of  this  time  I  was  given  over  by  every  one  that  saw  me.  I  had  the  nervous 
fever,  and  was  very  much  convulsed.  I  was  exceeding  low  and  weak  when  I 
first  came  to  myself,  but  I  recovered  strength  as  soon  as  could  be  expected  ;  for, 
by  the  24th  of  June,  I  got  out  and  went  into  the  chamber. 

In  this  three  weeks'  interval  of  delirium,  some  one  must  have 
made  brief  entries  in  the  Chaplain's  journal  for  him,  at  least  of  the 
deaths  occurring  almost  daily;  or  else  he  afterwards  copied  these 
from  the  synchronous  diary  of  Sergeant  Hawks,  which  may  be  still 
in  existence,  although  this  is  not  likely,  since  nothing  has  been 
publicly  heard  of  it  for  three-quarters  of  a  century,  or  since  General 
Hoyt  used  it  in  the  preparation  of  his  "  Antiquarian  Researches," 
published  in  1824.  Hoyt  died  at  Deerfield  in  1850.  Rumors  have 
been  current  that  this  diary  was  brought  into  Berkshire  County 
from  Hampshire  by  the  roraeroy  family,  when  they  migrated  to 


182  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

« 
Pittsfield,  but  nothing  definite  has  ever  been  ascertained  in  relation 
to  it.  Its  probable  destruction  makes  all  the  more  jDrecious  for 
preservation  the  Chaplain's  entries,  which  he  evidently  recast  and 
expanded  somewhat  after  his  return  from  captivity,  and  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  printing  of  it  in  Boston  in  1748,  where  it  "  was  sold  op- 
posite the  prison."  As  the  prison  at  that  time  was  in  Queen  Street, 
where  the  court-house  now  is,  and  as  Daniel  Fowle  is  known  to  have 
kept  in  Queen  Street  at  that  time,  he  may  probably  be  supposed  to  be 
the  printer.  Whoever  he  was,  he  did  not  perform  his  share  of  the 
work  with  much  credit  to  himself,  which  may  be  the  reason  for  with- 
holding the  printer's  name  from  the  pamphlet. 

May  22.  —  Died  Nathaniel  Hitchcock  of  Brimfield.    He  was  taken  with  me. 

May  30.  — Died  Jacob  Shepherd,  a  pious  young  man,  well-beloved  and  much 
lamented.     He  was  taken  with  me. 

The  same  day  (July  16)  died  Phinehas  Forbush  of  Westboro',  taken  at  Fort 
Massachusetts  with  me.     He  was  a  very  likely  man. 

July  21.  —  Died  Jonathan  Bridgeman  of  Sunderland.  He  was  taken  with  me 
at  Fort  Massachusetts. 

July  25.  —  We  came  on  board  the  ship  Vierge-de- Grace  [Handsome  Virgin], 
which  the  governor  of  Canada  sent  with  a  flag  of  truce  to  Boston.  The  27th  we 
set  sail  for  New  England,  at  ten  in  the  morning.  August  1st  we  came  in  sight 
of  Cape  Breton  Island. 

August  16.  — We  arrived  at  Boston.  The  sick  and  infirm  were  taken  to  the 
hospital.  Col.  Winslow  sent  to  me  and  desired  me  to  come  and  tarry  with  him 
while  I  continued  in  Boston.  I  thankfully  accepted  it,  and  was  courteously 
entertained.  This  was  a  day  of  great  joy  and  gladness  to  me.  May  I  never  for- 
get the  many  great  and  repeated  mercies  of  God  towards  me. 

END   OF    THE    REDEEMED   CAPTIVE. 

This  Colonel  Winslow,  who  showed  such  hospitality  to  Mr. 
Norton  on  his  arrival  at  Boston,  was  great-grandson  of  Governor 
Edward  Winslow  of  the  Mayflower.  Like  his  grandfather,  Josiah, 
the  first  native-born  Governor  of  Plymouth,  1673-80,  this  John 
Winslow  was  every  inch  a  soldier.  He  had  been  a  captain  in  the 
unfortunate  expedition  to  Cuba  in  1740 ;  he  was  the  commander  and 
principal  actor  in  the  tragedy  of  the  expulsion  from  their  homes  of 
the  hapless  Acadians  of  Nova  Scotia  in  1755,  a  tragedy  which  Long- 
fellow's "Evangeline"  has  made  familiar  to  all  the  world;  he  was 
commander-in-chief  at  Albany  of  7000  New  Englanders  designed 
for  Fort  William  Henry  on  Lake  George  in  the  disastrous  summer 
of  1756 ;  and  he  was  a  major-general  of  courage  and  ability  in  the 
successful  conquest  of  Canada  in  1758-59.  It  is  a  singular  and 
memorable  fact  that  twenty  years  after  Winslow  had  ruthlessly, 
but  with  no  more  than  the  necessary  cruelty,  harried  out  of  their 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  183 

homes  iu  Nova  Scotia  for  political  reasons  the  French  peasants  and 
papists,  nearly  every  person  of  Winslow's  lineage  in  New  England 
was  compelled,  for  political  reasons  (they  were  Tories  in  1775),  to 
transplant  himself  for  a  home  to  the  very  soil  from  which  the 
Acadians  were  expelled. 

It  is  by  no  means  probable  that  Mr.  Norton  was  "courteously 
entertained"  for  many  days  by  Colonel  Winslow  at  his  house  in 
Boston,  because  the  heart  of  the  good  Chaplain  must  have  been 
drawn  with  powerful  attraction  towards  the  mountain  fort  where 
he  had  parted  with  young  wife  and  children  just  one  year  before. 
He  had  left  Shirley  for  Massachusetts,  Aug.  14,  1746,  and  landed  in 
Boston,  Aug.  16,  1747.  The  following  epitaph  uix)n  a  rude  head- 
stone that  stood  nearly  140  years  in  Shirley  field,  a  few  rods  to  the 
west  of  the  site  of  the  fort,  and  that  is  now  in  the  historical  museum 
in  Clark  Hall,  shows  how  nearly  contemporaneous  was  his  arrival 
in  Boston  and  a  sad  burial  in  a  bleak  field  enclosed  by  an  unbroken 
forest.  Probably  some  soldier  in  the  fort,  to  comfort  the  stricken 
parents,   chiselled    upon    the   rough    cxuartzite   the   inscription   as 

follows: —  ,T      1  V  ^      «  *   n. 

Here  lys  ye  body  of  An"* 

D  :  of  ye  Kev : 

Mr.  John  Norton.     She  died 

Aug :  ye  —  aged  —  1747. 

This  stone  stood  there  in  the  open  field,  solitary  so  far  as  any 
existing  evidence  ix)ints,  exposed  to  the  suns  of  summer  and  the 
storms  of  winter,  until  the  number  of  years  she  had  lived  and  the 
day  of  August  on  which  she  died  became  illegible  by  exposure,  — 
impossible  to  be  now  deciphered.  The  oral  tradition  is  still  lively 
in  the  town  of  Heath,  and  it  may  well  be  an  historical  fact,  for  it 
has  been  handed  down  by  an  aged  citizen  there  whose  life  began 
with  the  nineteenth  century,  that  there  used  to  come  up  from  Con- 
necticut on  an  occasional  pilgrimage  to  the  site  of  Fort  Shirley,  and 
particularly  to  the  grave  of  Anna  Norton,  some  relative  or  relations 
of  hers.  This  is  very  likely  in  itself ;  for  John  Norton  became  in 
1748  a  pastor  in  the  parish  of  East  Hampton,  Middlesex  CoUnty, 
Connecticut,  where  he  died  in  1778 ;  and  one  may  still  read  on  his 
tombstone  there  the  following  inscription  :  — 

Im  Memory  of 

The  Rev.  Johx  Norton 

Pastor  of  the  3d  Church  in  Chatham 

Who  died  with  Small  Pox 

March  24th  a.d.  1778 

Im  the  63d  yeak  of  his  Age. 


184  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

He  contracted  the  disease,  of  which  he  died,  while  returning  from 
Middletown,  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Connecticut  Eiver,  from 
some  person  or  persons  who  engaged  him  in  conversation  respecting 
the  way  to  some  place  in  the  immediate  neighborhood.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  one  of  the  parties  had  just  been  taken  from  some  pest- 
house.  He  was  buried,  consequently,  not  in  the  God's-acre  of  his 
own  parish,  but,  with  a  few  other  victims  of  the  same  dreadful 
disease,  in  a  cultivated  field  on  Miller's  Hill,  a  few  rods  east  of  the 
residence  of  Leverett  D.  Willey.  There,  on  a  red  sandstone  slab, 
ornamented  with  a  winged  head,  may  be  read  the  epitaph  just 
quoted. 

He  left  several  children.  Among  these  an  unmarried  daughter, 
Eunice  Norton,  who  lived  till  1825.  The  records  of  the  church  of 
East  Hampton,  of  which  Norton  was  the  pastor  from  its  organiza- 
tion, are  lost  during  the  thirty  years  of  his  pastorate ;  and  it  is  sup- 
posed that  they,  with  other  of  her  father^s  papers,  were  destroyed 
by  fire  when  Eunice  Norton's  house  was  burned  down.  It  is  no 
mean  touch  and  print  of  vital  human  sympathy  that  is  left  upon 
the  now  desolate  sod  beneath  the  great  tree  in  Shirley  field,  by  the 
evanishing  figure  of  one  lone  woman,  who  came  and  came  again 
from  a  distant  place  to  catch,  it  may  be,  but  a  dreary  note  from  the 
sad  music  of  the  distant  past,  and  to  drop  a  tear  upon  the  grave  of  a 
sister,  whom,  perhaps,  she  never  saw. 

Norton  found  a  transient  home,  after  his  return  from  captivity, 
in  Springfield.  He  did  not  resume  his  chaplaincy  to  the  line  of 
forts,  nor  was  any  other  one  appointed  during  this  war  to  minister 
in  his  place.  His  Memorial  to  the  General  Court  of  the  Province  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  copied  from  the  archives  in  the  Secretary's  office 
in  Boston,  tells  its  own  tale  as  follows  :  — 

To  his  Excellency  William  Shirley,  Esq.  Capt.  Gen.  and  Gov'r  in  Chief  of 
this  Province,  the  Hon'ble  his  Majesty's  Council  &  House  of  Representatives  in 
Gen.  Court  assembled  — 

The  Memorial  of  John  Norton  of  Springfield  in  the  County  of  Hampshire, 
Clerk,  humbly  showeth  That  in  the  month  of  February,  1746,  he  entered  into  the 
Service  of  the  Province  as  a  Chaplain  for  the  Line  of  Forts  on  the  Western 
Frontier  and  continued  in  that  service  until  the  Twentieth  day  of  August  follow- 
ing, when  he  was  captivated  at  Fort  Massachusetts  and  carried  to  Canada  by 
the  enemy,  where  he  was  detained  a  prisoner  for  the  space  of  twelve  months, 
during  which  time  he  constantly  officiated  as  a  chaplain  among  his  fellow-prison- 
ers in  the  best  manner  he  was  able  under  the  great  difficulties  and  suffering  of 
his  imprisonment,  and  your  Humble  Petit'r  begs  leave  further  to  inform  your 
Excel!' c  &  Honors  that  besides  the  great  Difficulties  and  Hardships  that  your 
Petit'r  indured  during  his  captivity  abroad,  he  and  his  family  by  means  thereof 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  185 

are  rechiced  to  great  Straight  and  Difficulties  at  home.     He  therefore  prays  your 

Excell'c  and  Honors  would  take  his  distressed  Circumstances  into  your  wiser 

Consideration  and  grant  him  such  Help  and  Relief  as  your  Excell'c,  and  Honors 

in  your  Wisdom  and  Goodness  shall  deem  meet,  and  your  memorialist  as  in 

duty  bound  shall  ever  pray. 

John  Norton 

Springfield,  Jan.  -2;').  1748. 

[endorsed] 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Feb.  23, 1748. 

Read  and  Ordered  that  the  sum  of  £37,  10«.  be  allowed  the  memorialist  in 
consideration  of  this  Officiating  as  Chaplain  to  the  Prisoners  whilst  in  captivity 

at  Canada. 

In  council  read  &  concurred  VV.  Hutchinson,  Speaker 

J.  Willard 
Sec'y 

Consented  to 

W     Sill  i;i  }  \ 

Mr.  Norton's  second  settU-nunL  m  inc  ministry  at  East  Hampton 
in  November,  1748,  like  his  first  one  at  Fall  Town  in  November, 
1741,  was  in  troublous  times  and  among  a  very  poor  people.  His 
salary  was  to  be  100  ounces  of  silver,  or  public  bills  of  credit  equiva- 
lent thereto,  for  the  first  three  years  after  his  settlement,  and  after 
that  time  an  addition  to  that  in  proportion  as  they  should  add  to 
their  property-list,  until  it  should  amount  to  130  ounces  of  silver, 
and  that  to  be  his  standing  salary.  This,  which  amounted  to  near 
$170  of  our  own  money,  was  never  promptly  paid,  and  but  a  small 
portion  of  it  in  cash,  the  rest  being  bartered  for  in  country  produce 
at  variable  rates.  The  universal  interest  in  New  England  in  the 
first  campaign  of  the  next  French  war,  the  campaign  of  1755,  led 
Mr.  Norton's  ministerial  neighbors  of  the  Hartford  South  Associa- 
tion, to  which  he  belonged,  to  agree  to  supply  his  pulpit  for  him 
from  October  of  that  year  till  the  following  February,  in  order  that 
he  might  again  become  a  chaplain  for  a  short  time  among  the  troops, 
gathering  at  the  northward  for  the  reduction  of  Crown  Point.  He 
went  accordingly  in  that  capacity  with  Colonel  David  Wooster's 
Connecticut  regiment.  They  did  not  reach  Lake  George  until  after 
the  battle  there  of  the  8th  of  September,  in  which  Colonel  Ephraim 
Williams  was  killed.  We  shall  learn  later  how  that  winter  was 
spent  by  troops  and  Chaplain  at  the  head  of  Lake  George.  One 
motive  of  the  latter  in  going  again  to  the  front  may  have  been  to 
obtain  for  the  use  of  his  family  a  little  ready  money  as  salary  for 
his  services  from  the  colony  of  Connecticut.  While  he  had  been  in 
captivity  at  Quebec,  his  wife,  then  with  the  garrison  under  Captain 


186  OKIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Williams  at  Fort  Shirley,  had  aj^plied  to  the  colony  of  Massachu- 
setts for  the  wages  due  him  as  chaplain,  and  had  received  at  one 
time,  March  12,  1747,  what  was  then  due,  £1  16s.  6d. 

The  ancestry  of  John  Norton  in  the  old  country  seems  to  be  well 
authenticated  as  distinguished.  At  any  rate,  it  was  of  Norman  origin. 
Le  Seur  de  Norville,  the  name  afterwards  changed  to  Norton,  came  to 
England  with  William  the  Conqueror  in  1066  as  his  constable.  The 
place  to  which  the  family  ever  traced  its  planting  after  crossing  the 
Channel  is  Sharpenhow,  a  hamlet  of  Bedfordshire.  Eichard  Norton 
of  London  was  the  thirteenth  generation  from  the  Norman  constable. 
John  Norton,  his  son,  with  wife  Dorothy,  were  the  immigrant  ances- 
tors, who  came  to  Brandford,  Connecticut,  from  England  in  1646. 
Their  son  John,  born  in  Brandford,  Oct.  14,  1651,  migrated  with  his 
father  to  Farmington  in  1661,  and  died  there  April  25,  1725.  His 
wife's  name  was  Kuth  Moore.  They  had  a  son  John,  born  in  1684, 
who  married  Anna  Thompson,  and  our  Eev.  John  Norton  was  one  of 
their  thirteen  children.  He  was  born  in  Farmington,  Nov.  15,  1715, 
was  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1737,  and  was  ordained  Nov. 
25,  1741. 

On  the  same  flag  of  truce  from  Quebec  to  Boston,  on  which  the 
good  chaplain  returned,  came  also  Sergeant  John  Hawks,  and  all 
the  remnant  of  the  garrison  of  Fort  Massachusetts  still  alive  strag- 
gled back  in  the  course  of  the  summer,  some  by  way  of  the  West 
Indies  and  some  through  the  wilderness,  including  John  Aldrich  of 
Mendon  and  Benjamin  Simonds  of  Ware  River,  both  of  whom  were 
left  sick  in  the  hospital  at  Quebec  when  Hawks  and  Norton  left. 
Simonds  was  sick  at  the  taking  of  the  fort,  and  Aldrich  was 
wounded  in  the  foot,  and  both  were  unable  to  travel  when  the 
captives  started  for  the  northward,  and  both  were  put  into  a  canoe 
with  John  Perry's  wife  at  what  is  now  the  "  River  Bend  Farm ''  in 
Williamstown,  the  point  farthest  up  the  Hoosac  to  which  any  boats 
were  brought  in  this  expedition.  It  does  not  positively  appear 
from  any  existing  record  that  either  of  these  men  got  well  during 
the  year  at  Quebec ;  at  any  rate,  they  were  both  left  there  sick  after 
most  of  the  remaining  survivors  had  returned  to  Boston.  Four  of 
the  soldiers  came  in  within  a  week,  and  one  a  full  month,  after  the 
two  officers.  As  in  duty  bound.  Sergeant  Hawks  made  his  report  to 
the  government  of  the  colony  in  respect  to  his  command,  but 
tardily,  and  some  time  after  the  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  had  been 
formally  proclaimed  at  Boston.  This  report  is  extant,  and  is  inter- 
esting, and  shall  be  given  here  in  full. 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS. 


187 


An  Account  of  the  Company  in 
MAXD   of   Sergt.    John   Hawks 
Massachusetts  Aug.  20,  1746. 


HIS  Majesty's  Service   under  the  com- 
WHO   were    taken   with    him   at    Fort 


Ketirned 

Wkkk^ 

s.S:  Days 

Per 

'M-.N-TII 

John  Hawks 

Sery^t. 

Deerfield 

Aug.    28,  i: 

:;:V8 

John  Norton 

Chaj.lain  Line  of  Forts 

i. 

" 

Stephen  Scott 

Soldier 

Sunderland 

Aug.    26,1747 

53 

1 

26/8 

David  Warren, 

Soldier 

Sunderland 

Aug.    2C,  1747 

53 

1 

25/8 

John  Suiead  Sen. 

Pequaofe' 

Aug.    81,  1747 

58 

6 

" 

John  Sinead  Juu. 

" 

Deceased  April     7,  1747 

88 

0 

" 

Daniel  Sinead 

" 

•'        May     13,1747 

88 

1 

" 

John  Perry 

Fall  Town 

Aug.    26,  1747 

53 

1 

" 

Moses  Scott 

"       " 

4i               44              44 

58 

1 

Joseph  Scott 

Hatfield 

Sept.    27,  1747 

57 

5 

Nathaniel  Ames 

Marlborough 

Died  Nov.    17,  1747 

12 

6 

•• 

Josiah  Uead 

Itehoboth 

"    Aug.    21,  1746 

2 

'« 

Sanuiel  Lovat 

Mendon 

"    Jan.     23,  1747 

22 

3 

Samuel  Goodman 

Hadley 

"    March  21,  1747 

m 

4 

" 

Amos  Pratt 

Westborough 

"    April    12,  1747 

33 

5 

" 

Nathaniel  Hitchcock 

Springfield 

'•    May     22,1747 

39 

3 

" 

Jacob  Sheppard 

Westboro' 

"    May     80,  1747 

40 

4 

" 

Phineas  Forbush 

" 

"    July     16,  1747 

47 

2 

•• 

Jonathan  Bridgman 

Sunderland 

♦'    July    21,  1747 

48 

0 

" 

John  Aldrich                 (  .. 
Pd.  by  the  Treasurer  f 

V,..„i..M.in    <i,.,,,n.U    !M        " 

Mendon 
^\•■^r>'  IJiver 

"    Left  sick      ^       „,             ^        ^ 
1      Since   returned 
S  Left  sick  at  >  ^^^  ^^^  ^j^^^^. 

<  ye  hospital  J 

but  can't 

Hampshire  SS.  Deerfield,  Sept.  19,  1749. 

Then  John  Hawks  personally  appearing  made  oath  that  the  preceding  roll 
contains  an  account  of  the  men  taken  with  him  at  Fort  Massachusetts  Aug.  20^ 
1746,  ^d  also  an  account  of  their  decease,  and  return  to  their  several  homes. 

Before  William  Williams  Just.  Pads, 


To  the  Hon.bie  Spencer  Phipps  Esq'  Lieut  Gov'  and  Commander  in  Chief,  the 
Hon.bie  his  Majesty's  Council  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General  Court 
assembled  Boston  Nov  1749  : 

The  Petition  of  John  Hawks  for  himself  and  others  named  in  the  Ace'  an- 
nexed humbly  sheweth  — 

That  he  together  with  sundry  others  named  in  said  account  were  detained  in 
the  Service  of  this  Province  at  Fort  Massachusetts  in  Aug.  1746  when  the  same 
was  attacked  by  an  army  of  about  a  thousand  French  and  Indians,  that  they 
defended  the  same  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  and  whilst  their  ammunition 
lasted  repulsed  the  enemy  to  their  considerable  loss,  but  that  failing  and  no 
relief  appearing,  and  near  half  that  were  in  the  Fort  sick,  ^-  they  were  obliged 
to  surrender  themselves  into  the  hands  of  their  enemy,  and  were  by  them  car- 
ried to  Canada,  and  there  retained  the  time  set  forth  in  said  acc»,  till  the  death 
of  some  and  return  of  the  rest  to  their  respective  homes,  —  and  also  lost  their 
arms. 

Your  Pet'  prays  your  Honors  consideration  of  their  services  and  sufferings. 


188  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

and  that  you  would  in  your  great  Goodness  grant  them  such  relief  as  to  you  in 
your  Wisdom  shall  seem  best,  and  as  in  duty  bound  shall  ever  pray  — 

John  Hawks. 
[Endorsed  on  the  above] 

In  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives Jan.  22,  1749,  — 

Read  and  Ordered  that  the  following  allowance  be  made  to  the  several  persons 
herein  mentioned  —  viz.  To  each  man  or  their  representatives,  the  sum  annexed 
to  his  name. 

To  John  Hawks £21  15  1 

Stephen  Scott 16  12  2 

John  Smead 16  16  7 

John  Smead,  Jun 10  6  3 

Daniel  Smead 11  18  5 

John  Perry 16  12  2 

MosEs  Scott 16  12  2 

Joseph  Scott 18  0  3 

And  that  the  Commissary  General  be  directed  to  deliver  to  each  of  the  above- 
named  men  a  gun  out  of  the  Province  Store,  except  John  Hawks  who  has  already 
reel  one.  —  The  above  sums  and  guns  to  be  delivered  to  Timothy  Dwight  Esq., 
for  the  use  of  the  abovenamed  persons.  — 

Ordered  also  that  there  be  paid  to  Mr.  Samuel  Witt  for  the  afternamed 
persons,  or  their  representatives,  the  following  sums,  viz. 

To  Nathaniel  Ames £4      0       1 

To  David  Warren 16       5     11 

To  Jacob  Shepherd 12     13       7 

And  that  the  abovenamed  Nath'  Ames  and  Jacob  Shepherd  be  allowed  each 
a  gun  out  of  the  Province  Store. 

It  is  also  further  Ordered  that  the  following  sums  be  paid  to  Capt.  Samuel 
Chamberlayne  for  the  use  of  the  persons  hereafter  named,  viz. 

To  Ebenezer  Gould £0     10    0 

Benj.  Eassett 0     15    0 

Nath^  Hunt 0     12     6 

in  full  for  horse  hire  when  they  were  carried  from  Fort  Massachusetts  sick. 

Sent  up  for  concurrence 

Tho.  Hubbard 
Spt/  pro  tempore. 

We  must  now  take  our  final  leave  of  the  captives  of  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts as  such.  When  the  fort  was  beleaguered,  there  were  thirty 
persons  within  it ;  namely,  twenty-two  men,  three  women,  and  five 
children.  One  of  the  men,  Thomas  Knowlton,  was  killed  the  day 
the  fort  surrendered;  another,  Josiah  Eead,  died  the  next  day  at 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  189 

what  is  now  called  "  Petersburg  Junction,"  where  was  born  the  same 
night  "  Captivity  "  Smead.  None  died  on  the  way  to  Quebec,  leav- 
ing twenty-nine  captives  to  enter  that  city.  The  first  death  among 
them  there,  where  all  the  circumstances  being  considered  they  were 
well  treated,  was  that  of  Miriam,  wife  of  Moses  Scott,  who  had 
"catched  a  grievous  cold"  in  ''s.  very  heavy  shower  of  rain,"  that 
fell  the  day  the  captives  crossed  the  Battenkill,  the  first  Sunday 
after  the  surrender  of  the  fort.  She  died  December  11.  Twelve 
days  later  died  Rebecca,  the  wife  of  John  Perry.  February  11  died 
Moses  Scott,  Junior,  a  child  two  years  old.  On  the  29th  of  March 
fell  the  first  of  a  series  of  heavy  blows  on  the  soldier,  John  Smead, 
in  the  death  of  Mary,  his  wife.  Just  three  weeks  later  died  their 
daughter  "Captivity,"  nine  months  old.  Of  the  ten  soldiers  who 
died  at  Quebec,  two  of  them,  Daniel  and  John,  Junior,  were  sous  of 
John  and  Mary  Smead.  The  father  returned  to  his  home  in  Athol 
(Pequoag)  on  the  last  day  of  August,  and  on  the  19th  of  October 
was  travelling  from  Northtield  to  Sunderland  down  the  Connecticut 
River,  when  he  fell  into  an  Indian  ambush  and  was  killed  and 
scalped.  How  many  of  the  captives,  then,  ever  got  back  to  their 
homes  ?  All  three  of  the  women  died,  and  two  of  the  six  children, 
and  twelve  of  the  twenty-two  soldiers,  leaving  but  fourteen  of  the 
thirty-one ;  and  of  these  fourteen,  John  Smead  survived  his  return 
just  seven  weeks ;  four  of  the  thirteen  left  were  children ;  the  Ser- 
geant commanding  and  the  Chaplain  recording  reduced  the  number 
to  seven  soldiers;  namely,  Stephen  Scott,  David  Warren,  John 
Perry,  Joseph  Scott,  John  Aldrich,  Moses  Scott,  Benjamin  Simonds. 
Of  these,  two  only,  Perry  and  Simonds,  were  any  way  conspicuous 
in  later  life.  The  place  of  residence  of  Thomas  Knowlton,  shot  in 
the  watch  tower  of  the  fort,  is  unknown;  but  he  was  a  son  of 
Joseph  Knowlton,  who  some  time  after  received  from  the  colony 
the  wages  due  his  son  when  killed. 

The  curious  petition  of  John  Perry  to  the  General  Court,  written 
out  with  his  own  hand,  ostensibly  not  long  after  his  return,  though 
evidently  and  properly  receiving  no  recognition  at  the  hands  of  that 
body,  while  he  was  afterwards  paid  with  the  rest  his  full  wages  dur- 
ing his  captivity,  is  well  worth  full  quotation  on  several  accounts  :  — 

Petition  of  John  Perry. 

To  the  Honorable  Representatives  of  the   Great  and  General  Court  now  in 
Boston,  the  Petition  of  John  Perry  humbly  showeth  — 

Whereas  your  Honours  Humble  Petitioner  Enlisted  in  the  service  of  the 
Country  under  the  Comand  of  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  in  the  year  1745, 


190  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

and  was  posted  at  Fort  Massachusetts  in  housuck,  and  upon  ye  encouragement 
we  had  from  ye  late  honorable  Col.  John  Stoddard,  which  was  that  if  we  went 
with  our  Families  he  did  not  doubt  but  ye  Court  would  grant  us  land  to  settle 
on,  whereupon  I  your  Honours  Humble  petitioner  carried  up  my  family  there 
with  my  household  stuf  and  other  effects  and  continued  there  till  we  was  taken 
when  we  was  obliged  to  surrender  —  to  the  french  and  Indian  Enemy  August 
the  20  1746.  I  would  humbly  lay  before  your  Honours  the  losses  I  sustained, 
which  are  as  followeth,  a  house  I  built  there  for  my  family  80  pounds  two 
feather  beds  with  their  furniture  100  pounds  two  suits  of  apparel  apiece  for  me 
and  my  wife  150  pounds  two  Brass  Kettles  a  pot  and  pewter  with  tramel  tongs 
fire  slice  and  knives  and  forks  to  ye  balance  of  20  pounds  one  Cross  cut  saw  20 
pounds  and  one  new  broad  ax  6  pounds  three  new  narrow  axes  8  pounds  and 
one  adds  2  pounds  two  steel  traps  14  pounds  two  guns  32  pounds  one  pistol  5 
pounds  one  100  weight  of  suggar  20  pounds  total  457  pounds  with  a  great  many 
other  things  not  named;  the  losses  your  Humble  Petitioner  hath  met  with 
together  with  my  captivity  hath  reduced  me  to  low  circumstances,  and  now 
humbly  prayeth  your  Honours  of  your  goodness  to  grant  him  a  grant  of  land  to 
settle  up  near  ye  fort  where  I  fenced  about  a  mile  west  of  the  fort,  or  elsewhere, 
where  your  Honours  pleaseth  and  that  your  Honours  may  have  a  full  reward 
hereafter  for  all  your  pious  and  Charitable  Deeds  your  Honours  Humble  peti- 
tioner shall  alwais  pray. 

John  Perry. 
Nov.  5,  1747. 

John  Perry  was  a  carpenter,  as  the  reader  will  remember.  If  his 
estimate  of  the  value  of  his  tools  and  other  "  stuf  "  seem  ridiculously 
excessive  to  us,  we  must  remember  that  Massachusetts  was  then 
using  "  Colony  bills,"  which  were  greatly  depreciated  as  compared 
with  silver,  and  which  the  colony-  soon  after  (1749)  redeemed  in 
silver  at  11  :  1.  "  Ye  late  honorable  Col.  John  Stoddard  "  died  June 
19,  1748,  which  makes  quite  suspicious  the  date  of  this  petition ; 
then  it  is  altogether  too  pious  — "  charitable  deeds "  are  not  in 
order  for  a  General  Court  in  war-time,  or  peace  either ;  and  besides, 
there  had  been  a  preliminary  survey  by  the  colony  of  two  town- 
ships —  East  and  West  Hoosac  —  in  1739,  covering  the  ground 
"where  I  fenced,"  to  be  followed  in  1749  by  the  ultimate  survey 
and  allotment  of  lands,  and  of  course  the  Court  did  not  wish  to  tie 
itself  up  by  making  any  grants  likely  to  prove  inconvenient  in  the 
sequel.  It  must  be  remembered,  nevertheless,  that  perhaps  Perry's 
petition,  whensoever  sent  in,  had  some  influence  as  towards  the  pre- 
emptions and  privileges  of  the  later  soldiers  of  Fort  Massachusetts 
in  the  "  House  Lots  "  of  West  Hoosac,  of  which  we  shall  hear  more 
by  and  by. 

News  travelled  slowly  in  August,  1746,  from  the  upper  valley  of 
the  Hoosac  over  the  mountain  by  the  old  Indian  path  to  the  Con- 
necticut Eiver.     In  Deacon  Noah  Wright's  journal  this  entry :  — 


FORT    ^FASSACHT'SETTS. 


191 


and  brings  iis  news  that  the  fort  was  taken  and  burnt  to  ashes,  and  we  can't 
leani  liere  as  there  is  one  man  escaped.  I  am  in  some  hopes  that  there  are 
some  that  are  taken  captive  and  gone  to  Canada,  and  so  I  ain't  altogether  with- 
out hopes  of  seeing  some  of  them  again. 

As  soon  as  the  news  came  to  Hatfield,  a  party  under  Captain 
Oliver  Partridge  went  up  to  the  site  of  the  fort,  as  we  learn  from 
the  following  item  of  a  bill  sent  to  the  authorities  at  Boston :  <<  Also 
by  Capt.  Partridge  for  horse-keeping  when  he  went  to  bury  the  dead 
at  Fort  Massachusetts  after  the  Fort  was  taken  —  £10  0  0."  They 
found  but  one  body  to  be  buried,  and  that  the  mutilated  one  of 
Thomas  Knowlton.     It  is  more  than  probable  that  it  was  Captain 


"SADDLE   MOUNTAIN," 

Early  so-called,  overlooking  towards  the  north  the  Hoosac  River  and  the  site  of  Fort  Massachusetts.  The 
rounded  peak  to  the  left  is  the  northern  extremity  of  the  middle  lobe  of  Greylock,  nnd  has  long  been 
called  "Mount  Williams,"  and  its  lower  decline  towards  the  river  and  fort  is  now  called  "Slope 
Hawks  "  ;  the  sharper  peak  to  the  right  is  the  north  end  of  "  Prospect,"  and  its  decline  to  the  meadow 
is  "  Slop?  Norton." 

Partridge  who  took  down  from  the  well-post  the  letter  which  Chap- 
lain Norton  had  nailed  there  on  his  departure  as  a  captive ;  for  we 
find  this  entry  in  Deacon  Wright's  journal,  just  about  the  time  when 
Partridge  may  be  supposed  to  have  returned  to  Hatfield :  — 


Sept.  11,  1746 —  I  saw  a  letter  wrote  by  Mr.  Norton  at  Hoosick  after  the 
fort  was  taken,  and  he  says  the  fort  was  besieged  by  seven  hundred  French  and 
Indians,  and  they  being  brought  to  a  great  strait  the  enemy  i)repared  a  vast 
quantity  of  faggots  in  order  to  burn  down  the  fort  by  force,  but  the  French 
General  came  to  them  for  capitulation,  and  told  them  if  they  would  resign  up 
the  fort  he  would  treat  them  all  w^ell,  and  carry  them  to  Canada ;  that  they 
should  be  redeemed  as  soon  as  there  wa«  any  opportunity  ;  if  not,  he  would  kdl 


192  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

them  all.  And  so  they  resigned  up  the  fort,  and  lost  but  one  man  named 
Knowlton,  and  had  two  wounded,  and  so  all  the  rest  are  gone  to  Canada.  He 
says  they  are  all  well  used  by  the  enemy. 

When  Partridge's  men  left  the  site  of  the  first  Eort  Massachusetts 
on  this  occasion,  —  we  may  suppose  about  the  end  of  the  first  week  in 
September,  1746,  —  the  spot  itself  and  the  whole  valley  of  the  Upper 
Hoosac  remained  an  utter  solitude,  so  far  as  the  presence  of  white 
men  goes,  for  seven  or  eight  months.  The  meadow  was  then  only 
partially  cleared ;  the  part  cleared  was  cluttered  with  stumps  ;  noth- 
ing was  left  of  the  fort  but  the  well,  on  the  "  west  post "  of  which 
the  letter  had  been  nailed ;  the  forest  to  the  westward  was  unbroken 
to  Van  der  Verick's  place  at  the  junction  of  the  Little  Hoosac  with 
the  main  stream ;  the  forest  to  the  eastward  over  the  Hoosac 
Mountain  was  equally  unbroken  to  the  upper  valley  of  the  Deer- 
field  in  what  is  now  Charlemont,  where  Captain  Kice  kept  watch  and 
ward;  and  the  w^intry  snows  soon  sifted  down  upon  the  shaggy 
mountain  and  its  flanking  valleys,  covering  even  the  immemorial 
Mohawk  trail  that  traversed  all  three  alike  with  impassable  deeps  of 
whiteness. 

On  the  9th  of  May,  1748,  Sergeant  John  Hawks  started  from 
Deerfield  in  command  of  fourteen  men,  and  went,  so  the  record 
states,  "  as  far  as  the  Dutch  settlements  at  Hoosuck " ;  that  is  to 
say,  he  revisited  Van  der  Verick's  place  under  circumstances  doubt- 
less more  agreeable  to  himself  than  those  of  1746.  The  camping- 
place  there,  where  Captivity  Smead  was  born,  and  whence  the 
Indians  kindly  took  Benjamin  Simonds  (sick)  down  the  Hoosac  in 
their  canoe,  must  have  awakened  in  his  breast  vivid  recollections 
and  warm  thankfulness,  and  may  have  stimulated  him  to  write  on 
his  return  the  memorial  to  the  commander-in-chief  at  Boston,  which 
enriches  our  next  paragraph. 

One  more  original  document  must  be  quoted  here,  before  we  take 
our  final  leave  of  the  first  Fort  Massachusetts  ;  namely,  the 

Memorial  of  John  Hawks  of  Deerfield,  yeoman,  dated  June  2  1748,  humbly 
sheweth,  That  on  the  9'^  of  May  1746,  when  a  soldier  at  Fort  Massachusetts  he 
was  fiT^  upon  by  a  Party  of  the  Enemy  and  grievously  wounded  and  considera- 
bly disabled  for  any  further  services  ;  and  also  on  or  about  the  20'^  of  Aug'  then 
next  when  the  said  Fort  was  reduced  and  demolished,  he  was  captivated  by  the 
Enemy  and  carried  to  Canada  and  there  detained  a  prisoner  almost  a  year  dur- 
ing which  time  he  underwent  great  Hardships  and  Difficulties  in  addition  to  the 
Losses  he  sustained  at  the  Reduction  of  said  Fort ;  and  also  on  the  Eighth  Day 
of  February  last  he  w*  John  Taylor  and  Matthew  Clesson  set  out  (by  your 
Excellencies  order)  w*  Mons''  Raimbault  in  order  to  recover  some  English  Per- 
sons out  of  the  Hands  of  the  French  and  on  the  last  day  of  April  return^  again 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  193 

from  Canada  to  Deerfield  W  Nathan  Blake  and  Sam^  Allen  two  English  cap- 
tives recovered  from  the  French —  For  all  which  Services  and  Sufferings 
w*  others  that  might  have  been  mentioned  Your  Petitioner  has  never  had  any 
consideration  or  allowance  from  the  Government.  Your  Petitioner  therefore 
prays  Your  Excellency  and  Hon*  Consideration  of  the  Premises  as  well  w»  regard 
to  the  said  John  and  Matthew  as  himself  and  such  Relief  under  his  Difficulties 
in  particular  therefrom  arising  as  your  Excellency  and  Hon*  in  your  known 
Wisdom  and  Compassion  shall  seem  meet,  and  your  Petitioner  as  in  Duty 
bound  shall  ever  pray. 

John  Hawks. 
To  W™  Shirley  &c.  &c.  &c. 

The  old  French  aud  Indian  War,  sometimes  called  Governor 
Shirley's  War,  went  vigorously  forward  in  the  way  of  preparations 
on  both  sides,  during  the  winter  of  1746-47.  With  the  course  and 
issue  of  it  in  general  we  have  no  present  concern.  Only  as  it 
stands  related  to  events  in  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Hoosac  have  we 
to  do  with  it  here.  In  the  same  sense  we  are  interested  in  the 
character  and  activities  of  William  Shirley  at  Boston.  Of  English 
birth  and  education,  as  a  lawyer  he  had  practised  some  years  in 
Boston,  when,  in  1741,  he  was  appointed  by  the  Crown,  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  —  an  office  which  he  held  to  the  striking  profit  of 
the  colony,  and  with  credit  to  himself,  until  1757,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  Thomas  Pownall.  In  military  affairs  he  acted  to  the 
westward  of  his  province,  through  Colonel  John  Stoddard  of  North- 
hampton, till  the  latter's  death  in  1748,  and  then  mainly  through 
Colonel  Israel  Williams  of  Hatfield.  The  fall  of  Fort  Massachu- 
setts affected  Shirley  more  deeply  than  any  other  man  in  the 
colony,  and  next  to  him,  undoubtedly,  Stoddard  himself.  The  fol- 
lowing letter,  in  Shirley's  own  hand,  gives  us  a  vivid  idea  of  him 
as  a  man  and  a  governor,  and  of  his  sense  of  the  importance,  at 
that  time,  to  English  interests  in  New  England,  of  the  site  of  that 
fort ;  and  goes  far  to  justify  the  later  characterization  of  the  spot,  l^y 
Edward  Everett,  as  a  "  Thermopylae  "  :  — 

Boston,  April  10,  1747. 

Gentlemen,  —  You  are  hereby  desired  and  directed  to  provide  for  the  erecting, 
and  then  to  erect  and  build  a  good  commodious  Blockhouse  at  or  near  the  place 
where  the  Fort  called  Massachusetts  late  stood.  —  You  must  take  effectual  care 
that  it  be  built  in  the  best  manner  for  defence  and  strength,  and  for  the  accom- 
modating and  lodging  a  Garrison  of  thirty  men,  with  convenience  for  such  other 
men  as  His  Majesty's  Service  may  occasionally  require  to  be  there  quartered  or 
entertained ;  and  to  build  another  Blockhouse  at  some  convenient  Place  West 
of  Fort  Pelham ;  you  must  take  care  that  each  Blockhouse  have  a  good  Well 
within  the  Works,  —  You  must  use  all  needful  Frugality  in  this  Business,  and 
particularly  in  employing  some  of  the  soldiers  in  this  Work  if  anything  may  be 
saved  this  way  without  Prejudice  to  the  Work.     I  shall  order  you  a  Guard  for 


194  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  Protection  of  those  Persons  that  may  be  employed  in  cutting  and  hauling 
the  Timber,  building  the  House  and  other  Services.  You  must  send  an  account 
to  the  Commissary  General  of  the  Utinsils  that  may  be  necessary  for  the  Use  of 
the  Garrison  in  each  Blockhouse. 

Your  assured  Friend  and  Servant 

W.  Shirley. 
To  John  Stoddard       ^ 

Eleazar  Porter     j-Esq" 
Oliver  Partridge  J 


Governor  Shirley  had  no  local  knowledge  of  the  lay  of  the  land 
west  of  Fort  Pelham.  The  original  design  and  order  in  1744  when 
the  war  broke  out  was,  and  it  is  here  reiterated,  that  there  should 
be  at  least  one  fortified  place  between  Pelham  and  Massachusetts ; 
the  old  military  road  from  Coleraine  past  Shirley,  and  past  Pelham, 
was  continued  for  a  mile  or  more  due  west,  as  if  expecting  to  reach 
such  a  place ;  and  the  writer  has  often  traversed  this  piece  of  old 
road  with  curious  eyes  (it  is  not  now  used  for  travel),  until  its 
straight  course  suddenly  ceases,  and  a  narrower  road  strikes  it  on 
the  left,  running  down  southwest  to  the  Deerfield  Kiver  at  the 
present  "  Hoosac  Tunnel "  station.  The  truth  was  and  remains, 
that  a  range  of  steep  mountain  intervenes  between  Pelham  Fort  and 
the  Deerfield  Kiver,  which  here  has  a  due  south  course,  only  bending 
sharp  east  at  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel,  and  from  the  west  bank  of 
which  rises  with  equal  precipitancy  the  Hoosac  range,  the  Avestern 
flanks  of  which  reach  almost  to  the  site  of  Fort  Massachusetts. 
There  was  no  room  for  an  intermediate  fort,  and  consequently  none 
was  ever  attempted. 

Fifteen  days  after  the  above  letter  was  written,  namely,  April  25, 
1747,  Governor  Shirley  writes  again  to  Colonel  Stoddard :  — 

I  have  written  to  the  Govenor  of  Connecticut  (at  the  Desire  of  the  twa 
Houses)  to  request  that  Government  to  send  500  men  for  the  Defence  of  your 
County,  and  to  be  under  your  Direction ;  and  accordingly  I  desire  and  expect 
that  if  the  said  men  or  any  other  Number  of  men  should  be  sent  out  of  that  Gov- 
ernment into  the  County  of  Hampshire  that  you  take  effectual  care  that  they 
be  employed  in  the  best  manner  for  the  Security  of  the  Inhabitants  and  Annoy- 
ance of  the  Enemy. 

The  General  Court  having  allowed  a  great  Gun  of  four  pounds  shott  and  two 
swivel  guns  for  the  Fort  of  Number  Pour,  and  as  the  present  violent  assaults  of 
the  Enemy  upon  your  Frontiers  will  necessarily  oblige  you  to  defer  the  Building 
of  the  new  Blockhouses  at  present :  you  must  deliver  the  great  Gun  and  two 
of  the  swivel  Guns  out  of  the  Guns  I  have  ordered  the  Commissary  General  to 
send  to  you  for  the  Use  of  the  Blockhouses  built  or  to  be  built  in  your  County ; 
and  which  he  accordingly  sent  by  sea  about  ten  days  ago.  I  have  ordered  the 
Commissary  General  to  send  you  by  the  first  conveyance  the  four  pounder  and 
swivel  Guns  first  mentioned. 


FORT    MASSACHUSETTS.  195 

Fortunately  there  has  been  preserved  in  the  Secretary's  office,  at 
Boston,  a  package  of  receipted  bills,  marked,  "French  War  —  Forts 
t<>  Westward,"  among  which  is  the  following  interesting  item  :  — 

i  .>  I r;i  11. sporting  three  4-pomiders  from  Bostou  to  New  York    ...  .  *:i' 

"            "              "■             "            "      New  York  to  Albany 1  1<> 

'^            *'              '•                                   Albany  to  Van  l)er  lliden's  Ferry,     (•  i' 

'•            '•                                                 thence '36  miles  to  Fort  Mass    .     .     2  G 

The  "  landing-place  at  Van  Der  Hiden's "  is  the  present  location 
of  the  city  of  Troy.  These  guns  undoubtedly  reached  their  destina- 
tion on  the  desolated  site  of  the  first  fort  before  any  steps  had  been 
taken  there  to  renovate  and  rebuild.  But  these  steps  were  not  long 
delayed.  Shirley's  apprehensions  that  "  the  present  violent  assaults 
of  the  enemy  upon  your  frontiers  will  necessarily  oblige  you  to  defer 
the  building  of  the  new  blockhouses,"  were  not  justified  in  fact,  for 
Massachusetts  had  kept  a  considerable  body  of  troops  under  pay 
throughout  the  preceding  winter;  and  General  Joseph  Dwight  of 
Brookfield,  who  had  served  with  great  credit  at  Louisburg,  who 
afterwards  became  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Berkshire,  had  raised  a 
regiment  in  the  autumn,  principally  from  the  Connecticut  valley, 
for  the  projected  expedition  against  Canada ;  and,  with  his  next  in 
rank  in  the  regiment,  Lieutenant-Colonel  William  Williams,  and  the 
regiment  itself  of  ten  companies,  had  been  employed  during  the 
winter  in  northwestern  Hampshire  in  detached  parties,  scouting, 
garrisoning,  and  in  every  way  guarding  the  endangered  section.  On 
the  21st  of  April,  two  of  these  companies  and  a  part  of  a  third 
were  assigned  to  Colonel  Williams  for  the  purix)se  of  rebuilding 
Fort  Massachusetts.  In  giving  this  immediate  order  to  his  lieuten- 
ant, William  W^illiams,  General  Dwight  added,  "  I  suppose  Captain 
Ephraim  Williams  will  send  all  or  a  part  of  his,  if  you  desire  it, 
who,  I  think,  ought  to  do  their  part  of  this  duty."  Captain  Ephraim 
Williams  had  undoubtedly  spent  the  winter  in  Fort  Shirley,  and  was 
still  in  command  of  the  line  of  forts  from  Northfield  to  Fort  Pelham 
in  what  is  now  the  town  of  Rowe. 

Just  here  another  member  of  the  Williams  family  comes  promi- 
nently into  our  field  of  view  for  a  short  time,  later  to  reappear  uixm 
these  pages  for  a  considerable  stay.  This  is  Ephraim  Williams, 
Senior,  the  father  of  the  Fort  Shirley  captain  and  founder  of  Wil- 
liams College.  He  was  born  in  Newton,  near  Boston,  Aug.  21, 1G91. 
He  became  a  man  of  considerable  repute  in  Newton,  a  captain  of  the 
militia,  and  a  justice  of  the  peace  there.  In  the  first  part  of  June, 
1739,  he  aii'l  Afr  Josiah  Jones  of  Wp<^on  l>roii(_r].f  tli^ir  families  to 


196  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

Stockbridge  and  settled  there,  being  two  of  the  four  English  families 
who,  by  the  order  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  were  to 
establish  themselves  there  on  lands  granted  to  them  for  that  purpose 
by  the  Court,  for  the  moral  support  of  John  Sergeant  the  missionary, 
and  Timothy  Woodbridge  the  schoolmaster,  to  the  Indians  gathered 
there  in  a  Christian  mission  imder  the  auspices  of  the  colony.  The 
other  two  Christian  families  were  those  of  Joseph  Woodbridge  of 
West  Springfield  and  Deacon  Samuel  Brown  of  Spencer.  Even  as 
early  as  the  original  order  of  the  Court,  30  Nov.,  1743,  to  raise  a 
committee  to  build  garrison-houses  and  set  defences  to  the  west- 
ward, Blanford,  Stockbridge,  and  Sheffield  were  mentioned  as  places 
to  be  defended  in  connection  with  the  line  of  forts  running  west- 
ward from  the  Connecticut  River  at  Northfield.  Dec.  24,  1745, 
Governor  Shirley  wrote  to  Colonel  Stoddard  as  follows :  — 

I  have  had  application  made  to  me  by  Capt.  Ephraim  Williams  in  behalf  of 
Stockbridge,  and  by  the  proprietors  of  Blandford  in  behalf  of  that  town,  for 
soldiers  to  be  sent  to  each  of  those  places  for  their  further  defence  ;  and  I  desire 
you  would  consider  their  respective  circumstances,  and  order  out  of  the  forces 
now  in  your  parts  what  you  shall  judge  necessary  and  what  may  be  spared  for 
their  protection.  —  P.  S.  Capt.  Williams  desired  me  to  give  him  an  Order  for 
eight  Indians  to  scout,  but  I  have  referred  him  to  yourself. 

Governor  Shirley  writes  again  to  Colonel  Stoddard  under  date  of 
Aug.  2,  1746,  as  follows :  — 

As  to  the  difficulty  respecting  a  Major  of  Col.  Dwight's  Regiment,  altho  I 
have  a  good  esteem  of  Capt.  Williams,  and  have  considered  his  superior  charac- 
ter in  the  same  light  you  mention,  yet  Major  Pomroy's  serving  in  the  late  Expe- 
dition and  with  faithfulness  and  good  courage  (by  all  that  I  can  learn)  seems  to 
give  considerable  advantage  to  his  pretensions  ;  but  (as  I  perceive  by  Col. 
Dwight's  letter)  Maj.  Pomroy  is  not  agreeable  to  him,  nor  like  to  be  so  to  the 
Officers  and  Soldiers,  I  am  determined  in  favor  of  Capt.  Williams,  and  desire 
you  would  endeavor  to  make  Maj.  Pomroy  content  with  a  Capt"^  commission 
only,  which  he  ought  the  rather  to  be,  etc. ,  etc. 

The  elder  Williams  was  thus  undoubtedly  appointed  Major  of 
Colonel  Dwight's  regiment  about  the  time  of  the  fall  of  the  first 
Fort  Massachusetts ;  and  when  the  next  spring  opened,  and  the  two 
companies  and  a  part  of  the  third  of  this  regiment  were  set  to 
rebuilding  the  fort  on  its  old  site  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  William 
Williams,  second  in  command  in  the  regiment,  Major  Ephraim 
Williams  accompanied  them  as  next  in  command  to  his  near 
kinsman,  who  had  recently  returned  from  Louisburg  with  a  very 
considerable  military  reputation.  We  possess  no  details  of  the 
processes    of    the    rebuilding.      The   pine  trees  were   growing   in 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  197 

abundance  upon  the  meaxlow  itself.  They  were  felled  and  hewed 
and  jointed  and  pinned  together ;  doubtless  as  at  Fort  Shirley,  two 
years  before,  the  three  four-pounders  were  doubtless  on  the  ground, 
ready  to  be  mounted  as  soon  as  the  walls  were  up.  There  can  be 
little  question  that  numbers  of  those  soldiers  that  had  wrought  on 
Fort  Shirley,  and  on  the  tirst  blockhouse  here,  were  now  employed 
also  on  the  new  fort  of  similar  construction,  for  William  Williams 
had  had  the  charge  of  building  both  of  those  works,  and  he  knew 
what  men  had  shown  aptness  in  such  labors,  and  if  any  of  them 
were  in  his  regiment  now,  they  would  be  altogether  likely  to  be 
assigned  again  to  the  familiar  tasks.  Two  to  one,  that  our  old 
friend,  John  Perry,  "carpenter  of  Fall  Town,"  though  he  did  not 
get  back  from  his  captivity  in  Canada  in  time  to  build  on  the  new 
structure,  yet  revisited  later  the  scene  of  his  earlier  hazards  and 
exploits,  becoming  familiar  with  the  second  fort ;  and  Philip  Alex- 
ander (who  certainly  toiled  on  Fort  Shirley)  and  Michael  Gilson, 
too  (whose  name  is  often  on  the  muster-rolls  of  Fort  Massachusetts), 
because  we  read  expressly  in  the  history  of  Putney,  Vermont,  that 
these  three  men,  "emigrants  from  Massachusetts,"  located  on  the 
Great  Meadow  there,  and  built,  in  company  with  others,  in  1755,  a 
blockhouse  on  the  meadow  almost  the  exact  counterpart  of  the 
second  Fort  Massachusetts.  The  Putney  fort  is  described  as  fol- 
lows in  Thompson's  "  Vermont "  :  — 

This  fort  was  120  feet  long  by  80  wide,  and  was  built  of  yellow  pine  timber, 
hewed  six  inches  thick  and  laid  up  about  10  feet  high,  —  the  houses  were  built 
against  the  wall,  with  a  roof  slanting  up,  (called  a  salt-box  roof,)  to  the  top  of 
the  wall,  the  wall  of  the  fort  making  the  back  wall  of  the  house,  and  the  houses 
all  fronting  the  hollow  square  in  the  centre  of  the  fort.  It  was  garrisoned  by 
troops  from  New  Hampshire  until  about  1700. 

Besides  Colonel  William  Williams  in  command  at  the  rebuilding 
of  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  Major  Ephraim  Williams  his  second  in 
command  there,  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  also  then  commanding 
in  the  line  of  forts  westward  from  Connecticut  River,  was  at  Fort 
Massachusetts  while  the  work  was  going  on  there  in  some  connec- 
tion with  the  Commissary  department.  •  His  cousin,  Major  Israel 
Williams  of  Hatfield,  was  commissioned  "Commissary  to  the  West- 
ern Forces,"  Oct.  18,  1744,  and  continued  in  that  capacity  till  the 
death  of  Colonel  John  Stoddard  in  1748,  when  he  succeeded  Stod- 
dard in  the  command  of  the  western  militia,  and  Major  Elijah 
Williams  of  Deerfield  became  Commissary  to  the  westward.  The 
General  Court  had  resolved  to  garrison  100  men  in  Fort  Massachu- 
setts so  soon  as  it  should  be  completed.     Israel  Williams  was  expe- 


198  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

rienced  enough  to  know  that  a  very  considerable  base  of  supplies 
would  be  needed  to  maintain  such  a  garrison  in  such  a  place,  noth- 
ing short  of  Albany ;  accordingly,  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  was 
sent  from  the  fort  to  Albany  with  an  escort  of  100  soldiers  to  guard 
provisions  purchased  there  on  their  way  thence  to  the  fort,  as  he 
himself  expressed  it  in  a  memorial  dated  November,  1747 :  "  That  in 
the  month  of  May  last  I  went  from  Fort  Massachusetts  to  Albany 
to  bring  out  stores  for  the  use  of  the  Government  at  that  Fort,"  etc., 
etc.  Before  the  return  of  this  escort  from  Albany,  and  while  the 
workmen  were  still  employed  on  the  construction  of  the  fort,  a  body 
of  the  French  and  Indian  enemy  approached  the  fort  with  the  double 
intent  of  interrupting  the  work  upon  it  and  cutting  off  the  escort 
of  the  provisions,  and  lay  concealed  for  some  time  in  the  circum- 
adjacent  woods.  On  the  25th  of  May,  the  vanguard  of  the  escort 
arrived  near  the  fort,  and  was  suddenly  attacked  by  the  enemy 
that  had  been  in  ambush.  The  workmen  on  the  fort,  who  always 
had  their  arms  close  by,  immediately  advanced  on  the  enemy,  put- 
ting him  between  two  lires  in  the  sharp  skirmish  that  ensued,  which 
resulted  in  driving  him  into  the  woods  for  good,  so  that  the  escort 
came  up  with  the  loss  of  only  one  Stockbridge  Indian  and  two  men 
wounded. 

Just  a  week  later  than  this  skirmish,  the  fort  being  now  com- 
pleted and  provisioned,  the  command  over  it  was  transferred  by  the 
following  written  order,  happily  preserved  to  us  among  the  papers 
of  the  writer.  Colonel  William  Williams  :  — 

Fort  Massachusetts,  June  2,  1747. 
Major  Ephraim  Williams 

Sir,  —  Intending  by  the  leave  of  Providence  to  depart  this  fort  to-morrow, 
which,  through  the  goodness  of  God  towards  us  is  now  finished,  I  must  desire 
you  to  take  the  charge  of  it ;  and  shall,  for  the  present,  leave  with  you  eighty 
men,  which  I  would  have  you  detain  here  till  the  barracks  are  erected,  which  I 
would  have  you  build  in  the  following  manner,  viz.,  seventy  feet  in  length, 
thirty  in  breadth,  seven-feet  post,  with  a  low  roof.  Let  it  be  placed  within  five 
feet  of  the  north  side  of  the  fort,  and  at  equal  distances  from  the  east  and  west 
ends. 

Let  it  be  divided  in  the  middle  with  a  tier  of  timber ;  place  a  chimney  in  the 
centre  of  the  east  part,  with  two  fire-places  to  accommodate  those  rooms.  In 
the  west  part,  place  the  chimney  so  as  to  accommodate  the  two  rooms  on  that 
part,  as  if  the  house  was  but  twenty  feet  wide  from  the  south  ;  making  a  parti- 
tion of  plank,  ten  feet  distance  from  the  north  side  of  the  barrack,  for  a  store- 
room for  the  provisions,  &c. 

The  timber,  stone,  clay,  lath,  and  all  materials,  being  under  the  command  of 
your  guns,  I  can't  but  look  upon  you  safe  in  your  business,  and  desire  you  to 
see  everything  finished  workmanlike  ;  and  when  you  have  so  done,  you'll  be 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  199 

pleased  to  dismiss  Capt.  Ephraim  Williams,  with  his  men,  and  what  of  my  com- 
pany I  leave.  You'll  not  forget  to  keep  a  scout  east  and  west,  which  the  men 
of  your  company  are  so  well  adapted  for,  and  can  be  of  very  little  service  to  you 
in  the  works. 

Sir,  I  shall  not  give  you  any  particular  directions  about  maintaining  the 
strong  fortress  or  governing  your  men,  but,  in  general,  advise  you  always  to  be 
on  your  guard,  nor  suffer  any  idle  fellows  to  stroll  about.  Sir,  I  heartily  wish 
you  health,  the  protection  and  smiles  of  Heaven  on  all  accounts,  and  am,  with 
esteem  and  regard,  sir 

Your  most  humble  servant, 

W''.  Williams. 

This  is,  on  the  whole,  the  most  interesting  contemporary  doc- 
ument extant  relating  to  the  second  Fort  ^Massachusetts.  The 
directions  and  descriptions  in  it  are  at  once  clear  in  terms,  courte- 
ous to  his  subordinate,  military  in  form*,  and  withal  a  trifle  grandil- 
oquent, as  befitted  an  officer  left  in  command  of  the  ''  grand  fortress  " 
of  Louisburg  only  the  year  before.  The  contrast  must  have  been 
great  in  his  mind  —  although  this  order  does  not  betray  it — between 
that  genuine  *^ Gibraltar  of  America"  and  this  rustic  blockhouse  of 
pine  wood ;  but  he  makes  the  most  of  it,  such  as  it  was.  It  was 
indeed,  in  point  of  strength,  a  great  gain  over  the  first  fort.  The 
newly  arrived  cannon  were  already  mounted  upon  its  corner  plat- 
forms. It  was  this  feature,  if  any,  that  justifies  his  epithet  of 
*'  strong  fortress."  The  barracks  soon  to  be  built  would  furnish  the 
garrison  two  rooms  for  eating  and  sleeping,  thirty-five  feet  by  fifteen, 
and  two  more  thirty-five  by  ten  feet,  and  one  room  on  the  northwest 
corner  for  provisions,  thirty-five  feet  by  ten. 

The  rations  allowed  the  troops  on  these  frontiers  during  this  war 
were  as  follows  :  — 

Garrison  Forces. 

1  lb.  of  Bread  •»  . 

i  pint  of  Peas  or  Beans  /  ^  ' 

2  lbs.  of  Pork  for  three  days  ; 

1  gallon  of  Molasses  a  man  for  42  days. 

Marching  Forces. 

1  lb.  of  Bread  > 

1  lb.  of  Pork  r  per  day. 

1  gill  of  Rum  ) 

The  length  of  the  new  blockhouse  is  nowhere  mentioned  in  any 
of  the  papers  remaining  that  relate  to  its  construction ;  but  it  could 
not  have  been  less  than  100  feet,  and  there  are  some  slight  grounds 
for  inferring  that  it  was  120  feet.     The  barracks  were  to  be  placed 


200  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

"within  five  feet  of  the  north  side  of  the  fort,  and  at  equal  dis- 
tances frpm  the  east  and  west  ends.''  As  the  barracks  were  to  be 
seventy  feet  long,  if  the  fort  were  100  feet,  there  would  have  been 
fifteen  feet  free  at  both  ends  of  the  north  side,  and  if  120  feet, 
twenty-five  feet  free.  There  was  to  be,  some  years  later,  a  mount 
for  observation  over  the  northwest  corner  of  the  fort,  as  there  was 
to  the  old  one;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  the  cannon  were  mostly 
ranged  to  the  west  or  north,  because  the  enemy  would  surely 
approach  and  probably  attack  on  those  sides.  The  sole  entrance 
to  the  fort  (always  on  the  north  side)  was  flanked  at  five  feet 
distance  by  the  barracks.  The  alley-way  between  the  two  was  con- 
venient for  the  ingress  and  egress  of  officers  and  soldiers  without 
going  through  the  barracks.  The  officers'  quarters  were  undoubt- 
edly within  the  main  enclosure,  as  was  also  the  well,  and  there 
must  have  been  at  least  one  chimney  within  for  the  accommodation 
of  those  quarters,  which  would  still  leave  an  ample  parade.  And  so 
William  Williams  doubtless  left  the  fort  June  3d  in  the  hands  of 
the  two  Ephraims,  father  and  son,  expecting  that  the  father,  so 
soon  as  the  barracks  were  finished,  would  dismiss  the  son  to  the 
care  and  control  of  his  mountain  forts  to  the  eastward. 

The  late  President  of  the  College,  Mark  Hopkins,  was  in  the 
direct  line  of  descent  from  Ephraim  Williams,  Senior,  the  officer 
thus  left  in  command  of  the  second  Fort  "  Massachusetts  " ;  and  he 
more  than  once  spoke  to  the  present  writer  (although  in  general  he 
had  very  little  intierest  in  such  matters)  of  a  tradition  that  had 
come  down  lively  in  his  family,  that  the  elder  Williams  once  held 
for  a  time  the  command  at  Fort  Massachusetts.  That  tradition  is 
now  and  here  historically  verified  for  the  first  time.  The  confusion 
has  always  been  great  between  father  and  son  in  this  case,  because 
both  not  only  bore  the  same  name,  but  also  carried  in  pretty  quick 
succession  one  after  another  the  same  military  titles.  Dr.  Smith, 
the  historian  of  Pittsfield,  who  has  cleared  up  admirably  the  story 
of  Colonel  William  Williams,  falls  here  into  the  erroneous  con- 
jecture that  "the  Major  to  whom  the  command  was  thus  trans- 
ferred was  the  founder  of  Williams  College,"  and  that  "Capt. 
Ephraim  Williams  was  probably  a  Connecticut  ofiicer  in  command 
of  one  of  the  companies  sent  by  his  colony  in  aid  of  the  common 
defence."  Connecticut  had  sent  as  yet  no  soldiers  into  these  parts, 
although  she  did  so  in  the  next  war,  as  we  shall  afterwards  have 
occasion  to  notice.  The  "Capt."  here  was  the  eldest  son  of  the 
"Major."  The  former  and  not  the  latter  became  the  founder  of 
the  College.     And  let  it  be  just  noticed  in  passing,  that  distinct  tra- 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  201 

ditions  w^  i,,c  kind  alluded  to  above  are  never  to  be  lightly  thrown 
away  in  historical  research,  even  though  at  any  given  time  no  con- 
temporaneous written  confirmation  can  be  found  for  them.  They 
are  never  to  be  taken  in  themselves  as  authority,  but  they  have 
proven  many  times  as  guides  to  the  written  and  certain  word  of 
proof,  and  sometimes  been  fairly  confirmatory  of  otherwise  doubt- 
ful contemporary  testimony. 

The  following  memorial  of  Ephraim  Williams,  Senior,  to  Governor 
Shirley,  will  give  a  glimpse  of  the  nature  of  his  brief  activities  in 
connection  with  Fort  Massachusetts.  It  was  the  son  and  not  the 
father  who  linked  the  name  of  "  Williams "  intimately  and  indis- 
solubly  with  the  fort  and  the  towns  around  it,  and  the  whole  stretch 
of  country  from  Deerfield  to  Lake  George :  — 

To  his  Excellency  Wra.  Shirley  Esq  Governor  and  his  Majesties  Council  & 
House  of  Representatives  in  Gen^  Court  assembled  Nov'.  1747. 

The  memorial  of  Eph™  Williams  of  Stockbridge,  in  the  County  of  Hampshire 
Humbly  Sheweth 

That  in  the  month  of  May  last,  I  went  from  Fort  Massachusetts  to  Albany 
to  bring  out  y«  Stores  for  the  use  of  the  Government  at  that  Fort  four  B»>'»  of 
Powder  I  was  obliged  to  give  my  obligation  too  to  the  Commissary  there  40O 
W*  of  Leatl  I  Borrowed  of  Lif^  Coll  Robberts  which  is  not  yet  returned  to  him, 
Six  Iron  Potts  I  Bo't  for  the  use  of  the  Fort,  as  also  ten  Skepple  of  Salt,  and 
three  Cask  to  put  it  in,  for  which  I  am  now  D'  there,  all  which  I  did  for  the 
Emediate  bennefit  of  the  Governt.  the  Commissary  Gen''  Informs  he  Cannot 
Settle  the  account  &  discharge  me  without  the  Courts  order,  Woold  therefore 
Humbly  move  y  Excellency  &  Hon"  to  give  directions  to  the  Commissary 
Gen"  to  settle  the  said  accounts  with  me,  or  otherwise  provide  for  my  discharge, 
as  in  your  Wisdom  you  shall  see  meet,  &  as  in  Duty  Bound  Shall  l^ay  &c. 

Eph*",  Williams 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  Dec.  10,  1747.  Read  and  Ordered  that  the 
Commissary  Gen'  be  directed  to  allow  the  Commissary  Emerson  in  the  ace'  for 
the  four  barrells  of  Powder.  And  that  s*^  Commissary  Gen'  return  the  four 
hundred  Weight  of  Lead  for  the  Use  of  Col^  Roberts  in  the  Goverm'  of  New 
York.  And  that  He  allow  the  Memorialist  in  his  Account  for  the  Six  Iron  Potts 
and  Ten  Skipple  of  Salt  above  mentioned. 


Sent  up  for  concurrence. 


In  Council  Dec.  11, 1747. 
Read  &  Concurred. 

J.  WiLLABD  6'ec 
Consented 


W.  Shirlet.  T.  Hutchinson  Spk^. 


202  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

How  long  Major  Ephraim  Williams  continued  in  the  command  of 
the  second  Fort  Massachusetts  from  this  assumption  of  it  in  June, 
1747,  there  are  no  present  means  of  determining,  nor  is  it  of  much 
consequence,  since  the  time  was  short  at  the  longest,  and  since  noth- 
ing of  much  importance  occurred,  during  its  continuance,  in  or  around 
the  fort.  The  war  was  carried  on  in  a  desultory  way  through  that 
summer  and  autumn,  in  various  parts  of  New  England;  Peter 
Bovee,  one  of  the  soldiers  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  of  whom  we  shall 
hear  more  by  and  by,  was  captured  near  the  fort  on  October  1 ;  on 
the  19th  of  the  same  month,  our  old  acquaintance,  John  Smead,  one 
of  the  heroes  of  the  capture  of  the  first  fort,  and  but  recently 
returned  from  his  captivity,  was  killed  near  the  mouth  of  Miller's 
Eiver  between  Northfield  and  Montague  ;  and  five  days  later,  Oliver 
Avery,  afterwards  an  officer  in  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  a  distin- 
guished citizen  of  Charlemont,  being  one  of  a  jjarty  of  twelve 
soldiers  passing  down  the  Connecticut  from  No.  4,  was  wounded  in 
an  attack  by  Indians,  in  which  two  of  his  companions  were  killed, 
one  captured,  and  the  rest  compelled  to  retreat  to  the  fort.  Major 
Williams  was  an  ambitious,  self-seeking,  not  over-scrupulous,  fron- 
tiersman at  that  time.  He  had  been  for  ten  years  a  denizen  of 
Stockbridge,  ostensibly  assisting  John  Sergeant,  who  married  his 
daughter,  to  civilize  and  christianize  the  Indians  there.  His  home 
was  on  the  ^'  Hill,"  where  he  possessed  a  broad  estate,  and  he  had, 
besides,  both  landed  and  mercantile  interests  on  the  "  Plain "  and 
elsewhere  in  the  town.  Nothing  is  more  likely  than  the  supposition 
that  the  Major  soon  wearied  of  the  monotony  of  garrison  life,  to 
which  he  was  not  accustomed,  and  withdrew,  in  the  course  of  the 
autumn,  to  more  congenial  pursuits  and  opportunities  in  Stockbridge. 

The  following  letter  from  Colonel  John  Stoddard  to  Governor 
Shirley,  dated  "  Northhampton,  March  1,  1748,"  without  mentioning 
Major  Williams  at  all,  gives  glimpses  of  how  things  had  been  at 
the  fort  during  the  preceding  winter  and  up  to  that  date:  — 

Sir,  —  I  rec^<i  Your's  of  25  Feb.ry  with  the  votes  of  Assembly.  There  are 
fourty  able  souldiers  posted  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  I  was  in  expectation  that 
Capt.  Ephraim  would  have  taken  the  charge  of  that  garrison,  but  home  affairs 
have  hitherto  prevented  him.  We  could  at  first  get  no  better  ofi&cer  than  a 
serg.  nt,  afterwards  I  gave  a  Lieut°ts  commission  to  Mr.  Elisha  Hawley,  who  is 
the  only  officer  there  at  present.  And  it  is  vain  to  expect  that  suitable  persons 
can  be  obtained  for  that  service  so  long  as  their  wages  is  so  contemptible,  unless 
we  can  find  some  persons  out  of  business.  I  think  no  man  amongst  us  equal 
(for  that  service)  to  Col^i  William  Williams,  but  he  has  lately  engaged  in  the 
Commissary  business,  and  I  can't  think  that  he  can  afford  to  serve  his  country 
without  some  reasonable  pay.    Capt.  Ephraim  Williams  must  be  thought  the 


FORT  MASSACHUSETTS.  203 

fittest  man  that  is  likely  to  be  obtained.  He  is  accounted  a  man  of  courage, 
has  lived  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  is  well  knowing  in  that  country.  It  is 
generally  talked  that  he  maintains  good  government,  and  I  know  no  man 
amongst  us  (except  Col.  Williams)  that  men  would  more  cheerfully  List  under 
than  he. 

I  know  no  others  hereabout,  that  are  any  way  equal  to  the  business,  that 
would  think  it  worth  the  while  to  leave  their  own  private  affairs  for  the  sake  of 
that  pittance  they  expect  from  the  Government.  .  .  . 

John  Stoddard. 

To  Gov.  Shirley. 

The  "  votes  of  Assembly ''  referred  to  in  this  letter  of  Colonel 
Stoddard  are  as  follows,  and  are  here  verbally  given  from  Stoddard's 
own  copy,  sent  to  him  from  Boston,  as  the  commander  of  the  west- 
ern frontiers  of  Massachusetts,  for  his  guidance  in  the  campaign 
of  1748:  — 

Voted,  That  his  excellency,  the  captain  general,  [Gov.  Shirley]  be  directed  to 
cause,  as  soon  as  may  be,  so  many  men  to  be  enlisted,  by  the  encouragement 
voted  by  the  Court,  as,  with  the  soldiers  already  posted  at  No.  4,  and  at  Fort 
Massachusetts,  will  make  the  number  at  each,  one  hundred  effective  men  (ofl&cers 
included)  ;  and  to  give  orders  to  the  commanding  officers  in  said  garrisons 
respectively,  that  a  suitable  number  be  constantl};  employed  to  intercept  the 
French  and  Indian  enemy  in  their  marches  from  Wood  Creek,  and  Otter  Creek 
to  our  frontiers ;  to  continue  in  said  service  until  the  first  day  of  October  next ; 
and  that  the  commanding  officers  keep  fair  journals  of  their  marches  from  time 
to  time,  and  return  the  same  to  this  Court ;  and  thaUover  and  above  the  bounty 
above  mentioned,  and  the  pay  and  subsistence  of  the  province,  agreeable  to  the 
last  establishment,  there  be,  and  hereby  is  granted,  to  be  paid  to  the  officers  and 
soldiers,  in  equal  paYts,  who  shall  be  on  any  scouts  that  may  kill  or  capture  any 
enemy  Indian,  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds  ;  the  scalp  of  the  Indian  killed, 
to  be  produced  to  the  governor  and  council  as  evidence  thereof. 

Accordingly,  Captain  Phineas  Stevens  was  again  appointed  to  the 
command  of  No.  4,  now  Charlestown,  New  Hampshire  ;  and  Captain 
Humphrey  Hobbs  was  ordered  to  the  same  post,  to  act  as  second  in 
command.  Everything  indicates  the  determination  of  Massachu- 
setts to  make  the  campaign  of  1748  a  decisive  one ;  and  to  make 
Fort  Massachusetts  and  No.  4  the  principal  jjoints  of  military  oper- 
ation, perhaps  to  the  relative  neglect  of  forts  Shirley  and  Pelham. 
This  may  account  for  the  willingness  of  Captain  Ephraim  Williams 
to  take  the  command  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  notwithstanding  '^home 
affairs  have  hitherto  prevented  him."  At  any  rate,  he  came  into 
the  command  there  not  long  after  Stevens  went  up  the  Connecticut ; 
but  unforeseen  and  important  events,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  pre- 
vented the  expectations  of  Massachusetts  from  being  realized  eithei 
in  that  year,  or  even  in  that  war.     For  one  thing,  the  sudden  deatl. 


204  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

of  Colonel  John  Stoddard  in  June,  by  all  odds  the  most  powerful 
man  in  the  western  end  of  Massachusetts,  while  attending  the 
General  Court  at  Boston,  was  a  serious  loss  to  the  western  frontiers 
in  every  civil  and  military  aspect.  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  of  Hat- 
field, who  had  acted  as  Commissary  under  Colonel  Stoddard,  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him  in  the  chief  command,  and  immediately 
entered  upon  that  difficult  duty;  and  Major  Elijah  Williams,  of 
Deerfield,  was  at  the  same  time  appointed  to  the  commissary  depart- 
ment on  the -western  frontier,  under  John  Wheelwright,  Commissary- 
General  at  Boston. 

For  another  thing,  public  affairs  were  so  shaping  themselves  in 
Europe  during  that  summer,  as  to  indicate  the  present  weariness  of 
both  parties  with  the  war,  and  a  disposition  to  postpone  the  final 
struggle  between  them  for  the  possession  of  America,  to  a  date  in 
the  still  not  distant  future.  The  Peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle,  signed 
on  the  18th  of  October,  1748,  was  a  truce  rather  than  a  settlement. 
To  the  disgust  of  the  New  England  colonists,  who  had  conquered  it 
by  their  own  (almost)  unaided  resources  in  1745,  the  fortress  of 
Louisburg  was  surrendered  back  to  France ;  and  to  soothe  the  ruffled 
feelings  of  Massachusetts  in  the  matter,  England  shipped  to  that 
colony,  in  coin,  as  a  sort  of  ransom  for  Louisburg,  £138,649  sterling, 
which  Massachusetts  used  at  once -to  redeem  her  outstanding  bills 
of  credit,  at  the  then  ruling  rate  of  eleven  of  paper  to  one  of  silver, 
and  became  thereby,  for  a  time,  the  so-called  "  silver  colony."  But 
before  the  news  of  Aix  la  Chapelle  reached  the  colonies,  there  was 
one  warlike  exploit  in  connection  with  jSTo.  4,  and  another  in  con- 
nection with  Fort  Massachusetts,  which  are  well  worth  narrating 
here;  and  even  after  the  news  of  the  Treaty  had  been  received, 
Massachusetts  showed  her  suspicions  of  its  probable  brevity,  by 
maintaining  reduced  garrisons  at  forts  Dummer  and  Massachu- 
setts, and  small  posts  at  Deerfield,  Northfield,  Pontoosuck,  and 
Stockbridge.  By  a  vote  of  the  General  Court,  passed  Dec.  27,  1723, 
namely,  "To  build  a  blockhouse  above  Northfield,"  Lieutenant 
Timothy  Dwight,  the  same  who  was  concerned  twenty  years  later  in 
building  forts  Shirley  and  Pelham,  left  Northampton  with  sixteen 
men,  Feb.  3,  1724,  to  go  up  the  river  and  begin  the  works,  which 
came  to  be  called  "  Fort  Dummer,"  and  which  was  the  first  settle- 
ment of  w^hite  men  within  the  present  state  of  Vermont. 

As  to  the  first  exploit,  in  June,  we  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote 
the  vivid  account  given  in  Hoyt's  "  Indian  Wars  "  :  — 

Captain  Humphrey  Hobbs,  with  forty  men,  was  ordered  from  Charlestown, 
through  the  woods  to  fort  Shirley  in  Heath,  one  of  the  posts  on  the  Massachu- 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  205 

setts  line.  The  march  was  made  without  interruption,  until  Hobbs  arrived 
at  what  is  now  Marlboro  in  Vermont,  about  twelve  miles  northwest  of  Fort 
Dummer,  where  he  halted  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  June  to  give  his  men  an  oppor- 
tunity to  refresh  themselves.  A  large  body  of  Indians,  under  a  resolute  half- 
breed  chief  by  the  name  of  iSackett,  discovered  Hobbs'  trail,  and  made  a  rapid 
march  to  cut  him  off.  Without  being  apprised  of  the  pui-suit  of  the  enemy, 
Hobbs  had  circumspectly  posted  a  guard  on  his  trail,  and  his  men  were  regaling 
themselves  at  their  packs,  on  a  low  piece  of  ground  covered  with  alders,  inter- 
mixed with  large  trees,  and  watered  with  a  rivulet.  The  enemy  soon  came  up 
and  drove  in  the  guard,  which  first  apprised  Hobbs  of  their  proximity.  With- 
out the  least  knowledge  of  their  strength,  he  instantly  formed  for  action  ;  each 
man  selecting  his  tree  for  a  cover.  Confident  of  victory  from  their  superiority 
of  numbers,  the  enemy  rushed  up  and  received  Hobbs'  well-directed  fire,  which 
cut  down  a  number  and  checked  their  impetuosity.  Covering  themselves  also 
with  trees  and  brush,  the  action  became  warm,  and  a  severe  conflict  ensued 
between  sharpshooters.  The  two  commanders  had  been  known  to  each  other  in 
time  of  peace,  and  both  bore  the  character  of  intrepidity.  Sackett,  who  could 
speak  English,  in  a  stentorian  voice  frequently  called  on  Hobbs  to  surrender, 
and  threatened  in  case  of  refusal  to  rush  in,  and  sacrifice  his  men  with  the 
tomahawk.  Hobbs  in  a  voice  which  shook  the  forest  as  often  returned  a  defi- 
ance, and  urged  his  enemy  to  put  his  threats  in  execution.  The  action  continued 
with  undaunted  resolution,  and  not  unfrequently  the  enemy  approached  Hobbs' 
line  ;  but  were  driven  back  to  their  first  position  by  the  fatal  fire  of  his  sharp- 
sighted  marksmen  ;  and  thus  about  four  hours  elapsed,  without  either  side  giv- 
ing up  an  inch  of  their  original  ground.  At  length  finding  Hobbs  determined 
on  death  or  victory,  and  that  his  own  men  had  suffered  severely,  Sackett  ordered 
a  retreat,  carrying  off  his  dead  and  wounded,  and  leaving  his  antagonist  to 
continue  his  march  without  molestation. 


1  Ills  interesting  struggle  took  place  on  the  very  upper  waters  of 
Green  River,  which  drops  into  the  Deerfield  only  a  mile  or  two 
above  the  point  where  their  united  stream  finds  the  Connecticut ; 
and  from  this  "  rivulet "  it  was  not  far  in  a  southwest  direction  to 
the  east  branch,  and  thence  on  the  same  line  to  the  west  branch,  of 
the  North  River,  so-called,  which  falls  into  the  Deerfield  a  few  miles 
above  Shelburne  Falls ;  and  near  this  latter  "  rivulet "  stood  Fort 
Shirley.  Fancy  the  scene  at  the  gate  of  the  fort  when  these  thirty- 
three  or  thirty-four  victors,  for  they  lost  but  six  men  in  the  fight, 
greeted  their  garrison  brothers  twenty -four  hours  later !  There  was 
more  life,  depend  on  it,  in  and  around  that  sixty-foot  square  block- 
house at  that  moment,  than  there  ever  had  been  before,  or  has  been 
since  !  They  raised  Hobb  there  !  The  monotony  of  garrison  life 
had  been  terrible  on  that  hilltop  for  four  years ;  but  now  it  was 
broken  for  once !  The  victors  boasted  that  the  Indians  had  been 
pretty  certainly  four  to  one  of  the  English.  They  related  how, 
often  during  the  fight,  they  had  seen  the  dead  bodies  of  the  Indians 


206  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

they  had  killed,  sliding  along  the  ground,  as  if  by  i^iagic,  when  the 
comrade  nearest  to  the  killed,  crawled  up  under  cover  of  the  trees 
and  brush,  and  fixing  a  tump-line  to  the  body,  dragged  it  to  the  rear, 
after  the  Indian  custom.  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  had  left  a 
little  time  before  this  his  previous  headquarters  at  Shirley,  to  take 
up  the  new  command  at  Massachusetts ;  and  so  these  jubilant 
soldiers  from  No.  4,  coming  we  know  not  on  what  errand,  and  going, 
we  know  not  when  and  whither,  left  behind  them  vivacious  tradi- 
tions of  their  exploit  among  the  soldiers  serving  along  the  Massa- 
chusetts line,  and  left  also  the  for  once  vivified  Fort  Shirley  to  its 
subsequent  insignificance  and  ultimate  desolation. 

The  other  military  exploit  of  the  summer,  happening  on  the  2d  of 
August,  concerns  us  much  more  nearly,  inasmuch  as  it  took  place  at 
Fort  Massachusetts,  and  affords  us  also  our  very  first  chance  to 
study  in  action  the  character  of  Captain  Ephraim  Williams,  with 
the  added  privilege  of  studying  his  own  careful  account  of  the  affair 
written  on  the  very  day  it  occurred. 

It  was  from  August  to  August  two  years  between  the  first  general 
attack  upon  and  the  consequent  surrender  of  the  first  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts in  1746,  and  the  second  and  only  other  general  assault 
upon  the  fort  after  its  rebuilding.  The  second  fort  was  much  the 
stronger,  as  we  have  already  seen ;  but  the  cannon  were  undoubtedly 
mounted  so  as  to  sweep  the  north  and  west,  on  which  sides  the 
French  and  Indians  would  naturally  appear,  both  from  the  point  of 
their  general  approach  and  especially  from  the  lay  of  the  land  there, 
and  on  which  sides  in  the  main  the  attack  of  1746  was  made; 
while  the  attack  of  1748  was  very  shrewdly  planned  on  the  part  of 
the  French,  was  made  from  the  east  and  south  sides,  —  on  which 
the  fort  was  less  formidable,  —  and  came  very  near  being  successful 
on  account  of  what  one  cannot  help  regarding  as  rashness  on  the 
part  of  Captain  Williams.  We  shall  let  him  tell  his  own  story  in  a 
moment,  but  an  outline  of  the  main  facts  will  prepare  us  the  better 
to  judge  of  that  and  of  him. 

In  the  late  afternoon  of  the  1st  of  August,  the  garrison  (then 
full)  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  an  ambush  of  French  and 
Indians  had  been  laid  in  the  woods  that  skirted  the  river  on  the 
side  next  the  fort.  The  place  where  the  old  Mohawk  trail  crossed 
the  Hoosac  —  a  trail  still  used  in  these  French  wars  —  was  due 
east  of  the  fort  about  fifty  rods.  The  place  is  perfectly  plain  to 
this  day,  —  a  broad  shoal  in  the  stream  easily  f ordable,  —  and  still 
used  as  a  ford  whenever  anything  happens  to  the  highway  bridge 
just  a  little  above.     Just  a  little  below  the  fording-place,  the  stream, 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  207 

which  here  falls  southerly,  turns  westerly,  and  keeps  that  course  at 
about  the  same  distance  to  the  south  of  the  fort  as  to  the  east  of  it. 
Dense  woods  skirted  the  stream  on  those  sides  of  the  fort.  At  six 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  2d,  Captain  Williams  went  out  at  the 
gate  to  observe  the  motions  of  the  fort  dogs,  and  satisfied  himself 
that  the  ambush  was  about  forty  rods  to  the  east  of  the  fort, 
between  it  and  the  fording-place ;  and  going  back  into  the  fort, 
where  all  was  commotion,  a  few  men  were  eager  to  go  out  and 
reconnoitre.  He  refused  to  let  them  go  because  they  were  too  few, 
and,  getting  ready  fifty  men  for  a  sajjy,  he  found  that  four  men 
had  gone  out  without  his  permission,  and  were  standing  their 
ground  against  twelve  or  fifteen  who  had  come  out  into  the  open ; 
whereupon,  Williams  hastily  sallied  with  thirty  men,  and  drove 
these  back  into  the  woods  near  the  fording-place,  when  fifty  Indians 
in  ambuscade  on  his  right  (southeast  of  the  fort)  rose  and  gave  him 
a  general  discharge  of  their  guns  and  then  tried  to  get  in  between 
him  and  the  fort,  that  is,  to  cut  off  his  communications ;  but  by  a 
quick  movement  in  retreat,  the  Captain  and  his  party  regained  the 
gate  just  in  time  to  have  it  shut  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  Lieuten- 
ant Hawley  and  Ezekiel  Wells  were  wounded  (the  last  mortally) 
in  the  sally.  A  large  body  of  the  enemy,  probably  their  whole 
force,  estimated  as  between  two  and  three  hundred  Indians  and 
thirty  Frenchmen,  then  came  out  from  their  cover  and  opened  fire 
on  the  fort,  which  they  continued  nearly  two  hours  under  a  spirited 
response  from  the  fort.  One  of  the  garrison,  Samuel  Abbot,  was 
killed.  The  enemy  then  drew  off  down  the  Hoosac  by  the  old  trail, 
carrying  their  killed  and  wounded. 

The  criticism  has  often  been  made  on  Captain  Williams  that  he 
put  everything  to  hazard  by  sallying  when  he  was  only  half  pre- 
pared for  it,  before  he  had  ascertained  at  all  the  strength  of  his  foe, 
and  without  entrusting  his  command  to  a  subordinate.  Had  he 
fallen  in  the  sally,  his  party  would  in  all  likelihood  have  been  cut 
off,  and  the  loss  of  the  fort  might  have  followed.  Courage  he  had 
in  plenty.  Had  he  a  due  military  caution  ?  Under  a  proper  sol- 
dierly discipline,  would  four  men  have  gone  out  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy  "  unbeknown  "  to  their  commander  ?  Certain  events  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lake  George,  seven  years  later,  throw  back  a  melancholy 
light  upon  these  questions,  and  deepen  the  impression  produced  on 
the  mind  by  the  history  of  war,  that  circumspection  is  one  of  the 
chief  virtues  of  a  military  officer.  The  Captain's  own  letter  ad- 
dressed to  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  his  immediate  military  superior, 
written  on  the  day  of  the  fight,  is  crowded  with  interest  in  every 


208  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

line,  makes  the  best  exj^lanation  of  his  conduct  possible  to  be  had, 
unfolds  his  own  personal  traits  in  several  lines,  and  gives  precious 
glimpses  of  the  conditions  and  circumstances  of  the  time. 

Fort  Massachusetts,  Aug't  2,  1748. 
Sir,  —  You  may  remember  in  my  last  I  informed  you  y*  our  scout  to  Scatti- 
cook  was  discovered  July  23  by  the  enemy  and  followed  in,  and  that  they  had 
observed  the  motion  of  the  garrison  night  and  day  ever  since  —  and  that  the 
guards  I  had  sent  to  Deerfield  to  bring  stores  I  feared  would  be  ambusht  by  an 
army  in  yr.  return.  But  to  my  great  joy  yesterday  at  2  aclock  post  m,  ye  2 
Lieuts  Severance  and  Hawley  with  40  of  the  guard  arrived  safe  at  the  fort.  Had 
not  made  any  discovery  of  an  enelny  in  their  march  from  Deerfield  here.  But 
in  less  than  two  hours  after  their  arrival  the  dogs  began  to  bark,  run  back 
on  their  track  some  distance  —  were  exceeding  fierce.  We  all  then  determined 
the  enemy  had  followed  them  in.  Kept  a  good  look  out,  last  night.  This  morn- 
ing at  6  o'clock  being  out  at  ye  gate  and  observing  the  motion  of  the  dogs  I 
determined  their  was  an  ambush  laid  about  40  rods  from  ye  fort,  between  the 
fort  and  where  we  crost  the  River  to  go  to  Deerfield.  Some  of  the  men  were 
desirous  to  go  see  if  it  were  so.  I  told  them  they  should  not  go  out  so  few. 
But  we  would  send  out  50  men,  (supposing  we  cou'd  have  given  them  a  welcome 
reception)  (by  taking  ye  advantage  of  the  ground,  with  the  assistance  of  our 
cannon) .  I  went  into  the  fort  to  consult  my  Lieuts.  ;  ordered  them  to  git  ready. 
Had  no  sooner  got  into  the  fort  but  one  of  the  enemy  fir'd  at  our  dogs,  which  I 
suppose  would  have  seaisd  him  immediately  had  he  not.  Upon  that  there  went 
of  a  volley  of  12  or  15  guns  at  Severall  men  which  had  got  out  unbeknown  to 
me,  who  returned  their  fire  &  stood  their  ground.  Finding  our  scheme  was  at 
an  end,  we  made  a  sally  with  about  35  men  (in  order  to  save  those  that  were 
out,  &  must  in  a  few  minutes  have  fallen  into  their  hands).  Engaged  the 
enemy  about  10  minutes  &  drove  them  off  the  ground.  Upon  which,  an  ambush 
of  50  men  about  10  rod  off  arose  on  our  right  wing,  &  partly  between  us  and  ye 
fort,  &  discharged  a  volley  upon  us,  at  which  we  were  obliged  to  retreat. 
Fought  upon  a  retreat  untill  we  got  into  the  fort,  which  they  attackt  immedi- 
ately upon  our  shutting  the  gate.  Upon  this  I  ordered  the  men  to  their  posts, 
(it  being  our  turn  now)  &  play'd  away  with  our  cannon  and  small  arms,  for  the 
space  of  an  hour  and  3  quarters  by  the  glass.  They  then  retreated  by  degrees 
at  a  considerable  distance,  &  so  drew  off.  We  had  some  fair  shots  in  the  fort. 
As  to  what  number  we  killed  &  wounded  of  the  enemy  is  uncertain.  We  saw 
them  carry  off  but  two,  that  was  just  as  the  fight  was  over.  But  this  is  certain  a 
great  many  of  the  men  fired  4,  5,  or  6  round  apiece  in  fair  sight,  &  at  no  greater 
distance  than  15  rods  —  a  great  many  shots  not  above  7.  On  our  side  we  had 
not  one  killed  on  the  spot  &  but  3  wounded,  though  I  fear  2  are  mortally  so. 
The  men  which  are  wounded  are  Lieut.  Holley,.  Sam'i  Abbot,  Eze^i  Wells.  Lt. 
Hawley  is  shot  through  the  calf  of  his  legg  with  a  large  buck  shot.  Not  hurt  the 
bone.  Abbot  is  shot  in  below  his  navel.  The  bullet  cut  out  at  his  buttock. 
Wells  is  shot  in  at  his  hipp.  The  bullet  is  lodged  in  his  groin.  (The  reason  I 
write  so  particular  is  on  account  of  their  friends.)  One  thing  is  very  remarka- 
ble (never  to  be  forgot  by  us)  that  we  should  receive  200  shot  at  least  in  the  open 
field,  not  anything  to  git  behind,  and  make  a  retreat  of  40  rods,  and  but  2  men 
wounded  (for  Abbot  was  not  out  with  us) . 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  209 

We  have  been  out  some  distance  [west]  in  order  to  judge  better  of  their  num- 
ber. Ye  army  consisted  of  at  least  between  two  and  300  men,  which  was 
chiefly  of  Indians,  though  I  believe  there  was  30  French  with  a  Commander  in 
Chief.  Some  of  them  talked  good  English,  whether  Indians  or  French  I  know 
not. 

I  conclude  by  ading  one  thing  more  (viz.)  ye  officers  and  men  behaved  like 
good  soldiers.    Not  one  man  flincht  in  the  wetting  that  was  perceiv'd.     Thus 
Sr.  I  have  given  you  an  account  of  the  whole  affair  as  near  as  I  can. 
Blessed  be  God  we  have  cause  to  sing  of  mercy  as  well  as  judgment. 
I  am  Sr.  Your  Most  Obedient 

Humble  Servant, 

Eph.  \N'n.i.iAMs,  .JrxR. 
Maj.  Israel  Williams,  Esqr. 

P.S.     We  have  received  one  gun  2  hatchet  &  divers  other  small  things.     1 . .  \\  . 

At  the  time  when  this  interesting  letter  was  written  from  Fort 
Massachusetts,  public  affairs  in  Europe  were  converging  towards  the 
Peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle,  which  was  duly  signed  on  the  18th  of 
October,  1748,  and  which  terminated  for  a  time  the  war  between 
England  and  France  ;  but  international  news  travelled  but  slowly  in 
those  days,  and  colonial  hostilities  were  kept  up, more  or  less  until 
the  outbreak  of  the  next  war,  partly  on  account  of  ignorance  of  the 
Peace,  and  partly  in  consequence  of  colonial  dissatisfaction  with  the 
retrocession  at  Aix,  of  Louisburg  to  France.  The  garrisons,  how- 
ever, were  gradually  reduced,  as  the  true  state  of  things  became 
better  known ;  from  Sept.  10,  1748,  to  December  following,  there 
were  eighty  men  at  Fort  Massachusetts ;  from  December  to  June, 
1749,  fifty  men ;  and  from  eJune  to  Dec.  10,  1749,  but  twenty  men. 
"Williams  continued  in  command  there  during  the  entire  interval, 
though  he  was  but  rarely  personally  present.  Shirley  and  Pel- 
ham  soon  fell  into  relative  insignificance  even  as  compared  with  the 
more  western  fort ;  and  on  July  15,  1749,  Lieutenant-Governor 
Phips  (Governor  Shirley  being  then,  and  for  a  long  time,  in  Eng- 
land) sent  orders  to  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  "that  the  forces 
within  ye  County  of  Hampshire  be  doomed  to  the  number  of  fifteen 
men  only,  including  officers,  and  them  to  be  posted  at  the  Fort  called 
Massachusetts  Fort,  and  to  be  continued  in  pay  till  the  first  of  May 
next,  the  rest  of  the  men  to  be  forthwith  discharged." 

Let  us  now  conclude  the  chapter  designed  to  contain  this  first 
section  of  the  history  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  with  some  account  of 
the  later  activities  of  its  early  hero.  Sergeant  John  Hawks.  The 
Sergeant  had  returned  from  his  captivity  in  Canada,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  about  the  same  time  as  the  rest  of  the  survivors  of 
the  fort-capture,  the  northward  journey,  and  the  i)rison  hardships. 


210  ORIGINS    IN    WILLI AMSTOWN. 

that  is  to  say,  in  August,  1747.  He  did  his  best  to  secure  from  the 
General  Court  what  was  due  to  his  fellow-sokliers  returned,  and  to- 
the  families  of  those  who  returned  not,  as  appears  from  the  following 
minute  of  the  House  :  — 

Aug.  17,  1747.  Voted,  That  the  Treasurer  be  directed  to  pay  what  wages 
there  shall  he  due  to  the  several  soldiers  arrived  from  Canada,  who  were  taken 
captive  at  Fort  Massachusetts  ;  upon  the  certificate  of  Sergeant  Hawks,  that 
they  were  in  the  service  as  entered  upon  the  Muster-Roll. 

Hawks  was  a  citizen  of  Deerfield,  and  highly  esteemed  there  ; 
and  so  was  John  Catlin,  whose  acquaintance  we  have  pleasantly 
made  as  arranging  for  the  early  supplies  of  the  fort.  It  will  be 
remembered  also,  that  a  part  of  the  force  coming  to  besiege  Fort 
Massachusetts  in  1746,  passed  on  to  Deerfield,  about  forty  miles 
eastward,  killed  many  persons  there,  and  took  young  Samuel  Allen 
captive  to  Canada.  Though  his  father  was  killed  in  this  fight,  and 
his  sister  Eunice  had  her  skull  fractured  by  a  tomahawk,  youngs 
Allen's  friends  were  desirous  to  recover  him,  if  possible,  from 
Canada ;  and  so,  in  February,  1748,  Hawks  received  a  commission 
from  acting-Governor  Phips  to  go  to  Canada,  and  obtain  young  Allen 
in  exchange  for  Pierre  Kambout,  a  French  officer  recently  captured 
at  Winchester.  Two  Deerfield  men.  Lieutenant  Matthew  Clesson 
and  John  Taylor,  with  the  French  captive,  accompanied  him. 

The  four  men  proceeded  up  the  Connecticut  to  what  is  now  Charles- 
town,  New  Hampshire,  then  called  fort  "  Number  Four."  On  the 
11th  of  February  the  party  started  for  Crown  Point,  across  the 
Green  Mountains;  the  route  was  through  an  absolute  wilderness,, 
there  not  being  a  solitary  English  settler  within  the  present  limits 
of  Vermont ;  the  season  was  inclement,  the  ground  covered  with 
snow,  the  march  made  on  snow-shoes,  and  all  .their  stinted  provisions, 
transported  at  their  backs.  They  camped  at  night  upon  the  snow 
after  the  Indian  manner,  sometimes  with  no  covering  but  the  bare 
heavens ;  and  though  they  bore  a  flag  of  truce,  they  were  not  with- 
out well-founded  apprehensions  of  meeting  with  hostile  savages, 
who  might  not  understand  nor  respect  their  mission.  Hawks  had  a 
compass,  and  what  is  better,  a  good  topographical  instinct;  he  had 
kept  his  eyes  open  to  good  purpose  eighteen  months  before,  when 
he  had  gone  with  the  captives  down  the  Hoosac,  and  up  Owl  Kill, 
and  across  to  a  tributary  of  Pawlet  Creek  to  Whitehall ;  there  were 
rudimentary  Indian  paths  in  summer-time  through  the  wild  forests 
and  over  the  watersheds,  but  these  were  mostly  without  a  trace  in 
the  winter  snows,  and  the  compass  and  the  course  of  the  streams 


FORT   MASSACHUSETTS.  211 

were  the  only  guide ;  at  first  they  followed  up  the  Black  River  on 
the  ice,  as  they  thought,  about  twenty-two  miles,  to  the  present  town 
of  Ludlow ;  here  they  left  the  Black  River,  and  crossing  the  crest 
of  the  Green  ^lountains  in  the  modern  town  of  Mount  Holly,  the}^ 
struck  an  upper  tributary  of  Otter  Creek,  which  they  followed  to 
its  junction ;  thence  down  Otter  Creek,  about  twenty-four  miles  as 
they  judged,  passing  two  cataracts ;  and  then  they  left  the  Creek, 
turning  sharp  to  the  left,  and  hit  the  head  of  a  small  stream,  which 
fell  into  Lake  Champlain  opposite  to  Ticonderoga.  The  route  was 
then  continued  on  the  ice  to  Crown  Point,  and  thence,  in  the  usual 
course  on  the  lake,  to  Canada. 

As  this  travelled  route  across  Vermont,  thus  extemporized  b}' 
John  Hawks  with  three  companions,  in  1748,  became  ten  years 
later  the  famous  military  road  of  General  Amherst's  campaign 
against  Canada,  a  part  of  it  laid  out  by  Hawks  himself  as  a  result 
of  his  earlier  experience  gained  along  this  way,  as  John  Stark  took 
his  soldiers  from  New  Hampshire  to  Bennington,  in  1777,  along  a 
part  of  this  very  road,  and  as  the  present  railroad  across  the  Green 
Mountains,  and  so  onward  to  Ticonderoga,  follows  in  large  part  the 
route  taken  by  Hawks  in  1748,  both  outward  and  on  his  return ;  it 
may  be  useful  to  give  here  in  order  the  names  of  the  Vermont  towns 
traversed  by  Hawks  and  his  party,  beginning  at  the  mouth  of  Black 
River :  Springfield,  Weathersfield,  Cavendish,  Ludlow,  Mount  Holly, 
Shrewsbury,  Clarenton,  Rutland,  Pittsford,  Brandon,  Sudbury,  and 
Orwell  on  Lake  Champlain. 

When  the  party  arrived  at  Montreal,  Pierre  Rambout  was  deliv- 
ered over  to  the  French  commander  there,  and  inquiries  set  on  foot 
for  Samuel  Allen,  who  was  a  nephew  of  John  Hawks,  and  the  main 
object  of  the  whole  excursion.  After  a  good  deal  of  search,  he  was 
found  among  the  Indians,  and  had  become  so  much  attached  to  their 
mode  of  life  in  the  eighteen  months  he  had  lived  among  them,  that 
he  was  unwilling  even  to  see  his  uncle,  and  showed  great  aver- 
sion to  returning  home.  When  brought  into  Hawks's  presence,  he 
acknowledged  with  reluctance  that  he  knew  him,  and  refused  to 
converse  with  him  in  English.  Various  means  were  used  with  him 
to  win  liim  back  to  his  friends  and  country,  all  to  no  purpose,  and 
he  was  only  recovered  by  threats  and  force.  When  the  party 
started  to  return  with  the  lad  in  the  early  part  of  May,  the  Indians 
showed  a  strong  disposition  to  follow  after  and  rescue  him ;  but  they 
did  not,  and  Samuel  Allen  lived  in  Deerfield  to  old  age,  and  main- 
tained his  Indian  attachments  to  the  last,  being  heard  often  to 
declare  that  the  Indian  mode  of  life  was  the  happiest. 


212  ORIGINS  IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

On  the  7th  of  June  of  this  year,  the  following  message  was  sent 
by  His  Excellency,  the  Governor,  to  the  Colonial  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, by  Francis  Foxcroft,  Esq.  (viz.)  :  — 

Sergeant  John  Hawk  having  laid  before  me  the  Journal  of  his  Travel  to  and 
from  Canada,  and  his  Petition  to  this  Court  for  some  Allowance  for  his  Services 
and  Sufferings  in  the  War,  I  can  not  but  think  he  is  well  entitled  to  the  Favour 
of  the  Court ;  and  that  what  Notice  you  may  take  of  him  in  these  Circumstances 
may  be  of  publick  Benefit  by  encouraging  others  to  behave  well  in  the  Service 
of  their  Country ;  and  therefore  I  would  recommend  it  to  you  to  make  some 
proper  allowance  to  the  said  Sergeant  Hawk  upon  his  Petition. 

This  message  was  signed  by  William  Shirley,  and  was  referred, 
together  with  Hawks's  journal  and  petition,  to  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  Colonel  Stoddard,  Colonel  Storer,  and  Major  Cushing, 
who  reported,  and  the  House  thereupon  ordered :  — 

That  the  following  Allowances  be  made  out  of  the  publick  Treasury,  viz. 

To  Sergeant  John  Hawk,  for  his  services  in  his  Journey  to  Canada,  thirty 
pounds. 

To  Matthew  Clesson  and  John  Taylor,  for  their  service,  each  twelve  pounds 
ten  shillings. 

To  Sergeant  Hawk,  on  account  of  his  being  wounded;  losing  his  gun  and 
diverse  implements  provided  for  the  use  of  the  Garrison  [at  Fort  Massachusetts 
two  years  before]  ten  pounds  twelve  shillings  and  six  pence. 

We  must  here  take  present  leave  of  John  Hawks,  who  was  forty 
years  old  when  he  made  this  successful  and  well-appreciated  trip  to 
Canada,  and  who  continued  for  thirty-six  years  longer  to  be  a  useful 
and  prominent  citizen  of  Deerfield  in  both  private  and  public  rela- 
tions. The  present  writer  copied,  some  years  ago,  from  a  headstone 
in  the  old  burying-ground  at  Deerfield,  the  following  epitaph :  — 

In  Memory  of  Col.  John  Hawks 

Who  died  June  24,  1784 

In  the  77™  year  of  his  age. 

Before  we  take  our  final  farewell  of  the  first  Fort  Massachusetts, 
and  of  the  body  of  men  who  served  within  it  and  were  carried  into 
captivity  from  it,  some  of  us  may  be  pleased  to  look  over  a  list  of 
soldiers  recruited  for  the  fort  during  that  summer  of  1746,  even  up 
to  August  20,  the  day  the  fort  surrendered  to  the  French,  especially 
as  nearly  all  of  these  enlisted  men,  although  there  was  no  fort  for 
them  to  serve  in  upon  the  Hoosac  Meadow  for  more  than  nine 
months,  are  nevertheless  found  as  soldiers  in  the  second  fort,  and 


FOKT   MASSACHUSETTS.  213 

several  of  them  continued  in  the  service  till  they  were  discharged 
by  reason  of  death,  and  still  others  of  them  continued  in  it  till  the 
close  of  the  war. 

Kphraim  Williauis,  Jr.,  Cap'  Stockbridge. 

Elisha  llawley,  Lieut.      .  Northampton. 

Daniel  Severance,  Lieut Fawl  Town. 

Caleb  Chapin,  Sergt Fawl  Town. 

Elisha  Chapin,  Sergt Springfield. 

Nathaniel  Eustis,  Sergt Goare. 

Adonijah  Atherton,  Sergt.  Deerfield. 

Ebenezer  Gould Chelmsford. 

Charles  Parmeter,  Sergt.      ....  Sudbury. 

Jonathan  Stone,  Sergt Leicester. 

Abraham  Bass,  Sergt Worcester. 

John  Hooker,  Gunner Hatfield. 

Richard  Treat,  Chaplain Sheffield. 

Phineas  Nevers,  Surg Deerfield. 

Isaac  Wyman,  Clark Woburn. 

Ebenezer  Reed,  Cent Simsbury. 

Barnard  Wilds,  Cent Rodetown. 

Edmond  Town,  Cent Framingham. 

John  Harriss,  Cent London. 

Thomas  Waubun,  Cent Sherburn. 

Micah  Harrington,  Cent Western. 

Benj"  Gould,  Cent Woburn. 

E.sack  Johnson,  Cent Rehoboth. 

William  Williston,  Cent Rehoboth. 

Charles  Wintor,  Cent Oxbridge. 

James  Hathon,  Cent Ireland. 

Richard  Staudley,  Cent Loudon. 

Abner  Robarts,  Cent Sutton. 

Jonathan  Barren,  Cent. Westfield. 

Timothy  HoUen,  Cent Sutton. 

Moses  Attucks,  Cent Leicester. 

John  Crofford,  Cent Western. 

Daniel  Ward,  Cent Upton. 

William  Sabin,  Cent Brookfield. 

Fortu"  Taylor,  Cent Leicester. 

Silas  Pratt,  Cent Shrewsbury. 

Charles  Coats,  Cent Deerfield. 

Seth  Hudson,  Cent Marlborough. 

Samuel  Abbot,  Cent Hardwick. 

Ithamar  Healey,  Cent Rehoboth. 

John  Barnard,  Cent Waltham. 

John  Morison,  Cent Colrain. 

John  Henry,  Cent Colrain. 

John  Martin,  Cent Sudbury. 

Ezekiel  Wells,  Cent Rodetown. 


214  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Samuel  Wells,  Cent Rodetown. 

George  Quaquagid,  Cent New  London. 

Thomas  George,  Cent New  London 

Ebenezer  Graves,  Cent Deerfield. 

John  Bush,  Cent Summers. 

John  Taylor,  Cent Long  Island. 

Conawoca  Delow,  Cent Deerfield. 

John  Harmon,  Cent Deerfield. 

Nath.  Brooks,  Cent Deerfield. 

Stephen  Collier,  Cent Oxford. 

Jonathan  Ennis,  Cent Summers. 

John  Perkins,  Cent Summers. 

Aaron  Denio,  Cent Deerfield. 

Benj'n  Hastings,  Cent 

Benj'n  Fassett,  Cent Westford. 

Benj'ii  Robbarts,  Cent 


CHAPTER    III. 

EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS. 

"  How  sleep  the  brave  who  sink  to  rest, 
By  all  their  country's  wishes  blest ! 
When  Spring,  with  dewy  fingers  cold, 
Returns  to  deck  their  hallowed  mould, 
She  there  shall  dress  a  sweeter  sod 
Than  Fancy's  feet  have  ever  trod. 

"  By  fairy  hands  their  knell  is  rung, 
By  forms  unseen  their  dirge  is  sung  ; 
There  Honour  comes,  a  pilgrim  gray, 
To  bless  the  turf  that  wraps  their  clay, 
And  Freedom  shall  awhile  repair, 
To  dwell  a  weeping  hermit  there." 

—  William  Collins,  in  1746. 

It  is  difficult,  from  the  scant  and  scattered  materials  now  extant, 
to  gather  a  clear  and  certain  notion  of  the  private  cliaracter  and 
public  services  of  the  founder  of  the  College,  and  the  godfather  of 
the  town  ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  do  this  without  characterizing  at 
some  length,  and  through  several  generations,  a  family  which  had 
striking  traits  of  its  own,  the  members  of  which  to  an  unusual 
degree  clung  together  for  mutual  interests  and  advancement,  and 
which  intermarried  from  time  to  time,  with  other  prominent  and 
influential  families  in  Xew  England,  —  the  whole  giving  a  sort  of 
historical  setting,  and  throwing  an  illumination  around  the  bachelor 
life  and  soldierly  career  of  our  founder.  No  other  character  in  con- 
nection with  the  town  and  the  College,  has  anything  like  the  interest 
and  fascination  for  posterity  that  attaches  to  him ;  an  interest  that 
awakens  and  deepens  at  every  gleam  of  light  which  falls  upon  his 
name  and  story  from  the  pen  of  others,  and  especially  which  is 
engendered  by  the  comparatively  few  words  now  ^wssible  to  be 
found,  falling  from  his  own  pen. 

Robert  AVilliams  sailed  from  the  port  of  Norwich,  England,  and 
settled  in  the  town  of   Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  in  or  before  the 

215 


216  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

year  1638 ;  because  it  is  a  matter  of  record  that  he  became  a  free- 
man of  that  town  in  1638,  and  it  is  also  a  matter  of  record  that  his 
son  Isaac  was  born  in  Roxbury,  Sept.  1,  1638.  The  common  infer- 
ence, however,  is  insecure,  that,  because  he  sailed  from  Norwich,  he 
was  a  Lincolnshire  man,  or  even  an  Englishman.  There  has  been  a 
strong  tradition  among  his  descendants  for  several  generations,  and 
it  was  more  than  once  expressed  to  the  writer  by  the  late  Mark 
Hopkins,  who  stood  in  the  direct  line,  that  Williams  was  a  Welsh- 
man ;  and  leading  traits  of  the  man  and  his  successors,  of  whom 
Farmer  writes,  that  he  was  "  the  common  ancestor  of  the  divines, 
civilians,  and  warriors  of  this  name,  who  have  honored  the  country 
of  their  birth,"  have  often  been  appealed  to  as  Welsh.  Edward  A. 
Newton,  of  Pittsfield,  who  married  into  the  family,  wrote  in  1847, 
not  only  in  testimony  of  the  family  tradition,  but  also  of  his  own 
observation,  —  ^'Besides,  the  prevailing  traits  of  character  in  all  the 
family  I  have  known  are  Welsh."  Robert  Williams's  wife  was  Eliz- 
abeth Stratton.  She  died  July  28,  1674,  at  the  age  of  eighty.  Her 
gravestone  is  still  extant  in  the  Roxbury  burying-ground.  His  last 
Avill  and  testament  was  drawn  up  in  full  in  1685,  and  probated  in 
1693,  the  year  of  his  death.  His  temporal  estate  was  disposed  of 
mainly  to  his  three  sons,  Samuel  and  Isaac  and  Stephen;  and  in 
small  part  also  to  his  brother,  Nicolas  Williams,  and  to  three 
grandchildren. 

Robert's  son,  Isaac,  born  Sept.  1,  1638,  married  Martha  Park, 
daughter  of  Deacon  William  Park,  of  Roxbury.  On  reaching  his 
majority  he  purchased  an  estate  of  500  acres  on  the  Charles  River, 
in  what  is  now  the  city  of  Newton,  and  settled  upon  it.  Here  his 
first  wife  died,  having  borne  him  eight  children ;  and,  in  accordance 
with  a  usage  then  almost  universal  in  New  England,  he  took  a 
second  wife,  Judith  Cowper,  about  1680,  and  she  bore  him  four 
children,  of  whom  the  youngest  was  Ephraim,  born  Oct.  21,  1691. 
The  children  of  the  first  wife  soon  found  that  they  were  possessed 
of  a  step-mother,  and  that  she  was  possessed  of  a  devil.  She  proved 
to  be  a  cold,  selfish,  grasping  woman,  having  little  or  no  sense  of 
what  was  fair  and  right  as  towards  the  older  children,  —  qualities 
which  she  certainly  transmitted  to  her  only  son,  and  which  seem 
to  have  come  down  more  or  less  to  descendants  in  several  genera- 
tions. In  March,  1704,  three  years  before  his  death,  he  conveyed 
by  deed  to  his  youngest  son  Ephraim  (then  twelve  years  old)  "  in 
consideration  of  the  love,  good  will,  and  endeared  affection,  my 
present  dwelling-house  and  barn,  with  the  land  and  meadow  adjacent, 
being  all  the  land  under  my  improvement,  and  all  the  land  on  the 


EPHRATM    WILLIAMS.  217 

east  end  of  my  farin,  cimeu  uit-  •  m-w  ut-m,  .mu  half  the  land  in 
the  *  old  field,'  that  is,  all  on  the  north  side  of  the  cart  way,  now  ' 
occupied  by  my  son  Eleazar,  and  all  the  wood  land  at  the  west  end 
of  Eleazar's  line,  being  the  whole  tract  of  land  between  the  Fuller 
line  and  the  causeway  over  the  meadow,  leading  to  the  Island,  only 
reserving  half  my  said  dwelling-house,  and  tire  wood,  for  my  dear 
and  loving  wife  Judith,  during  her  life ;  also  a  piece  of  meadow  on 
the  south  side  of  the  land,  called  *  the  Island,'  containing  about  six 
acres,  and  one  acre  of  salt  marsh  in  Cambridge."  He  also  made  a 
will  confirming  this  conveyance  by  deed.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
Jackson,  in  his  "History  of  Newton,"  employs  the  following  strong 
language : — 

It  seems  apparent  from  the  record,  thai  Llie  inliuence  of  the  beeunu  wuc  i)r<j- 
vailed  in  this  transaction,  to  secure  most  of  the  estate  to  her  darling  P'phraim  ; 
that,  although  he  held  a  Captain's  commission,  she  probably  acted  in  this 
instance  in  that  capacity,  with  the  assistance  of  some  lawyer,  who  was  willing 
to  take  fees  for  helping  enact  injustice  ;  which  will  appear  the  more  glaring  when 
we  know  that  a  large  part  of  the  estate  came  by  the  grandfather  of  the  first 
wife's  children,  whose  portions  were  thus  attempted  to  be  wrested  from  them. 
Of  course  the  first  wife's  children  remonstrated  to  the  judge  of  Probate  against 
the  will,  as  being  "  imperfect  and  insensible,"  stating  that  the  lands  of  their 
grandfather,  William  Park,  in  Newton,  were  never  so  alienated  from  him  as  to 
cut  off  their  descent  to  them ;  and  praying  that  the  whole  of  those  lands  of 
their  grandfather  Park,  may  be  divided  among  the  children  of  the  first  wife,  as 
is  their  right,  and  as  the  law  directs.  If  not,  they  will  proceed  in  their  suit 
before  the  Governor  and  Council. 

As  we  might  naturally  suppose,  the  Judge  of  Probate  set  aside 
this  will  as  invalid,  the  attempted  wrong  signally  failed  of  execu- 
tion, and  one  year  after  the  father's  death  the  estate  was  finally  set- 
tled by  mutual  agreement  among  all  the  children.  The  father. 
Captain  Isaac  Williams,  died  Feb.  11, 1707,  aged  sixty-nine,  and  was 
buried  under  arms  by  the  company  of  foot  which  he  had  com- 
manded. It  is  a  comfort  to  be  able  to  add,  that  the  widow  Judith 
lived  among  her  children  and  step-children  for  seventeen  years 
longer,  and  had  ample  leisure,  at  any  rate,  for  reflection  and  repent- 
ance. Captain  Isaac  Williams  was  a  weaver  by  trade,  a  deacon  of 
the  church,  a  captain  of  infantry,  many  times  a  selectman  of  his 
town,  and  representing  it  in  the  General  Court  in  1692  and  169") 
and  1697  and  1699  and  1701  and  1705. 

Ephraim  Williams,  born  in  Newton  Oct.  21,  1691,  notwithstand- 
ing these  untoward  beginnings,  which  colored  in  spirit  his  entire 
life,  had  a  large  career  before  him,  and  stood  in  such  relations,  both 
before  and  after,  that  history  can  never  pass  him  by  without  copi- 


218  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

ous  notice.  He  married  Elisabeth  Jackson,  April  1,  1713,  and  took 
the  ancient  mansion  and  100  acres  of  the  homestead,  that  is  to  say, 
one-fifth  of  the  landed  estate ;  and  his  mother  lived  with  him  for 
eleven  years,  until  1724,  with  "her  firewood  free,"  when  she  died, 
aged  seventy-six.  Two  sons  were  the  fruit  of  this  marriage  with 
Elisabeth  Jackson,  namely,  Ephraim,  Junior,  born  March  7,  1714, 
and  Thomas,  born  April  1, 1718.  There  was  a  second  marriage  with 
Abigail  Jones  one  year  after  the  death  of  Elisabeth  in  connection 
with  childbirth.  There  were  seven  children  by  the  later  marriage, 
three  of  whom  will  figure  more  or  less  on  the  future  pages  of  this 
book,  while  our  chief  interest  will  concentre,  of  course,  upon  the  two 
sons  of  the  first  marriage,  especially  the  elder.  The  father  in  due 
time  became  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  was  seven  times  Selectman  of 
Newton.  The  last  year  of  this  service  was  1736.  The  next  year  he 
sold  out  the  homestead  and  seventy  acres  of  land  to  Jonathan  Park, 
and  removed  his  residence,  in  1739,  from  Newton  to  Stockbridge, 
where  he  played  a  prominent  part  almost  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1754.  The  occasion  of  his  removal  to  Stockbridge  was 
peculiar,  and  worth  noting  in  this  place.  A  successful  Mission  to 
the  Housatonic  Indians  had  been  established  in  Stockbridge  in  May, 
1736,  under  the  patronage  of  Governor  Belcher  and  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts,  which  excited  a  deep  interest  throughout 
this  country  and  the  mother  country  as  well.  When  the  town  was 
originally  laid  out,  one-sixtieth  part  of  the  land  was  reserved  for  the 
use  of  Mr.  John  Sergeant,  the  missionary,  and  another  sixtieth  for 
Mr.  Timothy  Woodbridge,  the  missionary  teacher;  and  four  other 
white  families  were  also  to  be  "accommodated  with  such  part  as 
they  should  see  fit,"  —  a  laudable  provision  for  fellowship  intended 
not  only  for  the  society  of  the  missionary  and  the  teacher,  but  also 
to  afford  practical  models  for  the  education  of  the  natives  in  agri- 
culture and  housekeeping.  Joseph  Woodbridge  from  West  Spring- 
field, Ephraim  Williams  from  Newton,  Josiah  Jones  from  Weston, 
and  Samuel  Brown  from  Spencer,  constituted  the  heads  of  these 
four  families,  all  of  which  became  resident  by  1739.  Ephraim 
Williams  was  chosen  moderator  of  the  first  town-meeting  in  Stock- 
bridge,  convened  July  11,  1739.  He  was  soon  appointed  a  judge  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Hampshire  County,  in  conjunction 
with  Joseph  Dwight  of  Great  Barrington,  the  new  county  of  Berk- 
shire not  being  organized  till  1761,  their  courts  being  mainly  held  in 
Springfield.  In  consequence  of  the  long  journey  to  his  court  by  the 
old  military  road  through  Barrington  and  Westfield,  and  the  per- 
sonal inconvenience  accruing  by  absence  from  his  family  and  inter- 


EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS.  219 

ruptions  to  his  local  business,  Williams  resigned  his  judgeship  in 
1749,  and  gave  himself  thereafter  with  unusual  diligence  to  the  buy- 
ing and  selling  of  lands  in  the  western  end  of  the  state,  to  a  mer- 
cantile business  on  what  has  since  been  called  Stockbridge  "  Plain," 
and  later  to  much  supervision  and  actual  or  attempted  control  of 
the  Indian  Mission  in  Stockbridge,  which  led  him  into  a  large  corre- 
spondence and  to  frequent  visits  to  the  so-called  commissioners  in 
Boston.  His  homestead  was  on  the  "  Hill."  His  house  there  was 
afterwards  occupied  by  Kev.  Dr.  West,  his  son-in-law,  and  the  site 
(in  general)  is  still  pointed  out  by  the  dwellers  on  that  charming 
elevation.  For  reasons  which  will  be  again  referred  to  in  another 
connection.  Judge  Williams,  who  was  also  a  colonel  of  the  militia, 
was  bitterly  opposed  to  the  coming  of  Jonathan  Edwards  to  Stock- 
bridge  as  missionary  and  preacher,  as  successor  to  John  Sergeant, 
Williams's  son-in-law,  who  had  died,  beloved,  in  1749 ;  and  this  hos- 
tility to  Edwards,  sometimes  oj^en  but  more  often  underhanded,  and 
to  the  real  interests  of  the  Mission  and  its  schools,  gradually  led  to 
an  entire  loss  of  confidence  in  him  on  the  part  of  the  people  of 
Stockbridge,  to  a  frank  exposure  of  his  cold  and  selfish  character  by 
Edwards  himself  in  a  letter  to  the  commissioners,  and  to  a  con- 
sequent sale  in  1752  of  all  his  property  in  Stockbridge  to  his  eldest 
son  Ephraim,  and  to  his  abandonment  of  the  town  and  a  lonely  life 
of  two  years  in  Deerfield,  where  in  the  old  burying-ground  (not  far 
from  the  grave  of  John  Hawks)  one  may  still  read  his  epitaph :  — 

In  Memory  of  Col"  Ephraim  Williams  Esq. 
OF  Stockbridge,  who  died  Aug"  ye  11^" 

1754,  IN    YE    63"    YEAR   OF    HIS   AGE. 

Blest  be  that  Hand  divine  which  laid 

My  Heart  at  rest  beneath  this  humble  shed. 

The  following  letter  from  Rev.  John  Sergeant  to  Rev.  Stephen 
Williams,  never  before  printed,  gives  a  pleasing  idea  of  the  man,  — 
his  sincerity  and  manliness.  He  did  not  belong  to  the  goody-goody 
order  of  men.  He  showed  his  piety  by  his  life-work,  and  not  par- 
ticularly by  his  words  at  any  one  point  of  his  extraordinarily  useful 
career.  The  most  casual  reader  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the 
contrast  between  this  letter  and  the  next  one,  which  is  a  letter  from 
Ephraim  Williams,  Sergeant's  father-in-law,  called  out  by  the  death 
of  the  latter,  and  written  to  the  same  party  as  the  other.  One  would 
say,  judging  from  this  letter,  that  Williams  was  too  pious  by  at 
least  nine-tenths  of  the  quantum ;  and  by  his  actions  afterwards 
towards   Sergeant's    successor,  —  for  whom    he    bespeaks   Stephen 


220  OKIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Williams's  prayers,  —  that  he  was  too  carnally-minded  in  at  least 
the  same  proportion :  — 

Stockbridge  Feb.  22,  174^ 

Rev^  Sir,  I  have  yours  in  answer  to  one  by  an  anonumous  writer  of  Jan.y  14 
last.  Tis  certain  a  Gentleman  of  my  acquaintance  wrote  to  you  about  that  time, 
but  what  business  he  had  to  write  in  answer  to  something  you  wrote  to  me  with- 
out liis  name  I  cannot  conceive  ;  if  I  find  an  opportunity  I  will  give  him  the  casti- 
gation  he  deserves.  —  I  conclude  you  have  seen  Mr.  Woodbridge  before  now,  and 
that  he  has  informed  you,  that  two  of  Mr.  Hollis's  boys  are  willing  to  go  abroad 
again  —  If  you  can  take  them  or  anybody  else  with  you  I  will  send  them  down 
immediately  upon  Mr.  Woodbridge's  return.  I  have  received  ye  5£  Bill  you  sent 
by  Capt.  Williams  and  will  send  you  another  by  the  first  safe  opportunity. 

I  design  by  the  favor  of  Providence  to  be  at  the  Association.  But  am  sorry 
tis  appointed  to  be  at  so  great  a  distance  as  Sunderland.  — 

You  find  by  the  Publick  Prints,  that  Count  Zenzendorf  is  come  into.  America, 
and  that  Mr.  Teniiant  finds  him  guilty  of  holding  no  errors.  For  my  part  I 
much  scruple  the  account  Tennant  gives  of  his  doctrines,  both  because  some  of 
them  appear  too  absurd  and  ridiculous  to  be  held  by  any  man  of  Learning  and 
Sense,  such  as  I  suppose  the  Count  is,  and  because  one  of  his  Missionaries  near 
Hudson's  River,  with  whom  I  have  begun  a  Correspondence,  does  not  appear  to 
entertain  such  silly  notions  —  for  tho'  he  writes  in  a  peculiar  and  enthusiastical 
manner,  yet  he  seems  to  have  right  notions  of  the  manner  of  Conversion  in 
Adult  sinners ;  at  least  he  plainly  eno'  supposes  a  deep  conviction  to  be  the 
antecedent  of  it. 

To  I  am  Sir,  your  obedient 

the  Revd  humble  servant 

Mr.  Stephen  Williams  J.  Sergeant. 

at  Springfield 

Longmeadow. 

Stockbridge  August  7*]}  1749. 
Revd  and  Dear  Sir:  Conclude  the  Surprising  and  Sorrowful  news  of  mr. 
Sergeants  death,  has  reacht  you  before  now :  a  most  awful  frown  of  Heaven 
on  us  in  this  place  in  perticular,  and  a  more  Public  loss  than  some  may 
think  in  Geni.i  he  was  an  Example  in  life,  of  Hollyness,  meekness.  Self-denial, 
patience,  diligence,  and  unweried  application  of  body  and  mind,  in  the  great 
and  good  work,  his  Lov^  Lord  and  master,  in  his  Providence,  called  him  too : 
was  faithfull  in  it  till  death.  Suddenly  called  him  from  his  toilsom  painfull 
Labours  to  (no  doubt)  receive  the  wages  and  (of  free  grace)  reward  of  a  faith- 
full  Stuard  of  the  manifold  Grace  of  God :  —  The  Lord  in  mercy.  Sanctify  to  us 
this  heavy  stroke  of  his  holy  hand.  Support  under  it,  and  teach  to  proffit 
savingly  by  it :  and  now  my  kinsman  and  friend  as  I  am  sensible  you  will  be 
nearly  toucht  with  this  stroke :  so  you  will  have  a  fellow  feeling  Simpathy,  and 
mourn  with  us  that  mourn  :  bear  us  continually  on  your  mind  and  heart  before 
a  compassionate  Saviour,  who  is  the  refuge  of  the  distressed,  comforter  of  the 
afflicted,  the  God  and  Husband  of  the  widdow,  and  father  of  the  fatherless  — 
and  as  you  was  Instrumentall  in  bringing  and  setling  the  Gosple  of  Christ  here, 
desire  the  Continuance  of  your  advice  care  concern  and  utmost  endeavor  that 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  221 

we  may  have  a  resettlement  here  with  all  possible,  Convenient  speed,  and  such 
a  won  as  shall  bring  great  Glory  to  God  and  true  peace  comfort  and  enlarge- 
ment, to  us  and  his  Church  hear,  in  perticular  ask  your  prayere  for  the 
Bereaved,  desolate  family  :  tliat  God  would  shine  on  them  for  the  Lord's  sake. 
Sir,  please  to  accept  mine  with  my  wives,  Sincere  Love  and  Respects,  to 
youi-self  consort  and  family  :  —  from  your  Sorrowfull,  afllicted  Kinsman  ;  and 
Hum*>'«  Servant 

Epul  Williams. 

Ephraim  Williams,  born  in  Newton  March  7,  1714,  became  the 
father  of  this  town  and  the  founder  of  this  College.  The  present 
writer  fortunately  found  among  the  papers  of  Israel  Williams,  of 
Hatfield,  who  was  the  lifelong  friend  and  near  kinsman  and  co- 
executor  of  the  will  of  Ephraim,  the  following  memorandum,  which 
sets  at  rest  forever  the  long-disputed  day  and  year  of  his  l)irth:  — 

Colo  Ephraim  [Williams] 
Born  March  7 —     1714 
new  stile  -  Feb.  24  —  old 

JE.  say  41 3^ 
I  have  the  record  I.  W. 

The  confusion  both  as  to  the  month  and  day  as  well  as  to  the 
year  of  Ephraim  Williams's  birth,  all  of  which  have  been  variously 
stated,  arose  not  only  from  the  change  from  Old  Style  to  New  Style, 
which  England  formally  adopted  only  in  1752,  but  also  from  the 
differing  dates  at  which  in  different  countries  the  New  Tear  was 
commenced,  England  also  changing  by  the  same  Act  of  Parliament 
in  1752  her  old  New  Year's  of  the  25th  of  March  to  the  1st  of  Janu- 
ary. Ephraim's  own  mother  died  when  he  was  four  years  and  one 
month  old,  leaving  his  uterine  brother  Thomas  scarcely  two  weeks 
old ;  and  their  grandfather,  Abraham  Jackson,  took  both  these  boys 
to  his  own  home  and  brought  them  up,  and  gave  them  a  good  edu- 
cation for  that  time.  He  died  in  June,  1740,  when  Ephraim  was 
twenty-live  years  old  and  Thomas  twenty-one,  and  bequeathed  the 
two  grandsons  in  his  will  £200,  saying  in  that  connection  that  he 
had  already  spent  considerable  sums  for  their  bringing  up  and 
education.  Abraliam  Jackson  was  son  of  the  first  settler  of  Cam- 
bridge Village  (afterwards  called  Newton),  Deacon  John  Jackson, 
baptized  in  the  parish  of  Stepney,  London,  June  6,  1602,  and  set- 
tling in  Newton  in  1639.  Both  father  and  son  had  a  good  estate 
and  bore  an  excellent  reputation,  and  it  goes  without  saying  that  the 
future  prominence  of  Ephraim  and  Thomas  Williams  was  due  far 
more  to  the  care  and  training  of  their  maternal  grandfather  than  to 
any  influence  exerted  upon  their  lives  by  their  own  father.     These 


222  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

simple  facts  are  absolutely  all  that  we  know,  or  ever  can  know,  of 
the  childhood  and  youth  of  Ephraim  Williams  from  contemporary 
testimony.  All  else,  until  he  assumed  command  at  Fort  Shirley  in 
1745^  —  as  was  related  in  the  last  chapter,  —  when  he  was  thirty-one 
years  old,  is  either  an  inference  or  a  tradition  or  the  result  of 
inquiries  instituted  long  after  his  death.  For  instance,  Ebenezer 
Fitch,  the  first  president  of  the  College,  wrote  a  paper  in  January, 
1802,  for  the  Historical  Society  of  Massachusetts,  of  which  he  was 
then  a  member,  which  is  entitled,  when  published  in  the  eighth  vol- 
ume of  their  Collections,  "  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Charac- 
ter of  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams."  This  was  forty-seven  years 
after  his  death.  It  is  true  there  were  then  living  in  Williamstown 
and  its  vicinity  several  survivors  of  the  old  garrison  of  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts as  commanded  by  Williams,  particularly  Benjamin  Simonds 
and  Seth  Hudson,  and  nothing  is  more  likely  than  that  the  former 
of  these  furnished  Fitch  with  the  comparatively  few  details  relat- 
ing to  the  personal  traits  of  Williams  and  to  his  early  life.  The 
following  sentences  are  the  most  precious  in  the  sketch :  — 

Colonel  Ephraim,  the  son,  for  several  years  in  early  life,  followed  the  seas  ; 
but,  by  the  persuasion  of  his  father  relinquished  that  business.  In  his  several 
voyages  to  Europe,  he  visited  England,  Spain,  and  Holland;  acquired  graceful 
manners  and  a  considerable  stock  of  knowledge.  In  his  person,  he  was  large  and 
fleshy.  He  had  a  taste  for  books  ;  and  often  lamented  his  want  of  a  liberal 
education.  His  address  was  easy,  and  his  manner  pleasing  and  conciliating. 
Affable  and  facetious,  he  could  make  himself  agreeable  in  all  companies ;  and 
was  very  generally  esteemed,  respected,  and  beloved.  His  kind  and  obliging 
deportment,  his  generosity  and  condescension,  greatly  endeared  him  to  his 
soldiers.  By  them  he  was  uncommonly  beloved  while  he  lived,  and  lamented 
when  he  died. 

The  occasion  of  his  "  relinquishing  "  the  seas  may  well  have  been 
the  death  of  his  grandfather  and  foster-father,  Abraham  Jackson, 
in  1740  ;  possibly  in  some  connection  with  the  bequeathment  to  him, 
by  the  latter,  of  what  was  then  considered  a  considerable  sum  of 
money.  It  is  expressly  said  by  Fitch  that  he  left  the  seas  at  the 
persuasion  of  his  father,  who  had  become  established  in  Stock- 
bridge,  in  1739,  with  every  prospect  of  position  and  fortune.  It  is 
certain  that  the  son  became  a  resident  and  citizen  of  Stockbridge 
not  very  long  after  the  father  died  ;  for  he  bought  lands  there  about 
that  time,  as  the  Deed  Eegistries  demonstrate ;  and  it  is  confidently 
stated  by  Dr.  S.  W.  Williams,  in  his  ''  Williams  Family,"  —  a  book,  by 
the  way,  whose  otherwise  unsupported  statements  are  to  be  received 
with  great  caution,  —  that  he  even  represented  Stockbridge  in  the 


EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS.  223 

General  (.Oiiri  ar  Huston.  This  slatt'iiu'iit  ui  ins  kiiisnuiii,  derived 
undoubtedly  l>y  a  lively  tradition  in  the  family,  is  strongly  confirmed 
in  two  special  ways,  and  becomes  thei-eby  entirely  credible.  First, 
the  entire  military  history  of  Williams  from  its  very  beginning  in 
1745,  to  its  ending  in  1755,  shows  that  he  had  a  remarkable  personal 
influence  at  Boston,  both  in  the  executive  offices,  and  over  the 
General  Court,  because  his  requisitions  for  supplies  and  recruits 
were,  as  a  rule,  complied  with  at  a  speed  unusual  in  such  matters 
with  such  bodies,  his  own  promotions  in  military  rank  were  more 
rapid  than  was  then  common,  and  all  his  existing  correspondence 
with  the  officials  at  Boston  indicates,  as  to  both  parties,  a  sense  of 
equality  and  familiarity  uncommon  in  corresponding  letters  of  the 
time.  Second,  this  statement  that  he  was  early  a  member  of  the 
General  Court  from  Stockbridge,  explains,  among  other  things, 
the  following  significant  sentence  from  Fitch's  sketch :  — 

His  politeness  and  address  procured  liim  a  greater  influence  at  the  General 
Court  than  any  other  person  at  tliat  day  possessed.  He  was  attentive  and 
poHte  to  all  descriptions  and  classes  of  men,  but  especially  to  gentlemen  of  dig- 
nified characters  ;  and  sought  the  company  and  conversation  of  men  of  letters. 

As  the  news  of  the  Peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle,  such  as  it  was, 
slowly  diffused  itself  over  Xew  England  in  the  fall  of  1748,  the 
emphasis  of  the  line  of  forts  connecting  the  Hoosac  with  the  Deer- 
field  and  the  Connecticut,  and  of  present  military  employments  as 
compared  with  civil,  naturally  declined  in  the  minds  of  prominent 
and  ambitious  men ;  and  Ephraim  Williams,  not  promoted  to  be 
Major  until  June  7,  1753,  although  he  continued  throughout  most  of 
the  interval  till  the  outbreak  of  the  next  war  in  the  nominal  com- 
mand of  Fort  Massachusetts,  yet  his  subordinates  of  lower  rank 
were  found  mostly  adequate  to  the  actual  command  of  the  now 
diminishing  garrisons,  while  the  able  and  aspiring  Captain  naturally 
looked  for  openings  to  some  congenial  civil  employment  not  incom- 
patible with  a  general  oversight  and  responsibility  of  his  men  in 
the  fort.  He  continued  to  report  their  needs  and  their  numbers  at 
stated  times  to  headquarters.  The  officers  and  men  referred  to 
him  their  jealousies  and  grievances.  He  made  requisitions  on  the 
Government  for  their  sui)plies.  He  had  fifty-six  men  at  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts from  Sept.  11,  1748,  to  March  11,  1749,  and  the  original 
muster-roll  is  still  complete  and  legible  in  the  Secretary's  office  at 
Boston,  From  March  12  to  Dec.  11,  1749,  he  had  fifty-seven  men 
under  his  command  there.  Seth  Hudson,  whom  we  shall  learn  to 
know  better  by  and  by,  was  one  of  the  sentinels  at  40s.  a  month. 


224  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

and  also  Surgeon  at  £44  7s.  6d.  a  year.  From  Dec.  11,  1749,  to 
June  3,  1750,  there  were  only  thirty-one  men  in  that  fort ;  and 
Hudson's  salary  as  Surgeon  was  scaled  down  to  £23  13s.  4d.  a  year. 
The  Captain  had  42s.  Sd.  per  month.  Isaac  Wyman  was  Clerk  at 
28s.  2c?.  a  month.  Ever  after  the  rebuilding  of  Fort  Massachusetts 
in  1747,  the  line  of  forts  to  the  eastward  were  under  a  separate 
command  mostly,  if  not  wholly;  and  Captain  Israel  Williams,  of 
Hatfield,  had  fifty-three  men  at  Shirley  and  Pelham  and  Coleraine, 
from  Nov.  1,  1748,  till  April  3,  1749,  having  dismissed  thirty-five 
men  at  the  first-mentioned  date.  Lieutenant  William  Lyman,  of 
Northampton,  had  only  twenty-six  men  from  June,  1749,  to  January, 
1750,  in  the  whole  line  from  Shirley  to  Northfield,  inclusive,  men- 
tioning in  his  return  that  a  large  part  of  the  100  men  ordered 
thither  by  the  General  Court  had  been  dismissed. 

But  his  principal  residence  now  for  several  years  was  at  Hatfield, 
on  the  Connecticut.  There  resided  Israel  Williams,  his  half-cousin, 
five  years  older  than  himself,  who  had  just  become  Colonel  of  the 
Hampshire  Militia,  in  succession  to  Colonel  John  Stoddard,  of 
Northampton,  a  very  able  and  ambitious  man,  who  afterwards 
became  "ye  monarch  of  Hampshire."  Hatfield  was  rather  the  big 
hive  of  the  Williams  family  at  that  time,  on  account  of  the  settle- 
ment there  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  in  1685,  of  Eev.  William 
Williams,  who  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  two  years  before, 
who  died  there  in  1741  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  ministry,  and 
who  left  distinguished  sons,  leaving  in  turn  a  distinguished  posterity. 
Dr.  Chauncy  wrote  of  him  in  1768,  as  follows :  "  I  have  read  all  of 
Mr.  Stoddard's  writings  [Eev.  Solomon,  of  Northampton],  but  have 
never  been  able  to  see  in  them  that  strength  of  genius  some  have 
attributed  to  him.  Mr.  Williams,  of  Hatfield,  his  son-in-law,  I 
believe  to  have  been  the  greater  man,  and  I  am  ready  to  think 
greater  than  any  of  his  own  sons,  though  they  were  all  men  of  more 
than  common  understanding.  Eector  AVilliams  and  Solomon,  I  give 
the  preference  to  the  other  sons." 

Stockbridge,  with  its  Indian  population,  its  dozen  or  so  English 
families,  and  its  half-cleared  forests,  was  no  such  place  for  a  rising 
young  man  of  power  as  populous  Hatfield,  with  its  powerful  family 
influences,  closely  connected  as  it  was,  by  intermarriage  and  other- 
wise with  Deerfield  and  Northampton  above,  and  Springfield  and 
Weathersfield  below,  on  the  river.  Here  were  developing  the  men, 
like  Joseph  Hawley,  of  Northampton,  and  Israel  Williams,  of  Hat- 
field, and  John  Worthington,  of  Springfield,  who,  not  long  after- 
wards, used  to  be  denominated  in  Boston  as  "the  river-gods."     At 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  225 

Deerfield  dwt-lt  then  nnn  t*vt*r  luwi.  i^^»iu.ums  only  own  brother, 
Dr.  Thomas  Williams,  a  notable  physician ;  and  the  former  appears 
to  have  alternated  his  bachelor  home  for  some  years  between  that 
of  his  cousin  in  Hatfield,  and  that  of  his  brother  in  Deerfield. 
Another  very  prominent  man  in  Hatfield  was  Oliver  Partridge  (Yale 
College,  1730),  then  High  .Sheriff  of  the  county  of  Hampshire,  who 
soon  appointed  him  Deputy  Slierift".  In  this  capacity,  the  principal 
courts  of  the  county  being  then  held  in  Springfield,  Williams  came 
into  terms  of  great  intimacy  and  friendship  with  Colonel  John 
Worthington,  who  later  became  co-executor  of  his  will.  Indeed,  his 
position  and  relations  were  such,  his  genial  and  facetious  and  aspir- 
ing qualities  were  such,  that  he  easily  found  entrance  and  welcome 
in  the  best  families  of  the  entire  region ;  including  those  of  Major 
Elijah  Williams,  of  Deerfield,  then  Commissary  in  the  western  depart- 
ment under  John  Wheelwright,  of  Boston,  Commissary-General ; 
this  Elijah  Williams  was  son  to  Rev.  John  Williams,  of  Deerfield, 
the  famous  "  Redeemed  Captive "  of  1704,  who  Avas  half-brother 
to  Ephraim,  Senior,  so  that  the  Commissary  was  half-cousin  to 
Ephraim,  Junior ;  and  of  Colonel  John  Stoddard,  of  Northampton, 
Colonel  Oliver  Partridge,  of  Hatfield,  and  Colonel  John  Chester 
(Harvard  College,  1722),  of  Weathersfield. 

Israel  Williams  stood  in  his  generation  in  such  constant  and  influ- 
ential relations  to  causes  and  effects  in  the  western  end  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  in  particular  to  his  half-cousin,  the  founder  of  our 
town  and  College,  being  his  chief  counsellor  while  the  latter  lived, 
and  the  main  administrator  of  his  property  afterwards,  that  it  seems 
needful  to  our  general  purpose  to  give  some  details  of  the  course  of 
his  life.  He  was  born  in  Hatfield,  Nov.  30,  1709.  His  mother  was 
a  daughter  of  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  for  fifty-six  years  pastor  of 
the  church  at  Northampton ;  he  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1729 ;  and  he  married  Sarah  Chester,  of  a  Weathersfield  family 
no  less  distinguished  than  his  own.  His  father  had  been  in  the 
ministry  at  Hatfield  for  fifty-six  years  when  he  died  in  1741,  as  his 
grandfather  had  been  at  Northampton  the  same  length  of  time  when 
he  died  in  1729.  He  was  o^vn  cousin  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  whose 
mother  was  also  a  Stoddard,  of  Northampton.  He  was  the  only 
son  of  his  father  that  remained  in  Hatfield  as  a  home,  and  he 
naturally  entered  into  his  father's  great  influence  there,  which  he 
came  to  supplement  by  military  and  organizing  abilities  of  a  high 
order.  His  brother,  Solomon,  D.D.,  became  a  notable  clergyman 
and  author  at  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  and  was  the  father  of  William 
Williams,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.     Another 


226  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

brother  was  Rev.  William  Williams,  of  Weston,  Massachusetts,  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  in  1705,  who  married  his  step-mother's  eldest 
sister,  Miss  Stoddard,  of  Northampton,  before  his  father  connected 
himself  with  that  celebrated  family  of  sisters.  He  was  the  father 
of  Colonel  William  Williams,  of  Pittsfield,  and  of  Anna,  wife  of 
Colonel  Oliver  Partridge,  and  of  Esther,  wife  of  Ephraim's  own 
brother  Thomas.  Still  another  brother  of  Israel  was  E,ev.  Elisha 
Williams  (Harvard  College,  1711),  who  married  Eunice  Chester,  of 
the  Weathersfield  family,  and  became  President  of  Yale  College  in 
1726,  an  office  which  he  filled  acceptably  till  1739.  Israel's  own 
sister,  Dorothy,  married  Eev.  Jonathan  Ashley  (Yale  College,  1730), 
long  the  minister  of  Deerfield,  very  intimate  with  our  founder  till 
the  latter's  death  in  1755,  and  w4io  lived  long  enough  to  manifest 
offensively  to  his  own  people  and  to  all  his  neighbors  up  and  down 
the  valleys  of  the  Deerfield  and  the  Connecticut,  those  pronounced 
loyalist  (Tory)  views,  which  were  characteristic  of  the  whole 
Williams  family  living  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution. 

As  Israel  Williams  w^as  own  nephew  of  Colonel  John  Stoddard, 
as  he  early  showed  signs  of  good  military  capacity,  and  as  he  was 
five  years  older  than  his  half-cousin  Ephraim,  it  was  natural  and 
proper  that  the  former  was  pushed  forward  by  the  Colonel,  as  the 
French  War  progressed,  more  prominently  than  the  latter.  During 
the  summer  and  autumn  of  1748,  while  Ephraim  was  in  command 
at  Fort  Massachusetts  as  Captain,  Israel,  with  the  same  rank  and 
with  headquarters  at  Fort  Shirley,  held  command  over  the  entire 
line  of  forts  to  the  eastward.  He  makes  return  in  November  of 
that  year,  of  eighty-nine  officers  and  men  under  his  immediate  orders. 
His  pay  as  Captain  was  80s.  per  month.  John  Catlin,  his  lieuten- 
ant, took  60s.  9d.  per  month.  The  sentinels  had  40s.  a  month.  At 
that  date  there  were  at  Fort  Shirley,  thirty-six  men;  at  Pelham, 
thirty  men ;  at  Morrison's  Fort  in  Coleraine,  twenty-five  men ;  at 
Coleraine  South  Fort,  sixteen  ;  and  at  New  Hampton  and  Blandford, 
twelve  men.  During  the  same  summer  and  autumn,  Captain  William 
Williams,  who  was  now  Commissary  at  Hatfield,  commanded  also  a 
company  of  fifty-seven  men,  enlisted  for  "the  line  of  forts"  or 
other  service.     In  October,  he  was  promoted  to  be  Colonel. 

It  fell  to  Israel  Williams,  on  the  death  of  John  Stoddard  in  1748, 
to  become  Colonel  of  the  militia  of  Hampshire  County,  then  cover- 
ing the  entire  western  end  of  the  state.  In  that  capacity,  he  had 
the  direct  oversight  of  all  the  forts  and  military  operations  within 
the  county ;  he  made  the  general  plan,  on  the  basis  of  which  the 
campaigns  of  the  next  French  war  were  conducted  in  the  west ;  his 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  227 

correspoinu-iii  r  »ith  the  authorities  at  liostou  ami  elsewhere  was 
very  voluminous,  much  of  which  is  still  extant  among  his  papers 
preserved;  the  reports  from  the  forts,  and  from  the  scouts,  and 
from  secret  agents  or  spies,  fell  primarily  into  his  hands ;  he  was 
often  called  to  Boston  in  council ;  he  was  looked  up  to  everywhere, 
much  as  John  Stoddard  had  been  looked  up  to,  but  he  had  a  per- 
sonal vanity  and  a  lofty  pride,  and  a  sort  ot  scorn  for  men  of  low 
degree,  to  which  Stoddard  was  a  stranger.  Civil  emoluments  accom- 
panied and  especially  followed  these  military  preferments,  and  min- 
istered, perhaps,  even  more  to  his  already  profound  sense  of  his 
personal  and  political  importance.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council  in  Boston,  and  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas.  Francis  Bernard,  who  succeeded  Thomas  Townal  as  Gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts  in  1760,  and  held  the  office  for  nine  years, 
came  into  great  intimacy  and  mutual  influence  with  Williams,  which 
lasted  after  his  recall  to  England  and  advancement  to  a  baronetcy, 
as  is  seen  in  part  by  Williams's  stiff  loyalism,  and  his  apix)intment 
in  1774  among  the  mandamus  councillors,  although  he  never  took 
the  oath.  There  is  a  long  and  most  interesting  letter  in  Volume 
XX.  of  the  ''  Proceedings  of  the  ]\Iassachusetts  Historical  Society," 
pages  46-48,  from  Oxenbridge  Thacher,  of  Boston,  to  Benjamin 
Prat,  Chief  Justice  of  New  York,  and  a  former  member  of  the  bar  of 
Massachusetts,  written  in  1762,  which  graphically  depicts,  without 
naming  him,  the  traits  and  one  of  the  characteristic  schemes  of  Israel 
Williams :  — 

What  occasions  y*  most  gaping  of  late  (we  are  not  awake  enough  to  speak), 
is  a  charter  for  a  new  college  in  y^  county  of  Hampshire.  The  monarch  of 
y«  county,  (you  know  it  always  was  under  regal  governm*)  took  great  offence 
at  his  son's  being  placed  some  years  ago  something  lower  in  a  class  at  our 
college  than  befitted  y*  son  of  a  King,  He  therefore,  and  his  privy  council 
came  down  y<*  last  Sessions  prepared  with  a  petition  to  incorporate  a  college  in 
y'  county,  which  they  modestly  said  was  all  they  desired.  They  wanted  no 
money  from  y«  government  to  support  it.  A  bill  passed  in  y^  house  for  this 
purpose  but  was  rejected  at  y^  board.  In  y^  situation  the  governor  [Bernard] 
granted  a  charter  himself  by  his  own  single  authority.  This  alarmed  both 
houses  ;  they  chose  a  committee  to  wait  on  y«  governor,  to  desire  he  would  recall 
y«  charter.  At  last  ye  overseers  of  our  college  waked  enough  to  have  a  meeting 
on  yc  subject.  There  it  was  y»  your  old  friend  Summa  [Thomas  Hutchinson, 
then  Chief  Justice  and  Lt.  Gov.  — very  intimate  with  Williams]  was  put  to  his 
trumps.  You  know  he  is  y«  idol  of  y«  Clergy  :  you  know  also  he  is  in  strict 
alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  with  the  monarch  of  Hampshire  and  his 
dominions.  The  only  card  he  had  to  play  was  to  delay  y-'  question.  This  he 
played  pretty  dexterously.  He  magnified  y«  abilities  and  y«  interest  of  y"  Hamp- 
shire members,  intimated  that  it  would  be  dangerous  to  offend  them,  suggested 


228  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

that  measures  should  be  taken  to  quiet  them  and  persuade  them  to  give  up.  In 
vain  for  at  three  o'clock  (to  which  time  from  ten  o'clock  ye  governm*  and 
Summa  had  prolonged  y^  debate)  it  was  voted  to  choose  a  committee  to  prepare 
reasons  against  y^  s^  college.  This  was  accordingly  done,  y^  remonstrance  pre- 
pared and  preferred  to  y^  governor,  and  he  has  given  a  gracious  answer  promis- 
ing to  vacate  y^  charter,  and  I  believe  he  will  keep  his  word ;  for  your  honest 
old  friend  Lyman  [Gen.  Phineas  Lyman  of  Northampton]  assures  us  y'  y^  project 
is  as  much  disliked  in  Hampshire  as  it  is  here.  Thus  y^  remonstranses  of  his 
proper  subjects,  may  reach  y^  ear  of  the  monarch,  and  he  may  give  leave  to 
ye  gov  to  keep  his  word. 

It  would  not  be  fair  to  "  the  monarcli "  to  conclude  from  this  pun- 
gent extract  from  Thacher's  letter  that  he  had  no  other  motive  in 
attempting  to  establish  "Queen's  College"  on  the  Connecticut  than 
to  spite  Harvard  for  an  alleged  ill-treatment  of  his  son  and  himself 
"  some  years  ago."  The  facts  were  these  :  John  Williams,  the  son 
referred  to,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1751,  and  his  name  is- 
placed  in  the  Catalogue  fourteenth  in  a  class  of  thirty-five.  As  at 
that  time  disposed,  college  names  were  not  placed  alphabetically  as 
now,  but  according  to  the  social  rank  of  the  members,  as  that  was 
understood  by  the  government  of  the  College.  The  Colonel  was 
undoubtedly  offended  by  the  relatively  low  estimation  in  which  his 
own  pretensions  were  held  at  Cambridge,  and  one  evidence  of  this 
is,  that  his  next  son,  William,  was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
1754,  and  was  there  placed  fourth  in  a  class  of  sixteen.  It  is  only 
a  decent  charity  to  suppose  that  AVilliams  and  the  rest  of  the  ^'  river- 
gods  "  had  a  natural  feeling  of  locality  and  a  genuine  conviction 
that  the  river  was  by  this  time  entitled  to  a  college  of  its  own,  all 
its  leading  towns  from  Northampton  to  Weathersfield  having  been 
established  for  more  than  a  century;  and  Professor  Tyler,  in  his 
"History  of  Amherst  College,"  refers  with  satisfaction  to  this 
earliest  effort  to  found  a  college  in  that  neighborhood  as  a  pre- 
monition and  sort  of  justification  of  the  sixty-years-later  foundation 
of  Amherst  in  the  same  stretch  of  the  valley.  By  whatever  motives 
actuated,  Williams's  manuscript  papers  show  his  deep  interest  in 
the  proposed  Queen's  College.  Among  them  is  the  draft  of  a  charter 
issued  by  Governor  Bernard,  incorporating  "Israel  Williams,  John 
W^orthington,  Oliver  Partridge,  Elijah  Williams,  Josiah  Dwight,  and 
Joseph  Hawley,  Esquires,  and  the  Eevs.  Stephen  Williams,  David 
Parsons,  Jonathan  Ashley,  Timothy  Woodbridge,  Samuel  Hopkins, 
and  John  Hooker,  ministers  of  the  Gospel,"  as  President  and  Fellows 
of  Queen's  College  in  New  England.  The  names  designated  in  this 
act  of  incorporation  demonstrate  again  for  the  hundredth  time  the 
thorough  alliance  in  New  England  during  the  eighteenth  century 


EPHRATM    WILLIAMS.  229 

between  bar  and  bench  aud  eit-iyv  m  an  public  action,  especially  in 
defence  of  the  old-time  methods  in  Church  and  State  and  Education. 
There  was  a  ruling  class  in  New  England  just  as  much  as  in  Old 
England,  and  their  grip  was  just  as  firm.  In  Massachusetts,  Israel 
AVilliams  stood  at  the  head  of  the  consolidation  in  the  west  as 
Thomas  Hutchinson  did  on  the  seaboard. 

There  is  a  draft  of  a  letter  among  his  extant  papers  that  also 
serves  to  exhibit  Williams's  motives  in  starting  the  new  College  in 
a  better  light  than  that  thrown  on  them  by  Oxenbridge  Tliacher. 
It  is  directed  to  William  Smith,  of  New  York,  who  afterwards 
became  Chief  Justice  of  that  Province,  as  did  also  Benjamin  Prat, 
the  correspondent  of  Thacher.  From  this  letter  it  appears  that 
Williams's  first  design  was  to  obtain  a  charter  from  the  King, — 
that  is,  through  Governor  Bernard,  as  representing  the  royal  author- 
ity ;  but  on  learning  Smith's  legal  opinion,  that  a  charter  through 
Bernard,  under  the  Massachusetts  Constitution,  would  not  be  valid, 
he  determined  to  reach  his  end  in  the  most  open  way  jx)ssible, 
namely,  by  means  of  a  petition  to  the  whole  Legislature,  of  which 
at  that  time  the  Governor  and  his  Council  formed  the  Upper  House. 
Williams  proceeds  to  say :  — 

Accordingly  one  was  prepared.  When  I  went  to  court,  soon  after,  I  waited 
upon  Governor  Bernard  and  let  him  know  our  design,  your  opinion,  and  that 
Mr.  Gridley  was  of  the  same.  He  freely  and  fully  went  into  the  consideration 
of  the  affair  [the  founding  of  the  new  college],  and  expressed  himself  entirely 
pleased  with  the  proposal ;  but  as  to  the  charter  he  was  of  opinion  he  had  a 
right  to  give  one  as  the  King's  representative,  and  that  it  was  a  royal  right 
reserved  in  the  crown  which  by  the  charter  [to  the  Province]  the  King  had 
never  given  away. 

Accordingly,  Bernard  issued  the  charter  for  the  College  in  due 
form  and  in  the  King's  name,  much  as  about  the  same  time  John 
Wentworth,  of  New  Hampshire,  chartered  Dartmouth  College  and 
Jonathan  Belcher  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  When  Bernard 
yielded,  however,  to  the  remonstrances  of  Harvard,  and  invalidated 
the  charter  for  the  present,  Williams  was  naturally  much  displeased, 
and  went  on  in  this  letter  to  Smith  to  inveigh  against  what  he 
regarded  as  the  timidity  of  the  Governor,  who  tried,  nevertheless, 
to  placate  him  by  desiring  the  corporators  to  take  a  copy  of  the 
charter  and  to  organize  the  body  so  far  as  to  be  in  readiness  to  act 
in  case  the  charter  might  receive  the  necessary  future  confirmation. 
The  charter  permitted  the  College  to  be  in  Northampton,  Hatfield, 
or  Hadley.  There  were  two  meetings  of  the  corporators  accord- 
ingly, —  one  in  March,  1762,  at  the  house  of  Rev.  John  Hooker  in 


230  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Northampton,  and  one  in  May  following  at  the  house  of  Eev. 
Samuel  Hopkins  in  Hadley.  The  project  went  so  far  as  the  erec- 
tion of  a  building  in  Hatfield,  or  at  least  the  designation  of  a  build- 
ing already  erected,  as  ''Queen's  College,"  and  students  were  cer- 
tainly in  preparation  for  entering  it.  Long  into  the  present  century 
an  old  gambrel-roofed  schoolhouse  stood  on  Hatfield  Street,  and  per- 
sons w^ere  still  living  there  in  1880  who  had  not  only  seen  it  but  had 
heard  it  called  "  Queen's  College."  The  present  writer  called  about 
that  date  upon  an  old  man  there,  born  and  bred  in  Hatfield,  then 
about  ninety  years  old  but  in  good  possession  of  mind  and  memory, 
who  assured  his  incredulous  caller  with  emphasis,  —  "There  used  to 
be  a  college  here,  and  I  have  seen  it  myself ! "  The  same  narrator 
related  to  the  same  listener  traditional  stories  of  the  haughtiness  of 
Israel  Williams  and  of  his  habitual  contempt  for  the  common  people, 
and  ending  with  the  usual  futile  threat  of  those  times  on  the  part  of 
one  thus  maltreated,  —  "  I'll  shoot  him  in  battle  in  the  next  war,  if 
there  ever  comes  another  war ! "  A  clear  tradition  preserves  the 
site  of  the  Colonel's  house  on  Hatfield  Street,  but  the  place  of 
"Queen's  College"  —  short-lived  if  not  stillborn  —  can  no  longer  be 
identified.  The  loyalism  of  Williams  and  of  his  sj)ecial  friends, 
also,  intensified  as  the  Kevolution  drew  on  and  progressed;  and  in 
Sabine's  "  Loyalists  "  occurs  the  following  passage  relating  to  him  :  — 

Though  old  and  infirm,  he  was  visited  by  a  mob  at  night,  taken  from  liis 
house,  carried  several  miles,  and  put  into  a  room  with  a  fire,  when  the  doors 
and  the  top  of  the  chimney  were  closed,  and  he  was  kept  several  hours  in  the 
smoke.  On  being  released  he  was  compelled  to  sign  a  paper  dictated  by  his  tor- 
mentors. The  circumstance  did  not  escape  Trumbull's  caustic  pen,  and  he  asks 
in  "McFingal,"  — 

"  Have  you  made  Murray  look  less  big, 
Or  smoked  old  Williams  to  a  Whig  ?  ' ' 

Colonel  AYilliams  died  in  1788,  in  consequence  of  a  fall  down  his 
own  cellar-stairs.  His  age  was  seventy-nine.  He  outlived  his 
cousin  and  intimate  friend  —  the  subject  of  this  chapter  —  for 
thirty-three  years.  He  served  his  active  generation  with  more 
ability,  more  fidelit}^,  more  conspicuity,  than  did  that  other.  His 
name,  nevertheless,  is  growing  dimmer  and  dimmer  all  the  while  in 
the  minds  of  men ;  the  name  of  that  other  is  growing  brighter  and 
brighter  as  the  decades  and  half -centuries  go  by.  What  is  the  reason 
for  this  ?  It  all  turns  on  one  act  of  that  other,  done  in  the  last 
summer  of  his  life,  done  as  an  alternative  to  another  that  hovered 
and  almost  prevailed  over  him,  an  act  indeed  carried  into  execution 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  231 

by  the  then  foremost  but  now  hindmost  man,  —  an  act  of  thought- 
fulness  and  of  provision  for  the  poor  and  for  the  future  ! 

We  return  now  to  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  in  his  connection 
with  military  affairs.  Although  he  lived  but  little  at  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts in  the  years  1749,  1750,  and  1751,  that  was  all  the  while 
his  headquarters.  He  controlled  as  Commander  the  ongoing  of 
things;  he  sent  in  from  time  to  time  the  muster-rolls  of  the  men 
at  this  post  to  the  provincial  government  at  Boston,  and  took  oath 
to  their  general  correctness ;  he  ordered  supplies  for  the  sick 
soldiers  under  his  care  directly,  and  indicated  to  Elijah  Williams  at 
Deerfield,  the  Commissary,  the  present  and  prospective  needs  of 
common  supplies ;  and  while  his  chief  residence  during  these  years 
was  on  the  Connecticut  River,  he  was  often  in  Boston  on  military 
and  other  business,  and  often  at  the  forts,  not  only  on  his  way  back 
and  forth  but  also  as  the  agent  of  the  Government  in  subsisting 
enlisted  men,  and  certain  French  Protestants  also,  who  had  become 
a  charge  to  the  authorities  at  Boston. 

June  3,  1750,  Paid  to  Eph.  Williams  for  subsisting  11  men  at  Shirley  and 
Pelham  £16.,  6.,  10.     Ditto  ye  remainder  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  £198.,  0.»  8. 

Fort  Massachusetts  (for  the  sick) 

30  gallons  of  Rum £14.,  6 

60  Butter 3.,  15 

100  lbs  Sugar 6.. 

00  candles 4.,  10 

100  lbs  Rice 3.. 

6  Bush.  Indian  Meal 2.. 

2  Bush.  Oat  Meal 1.,  10 

4  Wood  Axes 3.. 

1  Grindstone 2.,  10 

Eph.  Williams,  Capt.     (own  hand). 

Many  such  bills  as  these  are  scattered  through  the  records,  indi- 
cating a  large  activity  on  the  part  of  the  officer,  and  unusual  confi- 
dence in  his  integrity  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  above  him. 

A  Muster  Roll  of  the  Company  in  His  Majesty's  service  under  the 
Command  of  Ephraim  Williams,  Junr.  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  from 
March  to  Dec  11,  1749.     [Sworn  to  Dec.  11,  1749] 

Ephraim  Williams,  Capt.  Jonathan  Stone,  Corp\ 

Elisha  Ilawley,  Lieut.  Abraham  Bass,  Corpl 

Caleb  Chapin,  Sergt.  Isaac  Wyman,  Clerk. 

Nathaniel  Eustis,  Sergt.  John  Hooker,  Gun": 

Charles  Parmetor,  Corpl  Elisha  Chapin,  Serj» 


232 


ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 


Phineas  Nevers,  Surge. 
Seth  Hudson,  Surge. 
Seth  Hudson,  Cent. 
Oliver  Avery,  Cent. 
Lemuel  Avery,  Cent. 
Moses  Peter  Attucks,  Cent. 
Jonathan  Barron,  Cent. 
John  Bush,  Cent. 
Nathan^  Brooks,  Cent. 
John  Croffard  [Crawford],  Cent. 
Charles  Coats,  Cent. 
William  Sanderson,  Cent. 
Charles  Denio,  Cent. 
Jonathan  Evans,  Cent. 
Ebenezer  Graves,  Cent. 
Micah  Harrington,  Cent. 
James  Hathorn,  Cent. 
Timothy  Holton,  Cent. 
Ithemer  Healy,  Cent. 
John  Henry,  Cent. 
John  Harmon,  Cent. 
Benja.  Hastings,  Cent. 
John  Morrison,  Cent. 
Silas  Pratt,  Cent, 


Benja.  Roberts,  Cent. 
Abner  Roberts,  Cent. 
Ebenezer  Reed,  Cent. 
James  Smith,  Cent. 
Edmond  Town,  Cent. 
Fortunatus  Taylor,  Cent. 
John  Taylor,  Cent. 
Daniel  Ward,  Cent. 
William  Williston,  Cent. 
Samuel  Wells,  Cent. 
Ezekiel  Wells,  Cent. 
Simeon  Wells,  Cent. 
Samuel  Calhoun,  Cent. 
Daniel  Graves,  Cent. 
Nath.  Harvey,  Cent. 
Barnard  AViles  [Willis],  Cent. 
Samuel  Taylor,  Cent. 
Leml  Avery,  Cent. 
Saml  Calhoun,  Cent. 
Cesar,  Negro,  Cent. 
Zacha.  Hicks,  Cent. 
Benja.  Tilton,  Cent. 
Moses  Tinney,  Cent. 


Here  are  fifty-seven  names;  but  one  of  them,  Seth  Hudson,  is 
repeated,  and  two  others,  Lemuel  Avery  and  Samuel  Calhoun,  seem 
to  be  repeated.  Seth  Hudson,  afterwards  a  prominent  settler  in 
Williamstown,  was  "  Centinel ''  at  40s.  per  month,  and  at  the  same 
time  "  Surgeon  "  at  £44  7s.  6d,  per  annum.  Silas  Pratt  was  from 
Worcester,  Micah  Harrington  from  Upton,  Edmond  Town  from 
Framingham,  —  all  later  settlers  in  Williamstown.  Calhoun,  Wil- 
lis, Morrison,  Denio,  and  Crawford  were  certainly  Scotch-Irish,  and 
probably  two  or  three  more.  Charles  Coats,  who  could  not  write 
his  own  name,  was  a  trusty  scout,  who  had  been  in  the  service  from 
;the  opening  of  the  war.  "March  3,  1746.  Received  of  Maj.  Is. 
Williams  ten  pairs  Indian  Shoes,  which  I  promise  to  deliver   to 

his 

»Capt.  Elijah  Williams  of  Deerfield.     Charles  r.  Coats."     A  severe 

mark 

sickness  had  prevailed  at  Port  Massachusetts  during  the  autumn  of 
1748,  which  may  go  far  to  account  for  the  presence  of  two  surgeons 
there  during  the  next  year,  as  by  the  above  muster-roll.  The 
roll  sworn  to  Nov.  3,  1748,  contains  the  names  of  but  forty-three 
men,  while  another  roll,  made  out  some  months  earlier,  holds  the 
names  of  eighty-four  men.  There  lies  now  before  the  writer  a 
copy  of  a  list  of  thirty  "dismissed  men,"  sworn  to  April  10,  1749. 


EPHRAFM   WILLIAMS.  233 

Whether  these  were  sick  men,  dismissed  on  account  of  inability  the 
previous  autumn,  or  were  men  dismissed  on  account  of  the  news  of 
the  Peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle,  cannot  now  be  certainly  known.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  Lieutenant  Daniel  Severance,  of  Falltown, 
and  Corporal  Ebenezer  Gould,  of  Chelmsford,  were  already  dead 
when  this  list  was  sworn  to  at  Boston.  Two  Indians  are  among  the 
number  dismissed,  —  Thomas  Waubun  and  George  Quahquaquid. 

A  previous  roll  of  the  garrison  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  extending 
from  December,  1747,  to  March,  1748,  covering  time  before  Captain 
Williams  had  reassumed  the  command  at  that  end  of  the  line,  is 
interesting  as  giving  the  residence  of  the  men  so  far  as  was  known. 


Mi-u  u   Roll  of  the  Company   in   his   Majksh '»  m:,kvice   under  the 

COMMAND   OF   ElISUA    HaWLEY. 

Elisha  Hawley,  Lieut Northampton. 

John  Foster,  Sergt Deerfield. 

Ebenezer  Gould,  Corp'l Chelmsford. 

Oliver  Avery,  Cent Deerfield. 

Oliver  Barret,  Cent Dracut. 

Jesse  Heath,  Cent Woodstock. 

Jonathan  Barron,  Cent 

Abraham  Bass,  Cent Worcester. 

Thomas  Hooper,  Cent Mendon. 

Daniel  Ward,  Cent Shrewsbury, 

Zachariah  Hicks,  Cent.  .  - Sutton. 

Richard  Burt,  Cent Kingston. 

John  Crooks,  Cent Marlborough. 

Richard  Staudley,  Cent Woburn. 

Nathaniel  Smith,  Cent Marlborough. 

David  Thomson,  Cent Bilerica. 

Daniel  Kinney,  Cent Sutton. 

Thomas  Blodget,  Cent Chelmsford. 

Isaac  Wyman,  Cent Woburn. 

Nathaniel  Hunt,  Cent Dracut. 

Eliseus  Barron,  Cent Dracut. 

Joseph  Wilson,  Cent Bilerica. 

John  Cory,  Cent 

James  Smith,  Cent Leicester. 

Jonathan  Dutton,  Cent Bilerica. 

Joseph  Washburn,  Cent 

Edward  Brooks,  Cent Western. 

Fortunatus  Taylor,  Cent Shrewsbury. 

Amasa  Cranson,  Cent Shrewsbury 

Benjamin  F'airbank,  Cent Dudley. 

William  McClallan,  Cent Worcester. 

Silas  l*rat,  Cent Worcester. 


234  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


Abner  Robards,  Cent 

Moses  Peter  Attacks,  Cent Leicester. 

John  Crafford,  Cent Worcester. 

Samuel  Bowman,  Cent Worcester. 

Abraham  Peck,  Cent 

Hezekiah  Wood,  Cent 

William  Sabins,  Cent Brookfield. 

John  Morse,  Cent Woodstock. 

Cesar  Negro,  Cent 

Thomas  Walkup,  Cent 

Joseph  Bates,  Cent Dracut. 

Cesar  Negro  was  a  servant  or  slave  of  Hezekiah  Ward,  and  doubt- 
less did  military  service  in  behalf  of  his  master;  Moses  Peter 
Attacks  stood  in  a  similar  relation  to  John  White:  the  names  of 
the  masters  stand  in  the  margin  of  the  muster-rolls  over  against  the 
names  of  the  servants.  It  will  be  remembered  that  slavery  was  not 
legally  abolished  in  Massachusetts  till  1780,  and  then  only  indirectly, 
as  the  result  of  phrases  in  the  state  constitution  of  that  year. 

The  next  roll  in  the  order  of  time  extends  from  Dec.  11,  1749,  to 
June  3,  1750,  and  gives  twenty-one  men  to  Fort  Massachusetts,  five 
expressly  to  Fort  Shirley,  and  five,  apparently,  to  Fort  Pelham, 
although  the  official  indorsement  mentions  only  "Eph'"  Williams 
and  Co.  at  Fort  Massachusetts."  As  most  of  these  men  gained  a  cer- 
tain prominence  afterwards  in  civil  life,  and  some  of  them  even  dis- 
tinction, no  one  will  begrudge  the  space  here  taken  up  by  their  names. 

Ephraim  Williams,  Captain  Abner  Robbarts,  Cent.i 

Elisha  Hawley,  Lieut.  Ebenezer  Reed,  Cent.i 

Isaac  Wyman,  Clerk.  John  Taylor,  Cent.i 

Seth  Hutson,  Surgeon.  William  Williston,  Cent.i 

Oliver  Avery,  Cent.i  Samuel  Taylor,  Cent.i 

Samuel  Avery,  Cent.^  "  Samuel  Calhoun,  Cent.^ 

Abraham  Bass,  Cent.i  Nathaniel  Harvey,  Cent.^ 

Ebenezer  Graves,  Cent.i  Ezekiel  Foster,  Cent.^ 

John  Hooker,  Cent.^  Moses  Tenny,  Cent.^ 

Micah  Harrington,  Cent.^ 

John  Harmon,  Cent.^  TFoster  was  " omitted  in  my  last""! 

Silas  Pratt,  Cent.i  LTenny  do. ' '  on  Col. Williams  Roll ' '  J 


William  Lyman,  Lieut. 
Peter  Bovee,  Cent. 
Gershom  Hawks,  Cent. 
John  Pannell,  Cent. 
Samuel  Stebbins,  Cent. 


§5  Joseph  Allen,  Sergant.  "^    J 

3-  Joshua  Hawks,  Cent.  |     3- 

m  Joshua  Wells,  Cent. 

t;-  Daniel  Donnilson,  Cent. 

4'  William  Stevens,  Cent.  J   ^ 


^ 


The  next  roll  in  order   of  time   covers  but  seventeen  men,  and 
extends  from  June  4,  1750,  to  Jan.  13,  1751. 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  235 

In  connection  with  this  roll,  Williams  sends  in  a  bill  for  sundries 
necessary  at  Fort  Massachusetts.  The  bill,  the  note  appended,  as 
well  as  the  signature,  are  in  Williams's  own  handwriting. 

1  Flagg  and  lialiards  6  yards  Fly 
4  Water  Buckits 
1  Box  Candles  30/ 

4  Wood  Axes 

Sundries  for  the  Sick 

1  Firkin  Butter  20/ 

Yi  bl.  N.  E.  Rum 
1  Peck  Oatmeal 
yi  lb  Rice  yi  Sugar 

These  certifies  yo'  honours  y*  none  of  the  above  articles  have  been  supplyed 
Capt.  Williams  since  Dec.  1749,  and  has  had  noe  Flagg  and  Halliards  tor  Massa- 
chusetts Fort  since  it  has  been  built. 

Eph.  Williams  Jb. 

Peace  was  thinning  out  the  ranks  of  the  garrisons;  but  there 
were  numbers  of  men  in  Western  Massachusetts  and  elsewhere,  and 
Israel  Williams  was  among  them,  who  already  clearly  perceived 
that  the  "  Peace  "  was  to  be  only  a  "  Truce,"  and  that  preparations 
were  only  in  order  for  what  was  felt  would  be  a  decisive  struggle 
between  England  and  France  for  the  possession  of  North  America. 
It  was  planned  during  this  winter  to  build  a  "mount"  upon  one  of 
the  comers  of  the  Fort  Massachusetts,  which  should  be  forty  feet 
high,  and  also  to  strengthen  the  fort  on  the  outside  by  a  strong 
line  of  high  pickets,  similar  to  those  that  constituted  the  fort  called 
"  Pelham  "  to  the  eastward  ;  both  of  which  plans  were  accomplished 
in  the  sequel  by  the  agency  of  Ephraim  Williams,  as  we  shall 
shortly  see.  Israel  Williams  was  alreatly  studying  on  that  detailed 
plan  of  offence  and  defence  for  the  next  war,  which  he  communi- 
cated in  form,  not  very  long  afterwards,  to  his  superiors  at  Boston, 
parts  of  which  were  ultimately  adopted  by  Governor  Shirley  and 
the  officers  summoned  into  council  with  him.  Forts  Shirley  and 
Pelham,  upon  their  distant  hilltops,  had  proven  themselves  to  be 
nearly  useless  in  the  late  war,  and  Colonel  Williams  advised  their 
abandonment,  and  the  fortifying  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  the 
using  of  the  Hoosac  Route  as  the  way  of  offence  against  the  French. 
In  the  meantime  it  is  rather  pleasant  to  run  over  the  names  of  the 
men  who  spent  that  long  winter  on  the  Hoosac  Meadow,  Deerfield 
being  their  nearest  place  of  supplies,  meditating,  as  men  must  under 
those  circumstances,  "  What  shall  be  on  the  morrow  ?  " 


236  ORIGIiTS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Ephraim  Williams,  Capt.  Nathaniel  Harvey,  Cent. 

Elisha  Hawley,  Lieut.  Seth  Hudson,  Cent. 

Oliver  Avery,  Cent.  Elisha  Chapin,  Cent, 

Lemuel  Avery,  Cent.  Abner  Roberts,  Cent, 

Abraham  Bass,  Cent.  Samuel  Taylor,  Cent. 

Samuel  Calhoun,  Cent.  Isaac  Wyman,  Cent. 

Ezekiel  Foster,  Cent.  Paul  Langdon,  Cent. 

Ebenezer  Graves,  Cent.  (    omitted  on   ^ 

Micah  Harrington,  Cent,  Aaron  Vanhom  )  my  KoU  end-  V  Cent. 

Boston,  Jan.  13,  1751.    Errors  Excepted. 
Per  Ephraim  Williams. 

The  blacksmith  work  for  the  fort  itself  and  also  for  the  soldiers 
garrisoned  there  was  done  in  all  these  years  by  Seth  Pomroy,  of 
Northampton.  There  is  an  extant  bill,  written  out  as  follows 
in  the  blacksmitJi's  own  hand,  and  sent  in  a  letter  sealed  and 

addressed  to 

Maj.  Ephraim 

Williams  att 

Hatfield. 

Capt.  Ephraim  Williams  Dr.  to  S.  Pomrot 

Julv  1750  /  "^^  mending  your  Soldiers  guns  at  sundry  times  \        n    14      0 
1     in  lawfull  money  / 

Julv  1751  /  ^^^®  *^  mending  guns  and  Locks  at  sundry  {        ^ 
^     times  S 


10 


£14      4 

Seth  Pomroy. 

To  38  Indian  Shoes  for  the  Scouts  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  &  the 

line  of  forts  per  order  8      4      8 

To  one  deer  skin  to  mend  the  Shoes  8    10 


Lawi  money        £8    13      6 

Sworn  to  before  Elijah  Williams  Israel  Williams 

Just.Pacis  Ephraim  Williams. 

Bill  allowed  to  Eph.  Williams  for  furnishing  provisions  at  Hatfield,  Deerfield, 
Charlemont  and  Fort  Massachusetts  to  French  Protestants,  £6  0  0. 

Prov.  Massachusetts  to  Ephraim  Williams  Dr. 

To  72  Butter  @  1/ 2d.  £4      4 

85  Sugar  @  1/  10c?.  7     15     10 
10  galls  Rum  ye  Doctor  expended  in  dressing  the  wounded 

at  10/  5 

New  Tenor        £16    19    10 
Nov.  4,  1748 

Eph.  Williams  Jr. 


£2 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

»> 

5 

0 

2 

0 

0 

1 

10 

0 

0 

9 

0 

2 

0 

0 

£12 

4 

6 

EPHRAIM  WILLIAMS.  23' 

1751  Prov.    Massachcsetts   To   Eph^-   Williams   Dr. 

June    To  Erecting  a  Watch  Box  40  Foot  high  and  8  Foot  square 
To  cash  p<*  a  Carpenter  for  10  days  Work  @  4/ 
To  cash  p«*  2  Labourers  20  days  @  2/ 
To  15  sacks  @  3/ 

To  cash  p**  Freight  of  3 : 4  pounders  with  Carriages  from 

Boston  to  New  York 
To  ditto  from  New  York  to  Albany 
To  ditto  from  Albany  to  the  Landing  place  at  Van- 

derhidens  [now  Troy] 
To  Transporting  them  30  Miles  to  Fort  Massachusetts 

Lawfull  Money 

Eia.  &  A  low  VI  by  the 

Com<*«  J.  Osborne 
Boston  January  8^^  1752 
Suffolk  ss.  January  20'»»  1752 
Swome  to  before  the  Committee 

Jacob  Wendell  Just.  Pacis 

Errors  Excepted 
p  Eph.  Williams  junr. 

Province  Massa"^  To  Ephraim  Williams  Dr. 

1751       To  sundry  Goods  for  the  Mohawks  delivered  To  Col^  Joseph  I'inchon 
Aug'.  21         Capt.  Josiah  Dwight  and  Capt.  John  Ashley  the  General  Courts 
Committee.  Viz* 

To  4  Ells  Garlick  a  3/  4«*  j4  per  Ell  13    6 

To  2  yards  of  Callico  a  4    3)4 

To  1  Piece  Callico  3      7    6 


L.M.        £4      6    3)4 

Alow'd  by  the  Com»f« 

J.  Osborne. 


Province  Mass^   To  Ephraim  Williams  Dr. 

1751  To  Cash  paid  Major  Pomroy  for  mending  the  Soldiers 

July  Guns  posted  at  Fort  Massach"*  £1 

1754  To  an   Express  sent  by  Col®  Israel   Williams  to 

Sept.  n***         Govenr  Shirley  viz». 

4  days  Travel  &  Expenses  a  6/ 

To  my  Time  in  Wating  upon  His  Excelly  5  days  a  3/ 

To  my  Expences  5  days  a  4/ 

To  Cash  paid  Horse  Hire  for  the  above  Express 

£4     1 .-.       1 

Boston  November  16, 1754 
AlowM  by  the  Com»««  Errors  Excepted 

J.  Osborne  Eph.  Williams. 


15 

0 

1      0 

0 

12 

0 

238  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

1751  Province  of  ye  Massachusetts  Bay  De. 

To  Anthony  Glazier 

To  going  to  Fort  Massachusetts  &  back  at  20s  old  Ten' 

Provisions  per  day  for  28  days  28 

Supra  C' 
By  12  days  Provisions  of  ye  Comiss"  at  20/ 

Old  Ten'  per  day        12      0 


Due  in  Old  Tener        16 


Alow'd  by  the  Com*ee  j.  Osborne 
going  Interpreter  w^^  ye  Palatines. 


Balance  L  M  £2 


1751  Provw  Massachusetts  To  Ephraim  Williams  Dr. 

For  Provisions  and  other  subsistance  supply' d  the  French  Protestants 
after  the  Provisions  was  Expended  that  the  Commissary  General 
supply'd  them  with  — 


Decemb' 


To  Cash  pd  for  Provisions  for  them  at  Hatfield  £0  7  2 

To  Ditto  at  Deerfield  1  15  0 

To  Ditto  at  Charlamont  0  10  6 
To  Billeting  them  at  the  Fort  and  Provisions  till  their 

Return  to  Boston  76  days  for  1  man  4  13  8 


Lawfull  Money      £7      6      4 
Boston  Jan'y  7*^  1752 

Errors  Excepted 

Alowed  by  the  Com'ee 

J.  Osborne 
Suffolk  ss.  JanT  20*^  1752 

Sworne  to  before  the  Committee  Per  Eph™  Williams  jun 

Jacob  Wendell 

Just.  Pea: 

Indent  op  Sundrys  Necessary  at  Fort  Massachusetts 
4  Water  Bucketts  —  1  Box  Candles  30 1^  _  4  Wood  Axes 

Sundrys  for  the  Sick  Viz*. 
1  Firkin  Butter  30'^  —  ^  bb.  New  England  Rum  —  1  peck  Oatmeal  y^  b^  Rice 
—  10  'b  Currents,  10  ib  Reasins 

January  10'^  1750,  The  above  Articles  were  supply'd  Capt.  Williams,  and 
none  Since 

Attest 

J.  Wheelwright 
Boston  January  8'^  1752 
Endorsed  Errors  Excepted 

Capt.  Ephraim  Williams  jun'  Per  Eph  Williams  juner 

Fort  Massachusetts 
His  Indent  for  sundries 
to  January  1753. 


EPHRAIM  WILLIAMS.  239 

The  above  bills  and  receipts  were  taken  almost  at  random  from  a 
miscellaneous  package  in  the  archives  at  Boston,  endorsed  "  French 
War."  They  serve  to  illustrate  the  varied  activities  and  responsi- 
bilities of  Captain  Williams  during  all  the  years  of  his  command  on 
the  western  frontiers.  By  his  own  direct  agency,  and  through  his 
kinsman  and  confidant,  Israel  Williams,  of  Hatfield,  his  superior  in 
military  rank  and  in  political  position,  he  became  the  factotum  of 
the  government  at  Boston,  in  matters  both,  military  and  civil.  Many 
cares  were  constantly  coming  upon  that  government.  Exiles  from 
the  Old  World  for  conscience'  sake  were  crowding  into  Boston  in 
these  decades  of  the  old  French  War,  poor  and  persecuted,  and  had 
to  be  provided  for  by  the  public  authorities  ;  Palatines  from  both 
banks  of  the  Khine,  French  Protestants  from  the  home-land  as  well 
as  the  Catholic  exiles  from  Acadie,  tested  about  this  time  the  hos- 
pitalities of  Massachusetts ;  and  the  line  of  forts  to  the  westward 
were  opening  up  fresh  lands  and  new  townships,  that  might  serve 
as  homes  for  the  new-comers.  Dec.  23,  1749,  was  read  to  the  Great 
and  General  Court  the  Report  of  their  Committee  appointed  in  the 
April  preceding  "  to  repair  to  the  Province  Lands  near  Hoosuck,  to 
lay  out  two  townships  of  the  contents  of  six  miles  square,"  etc. ; 
and  the  detailed  plan  of  the  said  two  townships  was  presented  at 
the  same  time.  Just  a  month  later,  there  is  recorded  a  vote  of  the 
House,  granting  four  townships  to  foreign  Protestants,  —  two  in  the 
eastern  and  two  in  the  western  part  of  the  province,  —  the  two 
western  to  be  "  the  easternmost  township  lately  laid  out  at  or  near 
Fort  Massachusetts  [afterwards  called  Adams]  ;  and  the  other  to 
the  eastward  thereof"  [probably  Savoy]. 

Spencer  Phips,  who  was  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Massachusetts 
in  1731-57,  and  who  administered  the  government  from  September, 
1749,  for  four  years,  while  Governor  Shirley  was  in  Europe,  wrote 
the  following  letter  from  Boston  to  Captain  Williams  at  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts, dated  Nov.  26,  1751.  The  letter  explains  itself,  and  gives 
also  a  glimpse  of  the  friendly  and  intimate  relations  between  the 
Captain  and  the  government  of  Boston. 

Sir  :  This  comes  to  you  by  two  or  three  French  Protestants,  that  are  come 
over  with  expectation  of  settling  upon  the  Province  Land  voted  by  the  General 
Court  for  foreign  Protestants.  These  persons  have  desired  to  view  the  said 
land,  that  they  might  know  the  soil  and  situation  for  the  incouragement  of 
themselves  and  their  friends  in  Europe  to  settle  thereon,  if  they  like  it. 

You  are  therefore  directed  to  give  them  necessary  provisions  out  of  the  pub- 
lick  stores  while  they  are  with  you,  and  on  their  return  to  Boston.  You  are 
likewise  directed  to  show  them  the  lands  in  the  western  parts,  being  in  your 


240  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

neighborhood  destined  by  the  General  Court  for  foreign  Protestants ;  and  for 
your  further  direction  in  finding  the  said  land,  I  herewith  enclose  you  the  vote 
of  the  General  Court  on  that  affair. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  Friend  and  Servant, 
Captain  Ephraim  Williams.  S.  Phips. 

For  the  general  reasons  implied  in  the  foregoing,  and  for  other 
reasons  of  a  military  character  implied  in  the  increasing  expectation 
that  the  "  Peace  "  would  prove  short-lived,  Fort  Massachusetts  filled 
a  larger  space  in  the  public  eye  from  year  to  year,  and  made  Captain 
Williams  more  vigilant  in  respect  to  its  prospective  defences.  The 
fort  was  kept  well  stocked  with  provisions.  The  following  bill  of 
1749  indicates  commissariat  operations  there  on  a  much  grander 
scale  than  Catlin's  "  whete  "  contracts  with  the  "  Duch  "  in  1745 :  — 

Captu  Ephraim  Williams 

bo't  of  Wm.  Williams  Viz*  Sundry  Provisions  at 

Fort  Massachusetts. 

103  Bushells  Flower  at  42/ 

Transport  from  Sheffield  to  si  Fort  £14.10  for  every  10  Bushell 

2324  lb  Pork  at  2/ 

5  Bushells  Salt  at  112/ 

To  Scalding  and  packing  10  Bbls  of  Pork  at  11/ 

To  Driving  the  above  Pork  to  the  Fort 

72  Gallons  Rum  at  60/ 

13  Bushells  of  Peas  at  40/ 

To  Transporting  y^  same 


£216 

6 

£149 

16 

£232 

8 

£28 

£5 

10 

£23 

10 

£216 

£26 

£13 

10 

£911       0    8 


To  my  Trouble  and  Expenses  in  and  hiring  ye  Transport  of  the 

above  articles,  with  the  risque  &c.  89 


£1000      0    8 


Another  thing  that  indicates  on  the  part  of  Massachusetts  a 
growing  sense  of  insecurity  as  to  the  provisions  of  the  Peace  of 
Aix  la  Chapelle,  is  the  proposal  by  the  General  Court,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1751,  that  Fort  Massachusetts  should  be  surrounded  by  a 
line  of  pickets  at  some  considerable  distance  from  the  walls  of  the 
blockhouse,  after  the  general  manner  of  Fort  Pelham,  on  the  hilltop 
to  the  eastward.  Captain  Williams  had  been  drawn  towards  his 
fort  and  its  defences  that  year  by  new  personal  interests  in  its 
neighborhood.  In  January  he  had  petitioned  the  General  Court 
for  a  grant  of  lands  in  the  vicinity,  in  consideration  for  which  he 
agreed  to  build  a  gristmill  and  a  sawmill  on  one  of  the  branches  of 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  241 

the  Hoosac  River,  in  what  is  now  the  village  of  North  Adams.  In 
February  a  committee  of  the  Court,  having  personally  viewed  the 
lands,  recommended  the  grant  of  190  acres,  reserving  "  ten  acres  of 
the  land  adjoyning  to  the  land  already  reserved  round  said  fort  for 
the  use  of  the  Province."  He  was  obligated  to  build  the  mills  on 
the  north  branch  of  the  Hoosac,  a  stream  the  Indians  called  Mayun- 
sook;  and  he  must  keep  the  mills  in  good  repair  for  the  space 
of  twenty  years,  casualties  excepted.  The  committee  afterwards 
recommended,  when  the  grant  was  under  discussion  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  an  additional  grant  of  ten  acres,  to  make  up  for 
the  ten  acres  reserved  around  the  fort;  and  the  bill  was  so  passed. 

This  was  the  first  grant  of  land  in  fee  simple  to  a  private  party 
by  the  province  in  the  valley  of  the  Hoosac.  John  Perry,  as  we 
have  seen,  did  not  obtain  his  picturesque  desire  and  petition  of  five 
years  before.  For  some  reason  not  down  in  the  record,  Williams 
actually  built  his  mill,  or  mills,  on  the  south  branch  of  the  Hoosac, 
the  AshincUlticook,  near  its  junction  with  the  Mayunsook;  and  the 
site  of  his  dam  across  the  stream  is  well  known  to  this  day.  It  is 
the  same  "  privilege  "  as  that  of  the  century  later  Phenix  mill,  but 
the  present  dam  is  about  a  dozen  rods  nearer  the  junction  of  the  two 
branches.  Ash-a-icog,  or  Nash-a-ivog,  an  Indian  word,  which  means 
"a  place  between  two  rivers,"  was  common  in  New  England  in 
various  combinations,  and  seems  to  be  the  radical  element  in  Ashu- 
willticook,  as  it  certainly  is  in  Ashuelot  and  Nashua,  in  New 
Hampshire.  It  will  be  plain  enough  to  any  one,  however,  who  even 
at  this  day  examines  the  lay  of  the  land  there,  why  the  fall  on.  the 
south  branch  near  the  junction  was  preferred  to  that  on  the  north 
branch  for  the  mill  privilege,  because  it  lay  on  higher  ground  and 
was  considerably  nigher  the  old  Mohawk  trail,  which  was  then  the 
only  road  to  the  fort.  The  present  Main  Street  in  North  Adams, 
and  the  road  west  over  Furnace  Hill,  between  the  public  bridge  over 
the  south  branch  and  that  over  the  Hoosac  near  the  site  of  the  fort, 
follow  the  course  of  the  old  trail,  although  the  old  ford  over  the 
Hoosac,  by  which  the  fort  was  reached,  was  three  or  four  rods 
below  the  present  highway  brid^re.  It  is  perhaps  half  a  mile 
between  these  two  bridges. 

Captain  Williams  congratulated  himself,  and  was  congratulated 
by  others,  on  the  acquisition  of  this  fine  piece  of  real  estate,  which, 
with  the  reserve,  now  the  centre  of  the  meadow,  encircled  the  fort 
on  every  side.  It  was  then  densely  wooded,  except  the  field  imme- 
diately around  the  fort,  from  which  the  stumps  were  slowly  disap- 
pearing under  the  cultivation  of  the   remarkably   rich  soil.     The 


242  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

southern  bend  of  the  river  just  east  of  the  meadow,  in  consequence 
of  its  striking  a  quartzite  ledge,  makes  a  large  ox-bow  at  that  point, 
which  has  always  constituted  a  fertile  and  famous  farm.  After  it 
passed  out  from  province  control,  it  was  owned  and  cultivated  for 
sixty  years  by  Israel  Jones  till  about  1830,  since  which  time  it  has 
been  owned  and  cultivated  for  an  equal  number  of  years  by  the 
Harrison  family.  It  showed  the  popularity  of  the  Captain  with 
the  General  Court  that  he  obtained  this  grant  without  difficulty  or 
delay.  It  showed  also,  indirectly,  the  influence,  in  Boston,  of  his 
cousin,  Israel  Williams,  and  of  his  other  cousin,  William  Williams. 
His  father,  Ephraim  Williams,  of  Stockbridge,  had  had  for  several 
years  a  large  influence  over  the  political  and  missionary  movements 
in  Boston,  but  this  personal  influence  was  now  decidedly  on  the 
wane  there  and  elsewhere,  although  this  was  about  the  time  when 
the  phrase  "  Williams  family^'  came  to  be  employed  a  good  deal 
(sometimes  in  a  sinister  sense)  in  the  political,  and  especially  in 
the  religious,  correspondence  of  the  period.  "  Ye  monarch  of  Hamp- 
shire "  was  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  of  Hatfield.  The  Captain,  also, 
who  had  become  wonderfully  popular  the  last  few  years  on  the 
Connecticut  Biver,  was  now  owner  of  an  estate  of  large  possibilities 
on  the  Hoosac,  and  was  shortly  to  purchase  the  fine  landed  interests 
of  his  father  on  the  Housatonic ;  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  such 
letters  as  the  following  came  to  be  addressed  to  him  by  persons  of 
position  and  influence,  who  sought  to  cultivate  his  friendship  and 
even  to  promote  his  spiritual  welfare. 

This  letter,  which  is  well  worth  printing  in  this  connection,  is 
neither  dated  nor  signed,  but  the  original  is  among  the  Israel  Wil- 
liams papers,  and  it  was  certainly  written  during  the  season  of  1751 
by  either  Rev.  Jonathan  Ashley,  of  Deerfield,  or  Bev.  Timothy  Wood- 
bridge,  of  Hatfield,  both  of  whom  are  known,  on  other  grounds,  to 
have  been  friends  and  intimates  of  the  Captain.  The  latter  sent  a 
note  dated  "Hatfield,  May  10, 1751,"  addressed  "To  Cap'n  Ephraim 
Williams  at  Fort  Massachusetts,"  and  signed  "  Timo.  Woodbridge," 
to  this  tenor :  "  I  have  drawn  at  Hoosuck  Ko.  3,"  —  meaning  the 
original  house  lot  so  numbered  on  the  present  main  street  in 
William  stown. 

Sir  :  I  wish  you  a  great  deal  of  ease  and  contentment  in  your  scituation  at 
the  fort.  Perhaps  the  progress  you  make  in  the  improvement  of  your  new 
grant  adds  to  the  pleasure  of  your  scituation  there.  I  was  pleased  when  con- 
versing with  the  Colo  upon  it  to  hear  him  observe  that  it  was  more  valuable 
than  ever  I  imagined,  for  I  can  assure  you  that  it  affords  me  a  particular  pleasure 
when  I  hear  of  the  prosperity  of  the  generous  and  the  kind,  and  you  may  easily 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  243 

think  its  an  addition  to  the  pleasure  when  I  see  a  kind  Providence  smile  upon 
those  of  this  character  I  can  number  among  my  very  good  friends.  I  wish  your 
scituation  in  the  world  may  be  allways  pleasant  and  prosperous,  and  my  wishes 
rise  still  higher  that  the  beneficence  of  your  Heavenly  Father  may  be  allways 
gratefully  resented  by  you,  and  that  His  care  and  smiles  may  be  constant  incen- 
tives of  every  generous  and  gi-atef ull  passion,  and  lead  you  to  adopt  the  language 
of  the  sacred  penman,  and  say  What  shall  I  render  unto  the  Lord  for  all  his 
benefits?  You  will  ever  consider,  Sir,  all  temporal  advantages  but  an  inferior 
and  subordinate  good,  and  infinitely  unworthy  your  supreme  affection  and  chief 
pursuit.  But  I  hope,  Sir,  your  own  meditations  upon  such  a  topick  will  furnish 
you  with  better  sentiments  than  any  I  can  suggest.  I  shall  be  glad  if  I  can  get 
an  opportunity  this  summer  coming  to  visit  you  at  the  fort,  for  I  am  sure  it 
would  be  to  me  a  very  agreeable  amusement. 

I  have  no  news  very  material  to  write  you.  The  Colo  since  his  return  from 
Boston  tells  me  that  he  conjectures  from  the  scituation  of  affairs  that  the  i)eace 
will  not  continue  long.  The  Col^  has  another  pritty  daughter  added  to  his 
family.  Daughters  they  say  are  an  indication  of  peace.  I  wish  the  old  proverb 
may  be  verified. 

I  have  snatched  a  moment  to  write  to  you  the  Association  being  at  my  house, 
and  can  only  ad  that 

I  am,  Sir,  your  affectionate  friend  and  Very  Humble  ServH, 

[Timothy  Woodbridoe.] 

There  is  a  letter  from  Captain  Williams  in  his  own  handwriting, 
which  comes  in  at  this  point,  and  which  illustrates  in  several  ways 
how  the  tedium  of  garrison  life  was  broken  up  during  this  peace 
year  of  1751.     The  direction  of  the  letter  is  as  follows  :  — 

To  the  Honrable 

Spencer  Phips  Esq' 

Lieut  Govenour  and 

Comander  in  Chief  of 

His  Majesty's  Province  of  the 

Massachusetts  Bay  &c.  &c. 

at  Cambridge. 

Fort  Massachusetts,  Sept.  3,  1761. 
May  it  plese  your  Honour 

Last  week  came  to  ye  fort  8  Scattecook  Indians,  who  told  me  the  land  was 
theirs,  and  that  the  English  had  no  Buisness  to  Settle  it  Untill  such  times  as 
they  had  purchased  of  them.  They  further  said  yt  when  we  began  to  Built  the 
first  Fort,  they  told  the  English  they  must  not  Build  the  Fort  Except  they  would 
pay  them  for  the  land,  and  that  the  Commandr  had  promist  them  pay,  but  the 
English  had  not  been  as  good  as  their  word.  In  answer  I  told  them  as  to  what 
promises  they  had  had,  I  was  not  Accountable,  but  be  they  what  they  would,  I 
did  not  Suppose  they  were  binding  Upon  Us  now,  for  it  was  wellknown  that 
their  tribe  was  in  the  French  Interest  the  last  war,  and  that  a  number  of  them 
assisted  in  taking  the  Fort  and  that  we  now  held  the  land  by  Right  of  Conquest. 
They  said  it  was  true  a  number  of  ye  tribe  was  gone  to  Canada  but  they  were 


244  OKIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

not  the  proper  owners  of  the  land.  I  told  them  if  those  Indians  were  here  they 
would  challenge  the  land  as  they  now  did,  and  denie  that  ever  they  were  in  the 
French  interest,  that  if  the  English  were  disposed  to  purchase  the  land  it  was 
Impossable  to  know  who  were  the  right  owners,  notwithstanding  I  would  inform 
the  goveD  and  Doubted  not  but  he  would  lay  the  matter  before  the  Court,  but 
then  I  must  know  how  much  land  they  called  theirs,  and  what  their  price  was  ; 
they  told  me  it  was  theirs  as  far  South  as  the  head  of  all  streams  that  Emtied 
into  Hoosuck  River,  [the  watershed  is  in  Hancock  and  Lanesboro]  and  their 
price  was  £800  ye  york  money,  I  told  them  1  thought  the  price  was  anough,  and 
that  the  Province  would  not  give  it.  there  is  no  doubt  with  me  but  yt  the  French 
are  at  the  bottom  of  all  this,  a  part  of  this  tribe  is  now  at  Canada,  and  in  order 
to  git  the  Rest  they  have  set  a  price  for  the  land  they  know  we  never  will  com- 
ply with.  Last  night  came  to  the  Fort  2  French  men  and  one  English  Captive 
whose  name  is  John  Carter  he  was  taken  when  Deerfield  was  Destroyed  [1704] 
he  is  now  maried  in  Canada  and  has  a  family  there :  the  French  mens  mother  is 
an  English  Captive  taken  at  the  same  time  she  was  old  M"^  Thomas  french's 
Daughter,  they  had  a  pass  from  the  gove"  of  Canada,  and  are  agoing  to  see 
y  Relations  as  they  say  ;  but  if  the  truth  was  known  I  believe  they  are  Sent  for 

Spies. 

plese  Sir  to  turn  over 
I  askt  them  what  news  ;  they  said  there  was  14  ships  from  France  several  of 
which  were  men  of  war,  but  they  had  not  brought  any  news  remarkable  I  then 
Inquired  whether  the  Indians  want  gone  to  war  Upon  our  frontiers  in  the  East- 
ern Country  they  said  No,  they  had  done  now. 

Concerning  the  Deer  your  Hon'  spoke  to  me  about.  I  have  done  all  that  has 
been  in  my  power  to  serve  you  though  to  little  purpose.  I  have  been  20  miles 
west  of  Albany  but  cou'd  not  git  any. 

I  should  have  Informed  you  Sooner  but  had  not  an  opportunity  except  I  should 
have  sent  your  Honour  an  Express  which  I  dont  Remember  was  your  Desire. 
I  am  S'  your  Hon'  most  obedient  Humble  Serv' 

Eph.  Williams  junb 

GOVENEROR   PhIPS 

[Endorsed] 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  Jan.  23,  1752.  Read  and  Voted  that  Col. 
Lydius  of  the  City  of  Albany  together  with  the  within  named  Capt.  Ephraim 
Williams  be  desired  to  make  thorough  Enquiry  respecting  the  Indian  Title  to 
said  lands,  whether  they  belong  to  said  Scauticook  Indians  or  other  Indians  liv- 
ing near  the  Hudson's  River,  or  at  Stockbridge  —  And  report  thereon  to  this 
Court  as  soon  as  may  be. 

There  is  every  reason  for  believing  that  Captain  Williams  was 
assiduous  in  his  attendance  upon  his  duties  at  the  fort,  and  upon  his 
personal  interests  in  that  vicinity,  during  the  entire  year  1751  and 
well  into  the  next  also.  We  are  not  possessed  of  many  details  of  his 
activity  in  that  interval  of  time,  but  there  is  a  muster-roll  extant, 
endorsed  "  muster-roll  of  Capt.  Ephraim  Williams  at  Fort  Massachu- 
setts from  June  3, 1751  to  Jan'y  5, 1752."  There  are  also  proposals 
in  his  own  handwriting,  as  intimated  above,  in  behalf  of  himself  and 


EPHRAOI   WILLIAMS.  245 

seven  other  soldiers  at  the  fort,  to  picket  that  blockhouse  by  con- 
tract with  the  General  Court.  These  proposals  are  dated  Aug.  18, 
1751.  Nine  days  earlier  than  that.  Secretary  Willard,  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Government  at  Boston,  wrote  the  appended  letter  to  Colonel 
Israel  Williams  at  Hatfield  :  — 

Sir,  I  am  directed  by  the  Lieut.'  Gov-r  and  Council  to  inform  you,  that  after 
all  the  solemn  professions  of  the  Penobscot  Indians  to  maintain  the  peace,  and 
their  great  desires  to  meet  the  Lieut.''  Govenor  at  St.  Georges,  and  attend  the 
proposed  treaty  there,  for  confirming  the  same ;  this  morning  we  have  certain 
advices  from  Capt.  Bradbury  that  a  considerable  number  of  the  Penobscot 
Indians  had  joined  with  those  of  the  St.  Francois,  and  that  in  a  day  or  two  they 
would  set  upon  the  English  inhabiting  on  St.  George's  Kiver.  This  advice  I  am 
ordered  to  send  you,  and  to  desire  that  you  would  in  the  most  suitable  manner 
apprize  the  inhabitants  above  you,  and  other  places  about  you  that  may  be 
exposed  to  an  enemy,  of  this  state  of  affairs,  that  so  they  may  provide  for  their 
defence ;  and  particularly  that  you  would  give  intelligence  of  these  matters  to 
the  several  garrisons  at  Number  Four,  Fort  Dummer,  and  Fort  Massachusetts, 
or  elsewhere  in  your  neighborhood  where  there  may  be  any  soldiers  in  the  pay 

of  the  Province. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  very  humble  Servant, 
Colo.  Israel  Williams.  J.  Willard. 

There  was  time  for  this  warning  to  reach  Fort  Massachusetts  in 
season  to  hurry  forward  the  following  proposals  to  picket  the  fort. 
There  were  hardy  riders  as  well  as  swift  runners  round  the  head- 
quarters on  the  Connecticut,  either  of  whom  could  compass  the  fort 
within  forty-eight  hours. 

Fort  Massachusetts,  Aug^  18,  1761. 

Whereas  it  has  been  proposed  by  the  General  Court  yt  ye  fort  shou'd  be 
pycetted  we  the  subscribers  engage  for  ourselves  yt  we  will  git  3000  picketts 
which  shall  be  6  Inches  diameter,  9  feet  and  1  half  long  and  that  we  will  see 
them  all  Burnt  2  feet  from  the  bottom  untill  the  sap  is  all  drawn  out,  and  we 
further  promise  yt  we  will  see  a  trench  dug  one  foot  and  1  half  deep  and  all  of 
them  [set  in]  and  [then  ribbed  together]  from  one  end  of  them  to  the  other  end : 
and  a  good  pin  drove  through  each  pickett  and  Ribb :  at  such  distance  from  the 
ground  as  shall  be  thought  best.  And  when  the  whole  is  completed  the  Com- 
mander of  the  fort  shall  have  the  improvement and  it  is 

further  agreed  that  we  ye  subscribers  shall  have  one  Half  of  what  shall  be 
allow'd  by  the  GenU  Court  :  and  the  Command'r  to  have  the  other  half,  and  in 
case  nothing  shall  be  obtained,  then  we  will  be  at  half  of  the  charge  and  he  sliall 
be  at  the  other  half  of  the  charge  :  and  it  is  further  agreed  by  the  Coin'r  and 
we  the  above  subscribers  that  an  Exact  account  of  ye  labour  shall  be  kept  by 
every  man  in  particular,  and  after  a  reasonable  charge  which  shall  be  taken  by 
the  whole  which  shall  be  sett  by  the  major  vote,  it  is  further  agreed  that  what 
the  province  shant  allow,  if  anything,  shall that  when  any 


246  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

of  them  are  dismist  by  order  of  government  with  in years,  then  a  soldier 

yt  may  come  in  his  room  shall have  the  refusal  of  his  part,  and  if  he 

who  comes  in  wont  take  it  and  pay  him  the  charge  yt  has  been  out  that  the 
Com'r  obliges  himself  to  pay  it,  and  where  as  Epht  Williams,  Jr.,  has  the 
command  of  it  at  present  he  engages  y*  the  subscribers  shall  have  the  bene- 
fit of  15  rods  beginning  at  the  aboves'd  mount  and  running  to  the  aboves'd 
stump  and  then  Northedly  30  rods,  then  Westardly  30  rods,  then  Southardly  15 
rods,  and  then  Easterly  15  rods,  untill  they  come  to  the  north  corner  of  the 
northwest  mount :  for  [as  long  a  time]  as  he  shall  have  the  command  of  s^  fort : 
and  we  the  subscribers  promise  that  if  we  fall  back  before  the  hole  is  completed 
that  we  will  each  of  us  forfit  the  sum  of  ten  pounds  in  witness  whereof  we  have 

set  our  hand 

Eph.  Williams  Seth  Hudson 

Isaac  Wtman  Silas  Pratt 

Samuel  Calhoon  Elisha  Chapin. 

Ezekh-  Eoster 

Those  proposed  pickets  were  set  not  very  long  afterwards,  it  is 
to  be  presumed,  of  tlie  size  and  in  the  general  manner  herein  set 
forth,  and  by  the  men  in  general  who  hereby  offered  to  put  them  in 
place.  This  stockade  long  survived  the  blockhouse  it  enclosed. 
Two  acres  and  three-quarters  of  beautiful  meadow  land  were  thus 
fenced  in ;  they  were  cultivated  by  the  garrison  and  others  for  many 
years  before  the  bulk  of  the  surrounding  meadow  was  cleared  up, 
and  while  the  timbers  of  the  fort  were  slowly  rotting  down ;  they 
seem  to  have  been  the  perquisite  of  the  successive  commanders  as 
such,  of  the  fort  itself,  without  reference  to  the  ownership  of  Cap- 
tain Williams's  farm  surrounding  them ;  it  is  altogether  probable, 
one  might  almost  say  proved,  that  they  were  esteemed  a  part  of  the 
ten  acres  reserved  from  Williams's  original  grant  ^'  for  the  use  of 
the  fort " ;  and  the  last  glimpse  that  we  gain  of  the  enclosure  and 
of  what  it  enclosed,  reveals  one  of  the  signers  of  the  above  pro- 
posals, Isaac  AVyman,  the  final  commander  of  the  fort,  as  living  in 
a  house  within  the  pickets  and  as  cultivating  the  ground  covered 
in  by  them.^  His  rank  was  then  Captain.  The  year  was  not  far 
from  1761. 

These  proposals  throw  considerable  light  upon  the  way  in  which 
Fort  Pelham  was  undoubtedly  constructed  six  years  before  ;  that, 
however,  was  a  mere  stockade  twelve  rods  by  twenty-four,  probably 
enclosing  nothing  but  a  well  and  a  small  magazine,  and  a  covered 
lodging-place  for  the  garrison  in  one  or  more  of  the  interior  angles. 
There  was  certainly  a  mount  at  Pelham,  in  all  likelihood  upon  the 
northwest  corner,  and  under  this  would  naturally  and  cheaply  be 

1  Field's  History  of  Berkshire  County,  page  425. 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  247 

the  quarters  for  the  soldiers.  AVe  have  already  learned  in  an  earlier 
chapter  that  the  outline  of  the  Fort  Telhani  can  be  distinctly  traced 
to  this  day  by  the  pillow  of  earth  originally  thrown  out  to  make  a 
trench  for  the  pickets  to  stand  in,  and  then  thro^\^l  back  on  both 
sides  to  help  hold  them  in  place,  and  that  the  author,  with  his  friend 
Haynes,  found  in  this  pillow  a  gnarled  and  knotted  remnant  of  one 
red-oak  picket  that  had  stood  in  its  place  more  than  130  years,  the 
ground  of  the  fort  having  apparently  never  been  ploughed;  while 
no  such  memorials  of  the  stockade  at  Fort  Massachusetts  could,  of 
course,  be  expected  long  to  survive  the  constant  ploughings  of  that 
fertile  meadow  both  within  and  without  the  line  of  pickets,  which 
ploughings  began  under  Israel  Jones  in  17G6,  and  continued,  with 
the  proper  agricultural  intervals,  for  sixty  years  under  his  direction 
as  o^vne^  of  the  meadow. 

The  seven  names  appended  to  these  proposals  for  "pycetting" 
around  Fort  Massachusetts  will  never  cease  to  be  interesting  names 
to  the  dwellers  in  the  valley  of  the  upper  Hoosac.  All  of  them 
were  then  soldiers  at  the  fort,  had  been  soldiers  there  for  some 
years,  and  continued  to  be  soldiers  there  some  years  longer ;  all  but 
one  of  them  became,  that  very  year,  with  thirty-nine  others,  original 
proi)rietors  of  the  entire  township  of  West  Hoosac,  now  Williams- 
town  ;  and  at  the  house  of  one  of  them,  built  on  house  lot  No.  9 
and  still  standing,  the  first  legally  warned  meeting  of  the  proprietors 
of  the  said  township  was  called  in  due  form  by  William  Williams, 
of  Pontoosuck,  "  to  assemble  at  the  House  of  Mr.  Seth  Hudson  in 
said  township  on  Wednesday  the  Fifth  day  of  December  next  [1753] 
at  Nine  of  the  Clock  in  the  forenoon  " ;  and  all  seven  of  these  sub- 
scribers left  their  permanent  mark  on  the  civil  as  well  as  military 
course  of  things  in  this  region  of  the  fort. 

The  first  name  in  this  list  of  seven  is,  and  always  will  be,  the 
greatest  name  in  the  annals  of  Northern  Berkshire.  He  was  the 
first  landed  proprietor  in  that  section  of  the  province.  He  built 
the  very  first  mills  in  a  locality  since  become  extraordinary  for  mill 
manufacturing.  He  became  the  first  public  benefactor  of  his  neigh- 
borhood. He  chose  a  method  for  his  public  benefaction  (not  large 
in  amount  of  money)  that  has  proven  itself,  during  a  whole  century, 
to  be  vital  and  fructifying.  Public  interest  in  the  life  and  death  of 
Ephraini  Williams  is  increasing,  and  in  ever-widening  circles ;  and 
the  present  pages  find  their  chief  significance  in  a  painstaking 
attempt  to  gather  up  every  scrap  of  contemporary  testimony  that 
may  help  serve  to  depict,  as  distinctly  and  truthfully  as  possible, 
a  character  and  a  life-work  appealing  to  the  thoughtful  interest  of 


248  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

mankind.  According  to  the  terms  of  these  proposals  to  picket  the 
fort,  the  prospective  lion's  share  of  the  reward  to  come  from  the 
province  as  a  whole,  was  to  be  holden  by  the  then  present  Com- 
mander ;  and  at  least  two  reasons  will  occur  to  the  reader  towards 
justifying  this  :  (1)  the  hard-wood  staddles  of  the  right  size  to  serve 
for  pickets  would  probably  have  to  come,  in  large  measure,  from 
Williams's  own  private  woods  around  the  fort,  for  most  of  the 
timber  on  the  meadow  was  certainly  soft  wood,  —  pine  and  spruce 
and  hemlock,  and  the  ten  acres  reserved  for  the  use  of  the  fort 
would  not  furnish  proper  staddles  enough ;  and  (2)  it  would  be  the 
influence  of  the  combined  Williams  family,  if  anybody's,  that  could 
carry  such  an  appropriation  for  such  a  purpose  through  the  General 
Court  at  that  time.  The  Williams  family  always  acted  together  for 
their  own  interests,  and  for  those  of  the  public.  At  that  time  their 
influence  was  decidedly  predominant  in  the  western  third  of  the 
province.  William  Williams  was  the  patriarch  of  Pontoosuck,  now 
Pittsfield ;  Ephraim  Williams,  Senior,  then  held  a  like  position  in 
Stockbridge  ;  and  Israel  Williams  was  the  Colonel  of  the  Hampshire 
Eegiment,  the  highest  military  official  in  this  end  of  the  province, 
and  on  various  grounds  very  influential  in  the  General  Court  at 
Boston. 

Our  story,  in  some  of  the  following  pages,  will  concern  itself  con- 
siderably with  Captain  Elisha  Chapin,  —  another  of  the  seven  sub- 
scribers,—  who  next  succeeded  Captain  Ephraim  Williams  in  the 
command  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  who,  about  the  same  time  of  this 
promotion,  bought,  in  conjunction  with  Moses  Graves,  of  Hatfield,  for 
£350  (both  giving  bonds  therefor),  Williams's  land-grant  around  the 
fort,  and  who  was  characterized,  four  years  later,  by  Williams  in  his 
will,  as  "  the  poor,  distressed,  and  imprudent  Captain  Elisha  Chapin," 
in  the  same  clause  that  remitted  to  him  £100  out  of  his  part  of  the 
debt.  Chapin  was  of  "Chickobee,"  now  Springfield,  of  a  family 
since  very  distinguished  along  that  stretch  of  the  Connecticut  River. 
His  original  house  lot  in  Williamstown  was  No.  41,  the  front  of 
which  is  now  occupied  by  the  fine  house  of  the  Chi  Psi  fraternity, 
and  down  the  centre  of  which  south  runs  the  lately  named  "  Hoxie 
Street."  ^  Chapin  was  brave,  courteous,  and  obedient  to  his  military 
superiors,  and  loyal  to  the  service  as  he  conceived  of  its  objects  and 
interests ;  but  he  sadly  lacked  caution  and  moral  control  over  men, 
and  all  the  indirect  evidence  points  to  a  free  personal  use  of  liquors 

1  In  the  spring  of  1891,  in  legal  town-meeting,  the  town  formally  named  its  streets 
and  roads  and  bridges  and  hilltops  in  accordance  with  a  report  of  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  A.  L.  Perry,  John  Bascom,  and  A.  E.  Hall. 


EPHRAtM   WILLIAMS.  249 

and  a  too  free  distribution  of  them  among  the  men  under  his  com- 
mand. In  the  piping  times  of  peace  he  woukl  make  a  fair  commander 
of  the  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  was  given  a  captain's  commission 
for  that  purpose  in  the  spring  of  1752,  while  for  various  reasons  the 
interest  of  Captain  Williams  waned  in  the  affairs  of  the  Hoosac  and 
waxed  as  towards  those  of  the  Housatonic.  Ephraim  Williams, 
Senior,  whose  home  had  been  in  Stockbridge  since  1739,  was  getting 
to  be  an  old  man.  He  had  large  property  interests  there,  while  he 
had  greatly  compromised  his  moral  standing  there,  and  he  needed 
much  the  advice  and  support  of  his  eldest  son.  The  latter  was 
given  a  commission  as  major  in  the  southern  regiment  of  Hampshire 
County,  commanded  by  Colonel  John  Worthington,  of  Springfield, 
on  June  7,  1753,  and  his  principal  residence  was  in  Stockbridge 
from  the  close  of  1751  till  September,  1754,  when  he  returned  to 
Fort  Massachusetts  as  commander,  with  a  much  enlarged  military 
authority  to  the  southward.  In  the  interval  Chapin  commanded 
there.  His  first  muster-roll,  extending  from  June,  1752,  to  June, 
1753,  runs  as  follows :  — 

A  Muster  Roll  of  the  Company   ly  His  Majesty's  service   under  the 

COMMAND  OF   ElISUA    ChAPIN. 

Ellsha  Chapin,  Capt.  John  Adams,         Centl. 

Isaac  Wyman,  Serg't.  Elijah  Brown,  do. 

Abraham  Bass,  Centl.  John  Chamberlin,    do. 

Samuel  Taylor,    do.  Christopher  Tyler,  do. 

Peter  Boovee,      do.  Thomas  Train,        do. 

Silas  Pratt,  do.  Archibal  Panil,    "I    , 

Gad  Chapin,         do.  of  Fort  Shirley    / 

Ezekiel  Foster,    do.  George  Hall,        \    , 

John  Crawford,  do.  of  Pelham  Fort  / 
Samuel  Calhoun,  do, 

Chapin's  second  roll,  under  precisely  the  same  heading,  sworn  to 
by  him  before  William  Williams  at  Pontoosuck,  Dec.  13,  1753,  con- 
tains the  same  number  of  men  and  names  the  same  men,  except  that 
Elkanah  Parris  and  Elisha  Higgins  and  Benjamin  Fairbanks  take 
the  places  of  Brown  and  Tyler  and  Calhoun.  Panil  and  Hall 
each  keeps  his  solitary  watch  and  ward  at  Shirley  and  Pelham 
respectively. 

The  third  roll,  from  December,  1753,  to  May,  1754,  sworn  to 
before  Jacob  Wendell,  June  1,  1754,  presents  no  differences  from 
the  preceding  except  that  Edmund  Town  and  Enoch  Chapin  and 
Nath.  Harvey  take  the  places  of  three  of  the  former  sentinels. 


250  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Chapin's  fourth  and  last  roll,  covering  the  time  till  Williams  re- 
sumed the  command  in  September,  1754,  holds  twenty-four  names, 
of  which  Oliver  Avery  and  John  Bourn  and  George  Willson  and 
Tyras  Pratt  and  Isaac  Soldan  and  Jeremiah  Chapin  and  John 
Roshet  and  John  Wells  and  Benjamin  King  (afterwards  killed) 
are  new  to  his  lists. 

The  two  following  letters  from  Captain  Chapin  to  Colonel  Israel 
Williams  from  Fort  Massachusetts,  dated  respectively  Aug.  3  and 
Aug.  25,  1754,  furnish  some  idea  of  him  as  a  man  and  a  com- 
mander :  — 

Sir  Last  Sunday  morning  I  sent  a  scout  to  Sencoick  [St.  Croix]  and  returned 
this  minit.  They  find  where  the  Indians  marched  off  and  burnt  all  afore  them. 
They  think  there  was  about  400  of  the  enemy.  They  see  a  man  come  out  of 
Albany  yesterday.  The  Gent,  of  Albany  was  very  desirous  that  he  should  come 
to  the  fort  and  acquaint  me  that  there  is  44  Indian  cannoes  come  out  9  days 
sence  and  desine  for  our  scatereing  f rontteers  in  New  England. 

From  Sir 

yrs 

to  com : 

Elisha  Chapin. 

Sir,  This  day  there  came  a  man  from  the  Dutch  and  informs  me  that  4  days 
past  there  came  5  Indians  from  Crownpint  and  informs  them  that  there  is  eight 
hundred  Indians  desine  to  destroy  Hosuck  and  oare  new  town  and  this  fort  and 
desine  to  be  upon  us  this  night.  I  sent  a  man  right  down  to  Hosuck  to  here 
farther  about  the  iffair,  but  the  people  was  all  moved  of  but  2  or  3  that  was  a 
coming  to  the  fort  and  they  tell  him  the  same  account.  The  Indians  that 
brought  the  account  was  sent  in  order  to  have  some  parsons  move  from  Sencoick 
that  they  bad  a  regard  for,  but  if  they  come  I  hope  we  are  well  fixt  for  them. 
In  hast  from 

Sr 

Your's  &c 

Command  Elisha  Chapin. 

In  the  course  of  this  summer  of  1754,  when  the  war  clouds  were 
darkening  and  beginning  to  mutter,  Israel  Williams  wrote  as  follows 
to  the  governor  at  Boston :  — 

Capt.  E  C.  [Elisha  Chapin]  has  now  ye  com'and  of  Fort  Massachusetts.  I 
can't  think  it  prudence  he  should  have  the  com'and  of  a  place  of  such  importance 
in  time  of  war.  I  know  not  of  a  Gent'n  in  ye  County  that  will  be  easy  to  have 
him  trusted  with  it.  He  is  a  bold  and  venturesome  man,  but  fails  in  conduct 
and  gov't.  If  Maj'r  Williams  would  return  to  that  com'and,  it  would  give  uni- 
versal content,  und'r  whom  Chapin  I  believe  would  be  glad  of  a  L'cy  [lieuten- 
antcy],  Y'r  Ex'cy  influence  may  probably  prevail  with  ye  Maj'r  to  accept  ye 
com'and  of  that  garrison.  If  he  should,  it  would  be  best  he  should  have  ye 
com'and  of  the  men  that  are  or  may  be  posted  at  Pontoosuck  also. 


EPHRAIM  WILLIAMS.  251 

As  Ephraim  Williams  is  properly  denominated  "Major"  in  the 
above  letter,  and  as  the  date  and  circumstances  of  his  promotion 
from  captain  to  major  have  long  been  a  matter  of  doubt  and  dis- 
pute, it  is  better  to  quote  here  verbatim  his  commission :  — 

^  (      Spencer  Pliipps  Esq.,  Lieutenant  Govenour  and  Com- 

PrOVINCE    of    the        \  J         •      rM  •    e    •  i  t,-      »f     •  ,      t,         • 

Massachusetts  Bay  "S  °iander  in  Chief  in  and  over  His  Majesty's  Province  of 
( the  Masachusetts  Bay  in  New  England,  &c. 

To  Ephraim  Williams,  Jun'r,  Esq'r,  Greeting  : 

By  vlrture  of  the  Power  and  Authority,  in  and  by  His  Majesty's  Commission 
to  me  granted  to  be  Lieutenant  Govenour  over  this  His  Majesty's  Province  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bay,  aforesaid,  and  Commander  in  Chief  during  the  absence 
of  the  Captain  General  [Shirley  was  still  in  Europe]  ;  I  do  (by  these  presents) 
reposing  especial  Trust  and  Confidence  in  your  Loyalty,  Courage  and  good  Con- 
duct constitute  and  appoint  you  the  said  Ephraim  Williams  to  be  Major  of  the 
Southern  Regiment  of  Militia  in  the  County  of  Hampshire  in  said  Province 
whereof  John  Worthington  Esq'r  is  Colonel,  and  Captain  of  the  third  foot  Com- 
pany in  s'd  Regiment. 

You  are  therefore  carefully  and  diligently  to  discharge  the  Duty  of  a  Major 
and  Captain  in  leading  ordering  and  exercising  said  Regiment  and  Company  in 
Arms,  both  inferior  Officers  and  Soldiers,  and  to  keep  them  in  good  Order  and 
Discipline ;  hereby  commanding  them  to  obey  you  as  their  Major  and  Captain 
and  yourself  to  observe  and  follow  such  Orders  and  Instructions,  as  you  shall 
from  Time  to  Time  receive  from  me,  or  the  Commander  in  Chief  for  the  Time 
being,  or  other  your  superiour  Officers  for  His  Majesty's  Service,  according  to 
military  Rules  and  Discipline,  pursuant  to  the  Trust  reposed  in  you : 

Given  under  my  Hand  and  Seal  at  Arms  at  Boston,  the  Seventh  Day  of  June, 
In  the  twenty  sixth  Year  of  the  Reign  of  His  Majesty  King  George  the 
Second,  Anno  Domini,  1763. 

S.  PHIP8. 

By  Order  the  Honorable 
the  Lieutenant  Govenour, 

J.  Willard,  Sec'r'y. 

Suffolk  SS.  June  16,  1753. 

Ephraim  Williams  Esq'r  Subscribed  the  Test  and  Declaration  and  took  the 
Oaths  appointed  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  be  taken  instead  of  the  Oaths  of 
Allegiance  and  Supremacy,  and  the  Oath  prescribed  by  a  late  Law  of  this 
Province  for  calling  in  the  Bills  of  Publick  Credit  on  this  Province  and  ascer- 
taining the  rate  of  Coin'd  Silver  &c. 

S.  Danforth  •»  Of  the  Council  and 
Saml"^  Watts  J  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

The  tenor  of  this  commission  took  Major  "Williams  from  the 
northern  to  the  southern  parts  of  the  county  of  Hampshire,  and  to 
a  pretty  steady  residence,  for  more  than  two  years,  in  Stockbridge, 
the  home  of  his  father  and  of  most  of  his  half-brothers  and  sisters, 


252  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

his  only  own  brother  Thomas  being  already  settled  in  Deerfield  as  a 
physician.  The  father  and  his  immediate  family  had  long  been  in  a 
bitter  controversy  in  Stockbridge  with  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  cele- 
brated preacher  and  Indian  missionary  there,  just  as  all  the  Williams 
family  along  the  Connecticut  River  had  long  previously  been  in  a 
similar  controversy  with  him  during  his  pastorate  at  Northampton. 
The  merits  of  this  controversy  lie  wholly  beyond  the  scope  of  the 
present  book ;  like  all  theological  and  ecclesiastical,  and  even  moral, 
strifes,  there  were  two  sides  to  it ;  it  is  enough  to  say  here,  that  the 
father  does  not  shine  (quite  the  reverse)  in  the  records  of  it,  and 
that  the  son  apparently  kept  himself  out  of  the  worst  heats  of  it, 
so  far  as  possible.  Twice  in  the  course  of  his  will  the  son  refers  to 
Colonel  John  Stoddard,  who  died  in  1748,  as  "  my  great  benefactor," 
and  he  was  own  uncle  to  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  Edwards  himself 
was  own  cousin  to  Israel  Williams,  the  head  and  front  of  the  oppo- 
sition to  the  preacher  both  in  Northampton  and  Stockbridge,  so  that 
something  of  a  family  feud  mixed  itself  in  with  strong  religious 
antipathies,  as  towards  the  great  theologian,  on  the  part  of  almost 
the  entire  Williams  family ;  while  Major  Ephraim,  after  he  went  to 
Stockbridge,  where  his  father  and  brother-in-law  (General  Joseph 
Dwight)  were  losing  moral  ground  daily  in  their  general  machina- 
tions against  the  Indian  missionary,  seems  to  have  personally  kept 
out  of  the  strife  and  to  have  attended  pretty  strictly  to  his  military 
and  business  matters,  although  he  had  certainly  used  his  influence 
previously,  at  Boston,  with  officials  and  dignitaries  there,  in  behalf  of 
his  own  family  interests  and  prejudgments,  in  matters  relative  to 
the  Indian  schools  and  other  strifes  in  Stockbridge.  After  all  these 
conflicts  had  died  down,  on  the  abandonment  of  the  town  by  the 
elder  Williams,  and  the  consequent  personal  triumph  of  the  mis- 
sionary and  his  spiritual  adherents,  the  younger  Williams  continued 
to  be  the  principal  man  perhaps  in  Stockbridge,  having  the  direct 
command  of  all  the  soldiers  there  and  in  Pittsfield,  and  of  all  the 
forts  in  the  present  county  of  Berkshire. 

There  is  a  deeply  interesting  note  extant  from  Jonathan  Edwards 
to  Ephraim  Williams,  written  six  months  after  the  death  of  the 
latter's  father  in  Deerfield,  which  the  reader  will  be  glad  to  see  in 
this  place,  the  contents  of  which  reflect  equal  credit  upon  the 
writer  and  the  recipient,  and  which  implies  a  state  of  things  in 
Stockbridge,  during  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1754,  very  similar  to 
that  in  Pittsfield  and  Lanesboro  and  West  Hoosac  at  that  time. 
The  last  French  War  had  broken  out  in  earnest.  The  frontier  set- 
tlements in  New  England,  and  in  particular  those  of  Western  Massa- 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  253 

chusetts,  were  exposed  to  unceasing  anxiety  and  alarm  from  their 
constant  liability  to  attack  from  the  French,  and  their  more  savage 
allies.  In  the  autumn  of  1754  several  of  the  inhabitants  of  Stock- 
bridge  were  killed  by  these  marauders ;  in  consequence  of  which  it 
became  a  garrisoned  town,  and  every  considerable  family  had  quar- 
tered upon  it  its  own  quota  of  the  soldiers  necessary  for  the  defence 
of  the  place.  Much  may  be  learned  in  many  ways  from  the  letter 
but  just  now  referred  to.  It  was  only  five  months  to  the  death  of 
WilliaT'"^   :nnl  fl.r*'*^  ycars  to  that  of  Edwards. 

Stockhiuixjk,  Feb.  26,  1755. 
Sir,  We  have  not  lodgings  and  provisions,  so  as  to  board  and  lodge  more  than 
four  soldiers ;  and  being  in  a  low  state  as  to  my  liealth,  and  not  able  to  go  much 
abroad,  and  upon  that  and  other  accounts,  under  much  greater  disadvantages 
than  others  to  get  provisions,  it  is  for  this  reason,  and  not  because  I  have  a  dis- 
position to  make  difficulty,  that  I  told  the  soldiers  of  this  Province,  who  have 
hitherto  been  provided  for  here,  that  we  could  not  board  them  any  longer.  I 
have  often  been  told  that  you  had  intimated,  that  you  have  other  business  for 
them  in  a  short  time.  Captain  Hosmer  has  sent  three  of  his  men  to  lodge  at  my 
house,  whom  I  am  willing  to  entertain,  as  I  choose  to  board  such  as  are  likely 
to  be  continued  for  our  defence  in  times  of  danger.  Stebbins  has  manifested  to 
us  a  desire  to  continue  here.  Him,  therefore,  I  am  willing  to  entertain,  with 
your  consent.  Requesting  your  candid  construction  of  that,  which  is  not 
intended  in  any  inconsistence  with  my  having  all  proper  honour  and  respect, 

I  am 

Your  humble  servant, 

Jonathan  Edwards. 

We  have  gotten  a  little  ahead  of  our  story  in  point  of  time,  through 
a  desire  of  completing  the  relations  of  Ephi*aim  Williams  with 
Stockbridge,  the  place,  which,  more  than  any  other,  was  his  home 
to  the  last.  A  single  extract  from  another  letter  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  however,  written  to  Kev.  Mr.  Erskine,  of  Scotland,  six 
weeks  after  the  above,  illuminates  so  fully  the  general  matters  we 
are  dealing  with,  and  justifies  so  completely  the  opinion  of  Colonel 
Israel  Williams  of  the  unfitness  of  Captain  Elisha  Chapin  to  com- 
mand at  Fort  Massachusetts  under  the  circumstances  of  the  time,  a 
point  to  which  we  shall  return  in  a  moment,  that  we  quote  it,  believ- 
ing that  readers  will  pardon  it,  even  if  they  do  not  approve  of  it. 

I  have  nothing  very  comfortable  to  write,  respecting  my  own  success  in  this 
place.  The  business  of  the  Indian  mission,  since  I  have  been  here,  has  been 
attended  with  strange  embarassments  such  as  I  could  never  have  expected,  or 
80  much  as  once  dreamed  of :  of  such  a  nature,  and  coming  from  such  a  quarter, 
that  I  take  no  delight  in  being  very  particular  and  explicit  upon  it.  But,  besides 
what  I  especially  refer  to,  some  things  have  lately  happened,  that  have  occa- 


254  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

sioned  great  disturbance  among  the  Indians,  and  have  tended  to  alienate  them 
from  the  English.  As  particularly,  the  killing  of  one  of  them  in  the  woods,  by 
a  couple  of  travellers,  white  men,  who  met  him,  and  contended  with  him.  And 
though  the  men  were  apprehended  and  imprisoned,  yet,  on  their  trial,  they 
escaped  the  punishment  of  death  :  one  of  them  only  receiving  a  lighter  punish- 
ment, as  guilty  of  manslaughter :  by  which  these  Indians,  and  also  the  Indians 
of  some  other  tribes,  were  greatly  displeased,  and  disaffected  towards  the 
English.  Since  the  last  fall,  some  Indians  from  Canada,  doubtless  instigated  by 
the  French,  broke  in  upon  us,  on  the  Sabbath,  between  meetings,  and  fell  upon 
an  English  family,  and  killed  three  of  them ;  and  about  an  hour  after,  killed 
another  man,  coming  into  the  town  from  some  distant  houses  ;  which  occasioned 
a  great  alarm  in  the  town,  and  in  the  country.  Multitudes  came  from  various 
parts,  for  our  defence,  that  night,  and  the  next  day  ;  and  many  of  these  con- 
ducted very  foolishly  towards  our  Indians,  on  this  occasion,  suspecting  them  of 
doing  the  mischief,  charging  them  with  it,  and  threatening  to  kill  them,  and  the 
like.  After  this,  a  reward  being  offered  by  some  private  gentlemen,  to  some 
that  came  this  way  as  soldiers,  if  they  would  bring  them  the  scalp  of  a  Canada 
Indian  ;  that  they,  in  the  night,  dug  up  one  of  our  Indians,  that  had  then  lately 
died,  out  of  his  grave,  to  take  off  his  scalp ;  that,  by  pretending  that  to  be  the 
scalp  of  a  Cjanada  Indian,  whom  they  had  met  and  killed  in  the  woods,  they 
might  get  the  promised  reward.  When  this  was  discovered,  the  men  were 
punished.  But  this  did  not  hinder,  but  that  such  an  act  greatly  increased 
the  jealousy  and  disaffection  of  the  Indians,  towards  the  English.  Added  to 
these  things,  we  have  many  white  people,  that  will,  at  all  times,  without  any 
restraint,  give  them  ardent  spirits,  which  is  a  constant  temptation  to  their  most 
predominant  lust. 

Going  back  now  to  Captain  Elisha  Chapin  at  Fort  Massachusetts, 
and  to  the  prospect  of  his  being  superseded  there  by  Major  Ephraira 
Williams,  as  war  became  more  imminent  in  the  summer  of  1754, 
it  is  pleasant  to  note  the  record  of  a  modest  memorial  of  his  to  the 
General  Court,  "  praying  that  there  may  be  allowed  an  Augmenta- 
tion of  the  forces  at  said  fort,"  and  the  action  of  the  House  thereon 
June  11,  1754,  "  That  the  Captain-General  be  desired  to  make  an 
addition  of  Five  Men  to  the  forces  already  ordered  at  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts "  ;  together  with  the  answer  thereto  in  the  message  of 
Governor  Shirley,  two  days  later,  who  had  now  returned  to  his 
post  after  seven  years'  absence  in  Europe,  which  message  ran  as 
follows :  — 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  —  According  to  your  Desire  to 
me  expressed  on  the  Memorial  of  Capt.  Elisha  Chapin,  I  shall  give  orders  for 
the  reinforcement  of  Eort  Massachusetts  with  five  men  ;  and  considering  the 
importance,  and  its  great  Distance  from  any  of  our  Settlements,  it  would  have 
pleased  me  if  you  had  made  provision  for  a  few  more  men  there. 

Upon  this  Occasion  I  must  put  you  in  mind  of  the  hazardous  Condition  Fort 
Pelham  and  Fort  Shirley  are  now  in,  if  there  should  be  any  sudden  Assault  from 
the  Indians  on  that  Frontier  ;  we  must  expect  that  the  thing  they  will  do  would 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  255 

be  tx3  burn  those  forts,  which  they  might  easily  do  in  their  present  Circum- 
stances. 

Tlierefore  I  must  recommend  it  to  you,  that  provision  be  made  that  some 
better  care  may  be  taken  for  preserving  them.  ^   <. 

Governor  Shirley  also  gave  immediate  attention,  as  was  his  wont, 
to  the  letter  (already  quoted)  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams  to  him 
respecting  a  change  in  the  command  at  the  chief  fort  in  the  line. 
His  letter  in  reply  is  significant  in  several  respects,  especially  in  his 
evident  leaning  towards  Chapin  as  a  man  and  an  officer;  and  we 
shall  discover  in  the  next  chapter  that  he  held  similar  prepos- 
sessions towards  him  as  a  householder  in  West  Hoosac,  and  the 
leader  of  a  knot  of  householders  there  in  decided  discontent  with 
Fort  Massachusetts  and  the  whole  authority  emanating  thence. 

Boston,  September  26,  1754. 
Sir,  Maj.  Williams  will  accept  of  a  new  Commission  for  Fort  Massachusetts, 
which  I  design  shall  be  enlarged  by  a  Superiour  command  over  the  soldiers 
posted  at  Pontoosuck  —  in  special  cases ;  I  should  be  sorry  to  do  anything 
which  may  look  like  a  slight  upon  the  present  commander  Capt.  Chapin,  of 
whose  courage  I  have  a  good  opinion  ;  But  as  the  command,  which  the  King's 
Service  now  requires  the  Captain  of  that  Fort  to  have  given  him,  must  be 
enlarged,  and  Major  Williams  beside  being  an  officer  whom  I  look  upon  to  be 
well  qualified  for  it,  hath  tliose  farther  pretensions  to  it,  that  it  was  upon  his 
resignation  of  the  command  of  that  Fort,  that  Capt.!?  Chapin  was  commissioned 
for  it,  I  hope  he  will  not  think  a  slight  upon  him,  if  when  I  add  another  charge 
to  the  Captain's  Commission  for  that  Fort,  I  give  it  Maj.  Williams  ;  I  shall  be 
very  glad  if  he  will  serve  as  a  Lieutenant  under  Major  Williams,  and  will  give 
him  the  first  proper  promotion  which  shall  happen  in  my  power ;  you  will  be 
pleased  to  let  Capt.  Chapin  know  this  ;  and  I  leave  to  your  discretion  to  act  in 
the  manner  you  shall  think  proper,  with  the  inclos'd  blatik  Commissions  con- 
cerning the  Captain  and  Lieutl  of  Fort  Massachusetts  as  well  as  the  others. 

W.  Shirley. 

Colonel  Williams  was  "  pleased  to  let  Capt.  Chapin  know  this  "  at 
once,  and  in  a  note  dated  Hatfield,  October,  1754,  he  writes :  — 

Sir,  His  Excel'^y  has  given  the  Com'and  of  Fort  Massachusetts  with  the 
forces  posted  at  Pontoosuck  to  ALij'""  Williams,  whereby  you  will  see  ye  Cap- 
tain's of  that  Forts  Com'and  is  enlarged.  The  Gov'r  directs  me  to  let  you  know 
he  shall  be  very  glad  if  you  will  serve  as  a  Lieutenant  under  Maj'r  Williams, 
and  he  will  give  you  the  finst  proper  promotion  in  his  power.  He  has  also  sent 
me  a  blank  Commission  to  fill  up  for  you,  if  you  will  undertake  that  service. 

It  appears,  also,  that  Major  Williams  himself  addressed  one  or 
more  coinmunications  to  Chapin  after  the  former  reassumed  the 
command  of  the  fort.     These  have  perished.      Happily  there  sur- 


256  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN". 

vives  a  letter  from  Chapin  to  Williams,  which,  though  badly  mis- 
spelled, is  evidently  a  pretty  honest  document,  although  it  is  colored 
by  the  semi-hostility  already  existing  between  the  first  settlers  of 
West  Hoosac  —  among  whom  Chapin  was  a  leader,  and  in  whose 
behalf  he  made  the  journey  to  Boston  referred  to  by  him  in  the 
letter  —  and  the  authorities  at  the  fort.  It  seems,  from  this  letter, 
that  Chapin  was  appointed  a  sort  of  sub-commissary  at  the  fort,  and 
that  there  had  been  dissatisfaction  with  him  in  that  capacity,  and  a 
dismissal  from  his  post  in  connection  with  some  mutinous  move- 
ments of  the  garrison,  all  which  will  be  plainer  when  we  come  to 
quote  in  the  next  following  chapter  a  copious  narration  of  events  at 
the  fort  and  at  the  inchoate  settlements  in  "the  west  town,"  —  as 
West  Hoosac  was  commonly  called  in  current  correspondence,  — 
written  by  Colonel  Israel  Williams  in  justification  of  his  own  con- 
duct in  the  premises.  Otherwise,  Chapin's  letter  to  Major  Williams 
requires  no  commentary. 

Fort  Massachusetts,  Jan.  29,  1755. 

Sir,  I  received  your's  dated  Jan.  14,  and  am  very  much  surprised  that  you 
should  have  such  hard  thoughts  of  me  to  think  I  slighted  your  offers  which  you 
no  I  readely  accepted  and  had  desired  to  wait  on  the  Col.  for  the  Commission 
when  I  come  from  Boston.  But  a  great  way  back  on  the  road  I  head  the  news 
that  the  Col.  had  given  the  Commition  to  Wyman.  So  I  thought  it  in  vain  to 
go  there  for  it.  And  I  often  hear  that  the  Col.  seams  to  be  insenced  against  me 
and  what  it  is  for  I  cannot  tell,  for  I  never  spoke  a  hard  word  of  him  in  my  life, 
and  you  no  I  allways  set  high  by  him,  and  allways  was  willing  to  serve  and 
obay  him,  and  as  to  the  Commissary  business,  his  Excelency  told  me  ore  and 
ore  that  no  man  should  take  it  from  me.  He  frealy  spoke  about  it  again 
and  again  and  nobody  pretend  to  do  that.  I  was  obliged  to  do  it  till  I  new  of 
another,  and  I  never  have  been  without  a  good  stock,  onely  when  the  snow  was 
deep,  the  weather  cold,  and  the  mill  got  out  of  order,  and  I  could  not  grind  in 
some  days,  and  was  near  out  of  meat,  but  had  a  good  stock  of  wheat  of  my  own. 
Whoever  reports  these  things  against  me  do  no  better  than  lie. 

Sir,  you  seame  to  speak  as  if  I  had  a  hand  in  the  late  disturbaince.  Had 
I  not  been  hear  it  would  have  been  carried  to  a  far  greater  length  than  it  was.  I 
got  the  men  together  and  asunder  pacified  them,  or  else  it  would  not  be  over 
till  this  day.  Some  ill  minded  person  hath  done  all  they  can  to  hurt  me.  I 
have  been  informed  that  the  most  of  it  comes  from  Graves.  They  mite  say  a 
great  deal  against  me  and  speak  true,  but  what  you  writ  to  me  your  authors 
imposed  upon  you  very  much,  and  now  Sir  if  you  can  look  upon  me  to  be  a  man 
of  common  truth  you  can  easily  be  satisfied,  for  wear  I  upon  oath  I  could  not 
tell  straiter.  I  should  inlarge  and  mention  some  more  things,  but  I  can  never 
send  a  letter  in  the  county  but  that  it  is  brook  open,  so  I  shall  conclude, 
Your  very  friend  and  humble 

Servant  to  Command, 

Elisha  Chapin. 

Maj.  E.  Williams. 


EPHRAIM  WILLIAMS.  257 

The  strife  continued  between  the  east  and  west  forts,  and  between 
the  scattered  settlers  on  the  house  lots  of  the  west  town  and  the 
"Williams  family  influence,  both  military  and  civil.  The  details  are 
not  worth  preserving.  Chapin  was  the  champion  of  the  Chidesters 
and  of  the  so-called  West  Hoosac  Fort.  He  was  countenanced  more 
or  less  by  Governor  Shirley,  and  made  more  than  one  journey  to 
Boston  to  obtain  and  maintain  that  favor.  But  his  star  was  going 
down.  Under  date  of  May  17,  1756,  Isaac  Wyman,  his  second  suc- 
cessor in  the  command  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  wrote  to  his  superior, 
Colonel  Israel  Williams :  "  I  understand  by  Serg*  Taylor  that  Chi- 
dester  hath  taken  Capt.  Chapin  into  the  service  at  the  west  town. 
He  is  to  do  the  duty  for  the  billeting.  He  hath  taken  one  of  tlie 
Horsford^s  place,  and  John  Vanarnum  the  other  Horsford's  place, 
and  they  are  both  gon  home."  In  less  than  two  months  thereafter^ 
the  Colonel  sends  out  this  news  from  Hatfield :  "  This  morning  by 
an  express  from  Fort  Massachusetts,  I  am  informed  that  on  the 
11th  instant,  near  sunsetting,  Serg't  Chidester,  his  son  James  Chi- 
dester,  and  Capt.  Elisha  Chapin,  went  from  ye  block-house  at  West 
Hoosack  to  seek  their  cows,  were  soon  fir'd  upon  and  all  killed  or 
captivated."  Three  days  later,  Wyman  sent  to  the  Colonel  the  fol- 
lowing detailed  account :  — 

Fort  Massachusetts,  July  16,  1756. 

Hono^  Sir,  The  three  men  that  ware  shot  upon  by  the  enemy  are  all  found. 
Two  of  them  were  kill^  upon  the  spot  where  the  enemy  first  fired  upon  them. 
They  took  Capt.  Chapin  about  eighty  rods,  where  they  killd  him.  I  sent  out 
Ensi  Barnard  with  nineteen  men  from  the  fort  to  bury  these  men.  They  found 
where  the  Enemy  had  laid  an  ambush  between  this  Fort  and  the  Town.  They 
judge  to  be  not  less  than  one  hundred  of  them.  Hudson  saith  that  the  iDigest 
part  that  he  saw  ware  French.  I  believe  it  will  not  be  longue  before  the  enemy 
will  be  upon  us  again.  I  am  persuaded  that  there  is  a  large  body  of  them  lieth 
watchin  our  army  find  that  they  doant  move,  and  so  drive  down  upon  us. 

The  two  swivels  guns  that  Serjt  Chidester  petitioned  for  are  placed  in  the 
best  maner  upon  Carageses  for  the  defence  of  the  House  where  all  our  stoars  of 
provision  are  keept.  One  of  them  is  placed  at  the  South  West  corner  of  the 
Fort  which  clears  of  the  South  side  of  the  House  —  the  other  placed  at  the 
north  east  corner  of  the  Fort  clears  the  east  side  of  the  House.  These  guns  are 
as  grait  defence  to  us  as  any  of  the  artillery  we  have  at  the  fort. 

I  find  that  the  Colo,  was  afraid  we  ware  short  on't  for  amonition.  I  have  not 
less  than  three  hundred  weight  of  powder  and  lead  anserable.  About  three 
weeks  ago  I  sent  thirty  weight  of  powder  and  lead  anserable  to  the  Town  and 
one  month's  provision.  The  people  of  the  town  have  a  grait  desire  to  git  of 
with  their  faraaleys,  if  they  could  have  a  strong  guard,  provided  they  can't  have 
any  more  men  allowed  them. 

If  they  can't  have  a  better  fort  built  and  more  men  I  believe  it  is  the  best 
thing  they  can  do  is  to  pull  their  fort  down,  and  come  of,  provided  that  the  war 


258  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

continues.  The  Monday  before  last  came  in  Capt.  Buterfield  from  the  camps 
with  one  hundred  and  forty  men.     Found  eight  of  there  men  killl  upon  Hoosuck 

—  the  other  five  I  suppose  are  taken.  I  enclose  Chidester's  patition  also  a 
Journal  of  our  Scouting. 

This  from,  Sir, 

Your  verry  Humble  ServL 

Isaac  Wyman. 

Tour  days  after  this  letter  was  penned,  Colonel  Williams  wrote  to 
Governor  Shirley  from  Hatfield  :  — 

Lieut.  Barnard  and  a  number  of  soldiers  from  Fort  Massachusetts  have  been 
over  since  I  wrote  last.  Find  Chapin  and  the  two  Chidesters  kill'd  and  scalp' d. 
He  judges  by  ye  signs  there  was  one  hundred  or  more  of  the  enemy.  Its  highly 
probable,  considering  who  had  ye  care  of  ye  garrison,  their  carelessness,  and  ye 
insufficiency  of  ye  fort,  had  not  those  three  imprudent  unhappy  men  accidentally 
come  upon  ye  enemy,  and  thereby  obliged  them  to  discover  themselves  sooner 
than  they  intended,  by  morning  they  would  have  surprised  ye  garrison  and 
destroyed  it. 

So  falls  the  curtain  forever  on  "  the  poor,  distressed,  and  impru- 
dent Captain  Elisha  Chapin."  His  widow  and  administrator  of  estate, 
Miriam  Chapin,  sold  to  Ephraim  Seel;^e,  in  March,  1767,  his  house 
lot  41  and  its  after-drafts  for  £25,  "  for  the  payment  of  his  debts." 
He  himself  sold  his  lands  in  "  Chickobee  "  in  April,  1755.  He  then 
denominated  himself  "  of  Fort  Massachusetts." 

As  we  have  already  learned,  and  shall  have  occasion  to  note  here- 
after again  and  again,  the  large  immigration  into  ISTew  England  in 
1718  of  the  Scotch-Irish  people  from  Londonderry,  and  the  region 
round  about,  colored  in  various  ways  its  thoughts  and  its  growths, 

—  a  series  of  influences  that  have  not  ceased  to  this  day ;  and  the 
third  of  the  seven  signers  to  the  joint  enterprise  of  setting  the 
pickets  around  Eort  Massachusetts  30  x  15  rods,  "  square  timber 
or  pickets  or  both,"  on  the  18th  of  August,  1751,  belonged  to  a 
family  of  that  race  ;  and,  though  never  distinguished  himself,  was 
connected  by  name  and  blood  with  those  who  became  so.  This 
was  Samuel  Calhoun,  v/ho  enlisted  from  the  same  stretch  of  the 
Connecticut  Eiver  as  Elisha  Chapin,  and  who  was  almost  constantly 
a  "  centinel "  in  the  western  line  of  forts  during  both  "  King 
George's  "  and  the  "  last  French  war."  He  was  always  a  quiet  man, 
but  enterprising  and  persistent,  just  such  a  man  as  Ephraim  Wil- 
liams would  like  to  associate  with  himself  in  a  practical,  and  per- 
haps profitable,  enterprise  in  the  slack  of  the  strain  of  war.  In  the 
original  drawing  of  house  lots  in  West  Hoosac,  Calhoun  happened 
on  No.  5,  one  of  the  best  lots  on  the  main  street,  and  he  sold  it  not 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  259 

long  after  to  Josiah  Dean,  Junior,  of  Canaan,  Connecticut,  and  Dean 
sold  it  in  March,  1759,  to  Benjamin  Simonds ;  and  it  has  continued 
ever  since  to  be  a  part  of  the  fine  homestead  now  owned  and  occupied 
by  the  Sabin  family.  Simeon  H.  Calhoun  (Williams  College,  1829), 
tutor  here  for  two  years,  and  ever  after  a  remarkably  useful  and 
prominent  missionary  in  the  Levant  till  his  death  in  December, 
187G,  was  a  member  of  the  same  general  family  in  New  England, 
and  connected  as  well  in  traits,  as  in  name  and  race,  with  the  dis- 
tinguished statesman  of  South  Carolina.  It  is  significant  that  the 
parents  of  S.  H.  Calhoun  were  among  the  original  members  of  Park 
Street  Church  in  Boston,  where  the  son  was  born  in  August,  1804 ; 
and  when  his  age  was  ten  years,  he  removed  to  Kindge,  New  Hamp- 
shire, into  the  same  racial  and  theological  influences  then  presided 
over  by  the  elder  and  fervent  Dr.  Pay  son.  The  name  of  another 
Simeon  H.  Calhoun,  a  nepliew,  is  borne  on  our  triennial  catalogue 
under  date  of  1857,  and  he  has  been  a  prominent  citizen  of  Nebraska 
till  the  present  time  (1891)  ;  and  one  other  Calhoun  is  on  our 
graduated  list,  the  only  son  of  the  Mt.  Lebanon  missionary,  Charles 
William  Calhoun,  under  the  date  of  1873.  He  died  in  1883;  living 
and  dying  a  faithful  missionary  within  the  shadows  of  the  same 
great  mountain. 

A  fourth  signer  of  these  proposals  to  picket  the  fort  came  out  of  the 
loins  of  a  very  different  set  of  ancestors,  and  gave  birth  to  remarkably 
different  lines  of  descendants  from  those  related  to  Simeon  H.  Cal- 
houn. This  was  Silas  Pratt,  who  enlisted  into  the  line  of  forts  from 
Worcester,  sometimes  stated  to  be  Shrewsbury,  who  hatl  near  rela- 
tives (Noah  Pratt  and  Tyras  Pratt)  as  fellow-soldiers  from  the 
same  localities,  who  was  very  active  both  as  soldier  and  citizen  in 
the  earliest  settlement  of  Williamstown,  although  not  an  original 
proprietor  of  any  of  the  house  lots,  who  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade, 
who  was  long  of  the  garrison  in  the  blockhouse  at  West  Hoosac, 
who  lived  and  died  on  the  first  farm  in  Pownal  as  one  goes  over 
North  W^est  Hill  from  this  side,  whose  son  "  William  "  may  be  first 
male  child  born  in  West  Hoosac,  whose  name  is  commemorated  in 
the  rapid  "  Pratt  Brook  "  which  tumbles  down  from  the  Taconics 
through  his  old  farm  to  the  Hoosac,  and  who  has  left  more  descend- 
ants (largely  clinging  to  the  old  neighborhood)  than  any  other  one 
of  the  primeval  settlers  of  Williamstown  down  to  the  present  time. 
There  was  much  energy  in  that  man,  and  in  his  immediate  family, 
both  in  peace  and  war.  He  and  his  son  Silas  were  in  the  battle  of 
Bennington.  His  son  William,  as  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  witnessed 
the  execution  of  Major  Andr6,  Oct.  2,  1780 ;  lived  to  receive  a  pen- 


260  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

sion  from  the  United  States  as  a  three-years  drummer  in  the  army, 
1777  to  1780;  died  Jan.  16,  1846,  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of  his 
age ;  and  his  epitaph  states  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  for  forty-three  years.  Lively  traditions  have 
come  down  in  his  family  in  respect  to  the  brave  conduct  of  old  Silas 
Pratt  in  the  battle  of  Bennington,  operating  behind  his  staddle, 
Indian  fashion;  and  the  present  writer  has  been  told  more  than 
once  by  his  grandson,  William  Pratt,  son  of  William,  the  first-born, 
that  he  himself  had  heard  from  his  own  father  (the  drummer  whose 
arm  being  stiff  could  not  carry  a  gun),  and  from  his  uncle  Silas, 
many  a  story  of  the  Eevolutionary  War.  Old  Silas  Pratt  could  set 
pickets  as  well  as  the  next  man,  and  fight  behind  them  or  in  front 
of  them  when  necessary ;  he  could  clear  up  with  his  own  hands  and 
those  of  his  growing  boys,  a  large  and  rugged  farm,  stretching  up 
into  one  of  the  gorges  of  the  Taconics,  where  now  stands  the  stone 
marking  a  corner  point  of  Massachusetts  and  Vermont,  and  also  a 
point  in  the  eastern  line  of  New  York  nearly  midway  north  and 
south ;  and  he  could,  apparently,  transmit  to  descendants  of  the  fifth 
generation  a  story-telling  faculty,  which,  in  the  mouths  of  "  Steve  " 
Pratt  and  "  Jerry,"  his  brother,  was  the  wonder  of  the  idlers  in  this 
vicinity  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Ezekiel  Foster,  the  fifth  of  the  picket-signers,  was  from  Fall 
Town,  now  Bernardston,  and  quite  constantly  a  sentinel  in  the  line 
of  forts  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  He  drew  house  lot  No.  13 
in  the  original  "  lotting "  of  West  Hoosac.  He  called  himself  of 
"  Fall  Town  "  a  little  later,  when  he  sold  one-half  of  the  after-drafts 
of  13  and  the  whole  house  lot  59  to  Stephen  Davis  and  Thomas 
Dunton,  both  of  Western;  but,  nevertheless,  he  was  the  head  of 
one  of  the  first  "  eleaven  families  of  us,"  already  domiciled  in  West 
Hoosac,  who  petitioned  Governor  Shirley  from  Fort  Massachusetts, 
to  which  these  families  "  ran  for  shelter  upon  the  late  alarm "  in 
October,  1754,  for  aid  and  military  encouragement  to  "return  to 
our  settlements  "  at  the  west  town.  Foster  became  a  considerable 
landowner  and  a  prominent  citizen  of  Williamstown,  and  we  are 
likely  to  learn  more  about  him  before  we  are  through  with  the  task 
now  in  hand.  Captain  Ebenezer  Foster,  with  his  brother,  Dan  Fos- 
ter, who  came  into  South  Williamstown  from  Hancock  quite  early 
in  this  century,  and  lived  useful  lives  as  farmers,  —  the  one  on  the 
Hancock  and  the  other  on  the  Ashford  road,  —  may  have  been  his 
sons. 

The  sixth  signer  of  the  picket-proposals  and  the  last  survivor  of 
them,  and  of  all  his  active  contemporaries  in  this  valley,  was  Seth 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  261 

Hudson.  The  Hudson  family  was  a  roving  one,  and  its  connection 
was  as  locally  fixed  in  Lexington  and  in  Marlboro  as  anywhere. 
Charles  Hudson,  perhaps  the  most  distinguished  representative  of  a 
name  considerably  distinguished  in  this  country,  said  of  them  :  "  All 
who  have  borne  the  name  have  been  rather  migratory  in  their  char- 
acter. It  may,  however,  be  said  of  them  with  truth,  that  they  have 
manifested  a  natural  affinity  for  military  adventures.  The  whole 
Hudson  family  appear  to  have  been  men  of  aiins  rather  than  of 
letters.^'  Our  Seth  Hudson  was  son  of  Seth,  and  was  born  in  Marl- 
boro, April  13,  1728,  the  eldest  of  eight  children.  He  must  have 
received  some  sort  of  medical  training  in  his  youth,  for  he  was 
employed  by  the  year,  or  otherwise,  as  surgeon  in  Fort  ^lassachu- 
setts  at  the  same  time  he  was  "  centinel "  there,  and  acted  in  both 
capacities  from  about  the  time  of  the  rebuilding  of  the  fort  in  1747. 
Perhaps  he  was  not  paid  as  "  surgeon "  for  a  couple  of  years  or  so 
thereafter.  He  was  two  years  younger  than  Benjamin  Simonds, 
with  whom  he  was  closely  associated  nearly  all  the  time,  till  the 
latter's  death  in  1807,  as  a  fellow-soldier  in  Fort  ^Massachusetts ; 
as  a  co-laborer  in  the  very  outset  of  the  subjugation  each  of  his  own 
house  lot  in  West  Hoosac  (these  two  house  lots  being  in  plain  sight 
of  each  other);  in  the  building  and  manning  of  the  blockhouse  in 
West  Hoosac,  of  which  Seth  Hudson  became  the  commanding  officer 
on  the  death  of  Captain  Elisha  Chapin  in  1756,  with  the  rank  of 
Captain ;  in  all  the  early  troubles  of  the  little  hamlet,  both  military 
and  civil ;  in  all  the  burdens  and  hazards  and  privations  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary War,  either  here  or  elsewhere,  during  the  course  of  which 
Simonds  outstripped  the  other  in  rank  and  influence  as  he  far  out- 
stripped him  also  afterwards  in  civil  position  and  property;  and, 
finally,  in  a  part,  at  least,  of  the  strifes  incident  to  a  struggling 
and  impoverished  township  just  before  and  just  after  the  opening 
of  the  present  century. 

To  "  Dr.  Seth  Hudson  "  fell  lot  No.  9  in  the  original  drawing  of 
the  West  Hoosac  house  lots  in  1751.  Fifteen  of  these  lots  fell  thus 
by  bargain  to  soldiers  in  garrison  at  the  east  fort.  One  of  the  pre- 
scribed conditions  for  holding  the  lots  was,  —  "  That  he  shall  within 
the  space  of  two  years  from  the  time  of  his  being  admitted  build  a 
house  eighteen  feet  long,  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  seven  foot  studd." 
That  Hudson  fulfilled  this  condition  on  lot  9  is  proven  by  the  fact 
that  the  first  proprietors'  meeting  in  the  precinct  was  legally  warned 
to  be  holden  within  it  on  the  5th  of  December,  1753.  That  house  is 
still  standing,  the  interior  substantially  unchanged  during  the  140 
years  from  the  primal  gathering  of  the  "  rude  forefathers  "  within 


262  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN-. 

its  bare  walls,  althougli  it  has  been  twice  moved  in  this  extended 
interval  of  time,  —  first  about  seventy  years  ago,  half  a  mile  due 
north,  to  the  west  bank  of  Hemlock  Brook  in  Charityville,  to  be 
used  as  a  wheelwright's  shop  by  Abel  Cowdin,  and  second  to  higher 
land,  more  secure  from  the  brook's  overflow,  three  or  four  rods  due 
west,  to  be  repaired  and  enlarged  for  a  dwelling  by  Ned  Reagan, 
an  Irishman,  who  long  owned  and  occupied  it. 

A  daughter  of  Mr.  Cowdin,  Mrs.  Thomas  Mole,  has  more  than 
once  expressed  to  the  writer  her  perfect  recollection  of  the  putting 
this  house  in  place  for  her  father's  use  on  its  first  removal.  She 
remembered  pairs  of  the  oxen  and  the  drivers  of  some  of  them. 
John  E.  Bulkley,  the  elder,  was  present  with  his  team  of  oxen,  and 
she  was  astonished  at  hearing  him  stutter,  —  a  new  experience  for 
the  girl  of  ten  years ;  and  she  remembered  especially  Coey  Dan- 
forth,  both  busy  with  his  oxen  and  talkative  with  the  crowd, 
already  much  the  worse  for  liquor  at  that  the  final  stage  of  the 
"bee."  They  were  then  unhitching  the  oxen.  She  remembered, 
also,  playing  afterwards  around  the  original  cellar  of  the  house  on 
Main  Street.  The  stones  of  the  old  foundation  were  loose,  and  she 
was  chided  by  her  father  for  fooling  with  them.  This  was  in  or 
about  1827.  The  shop  was  placed  too  near  the  brink  of  the  brook, 
for  she  remembered  an  overflow,  not  long  after,  that  did  damage, 
and  later  overflows  caused  the  removal  of  the  building  to  its  present 
location.  The  first  moving  was  undoubtedly  across  the  Buxton 
bridge,  or  through  the  brook  near  to  that,  and  then  adown  on  the 
west  bank  to  its  stopping-place. 

*  Hudson  was  enterprising  and  restless.  He  bought  and  sold  lands 
a  good  deal  in  West  Hoosac  and  elsewhere.  In  nearly  all  instances 
the  deeds  display  a  certain  pride  and  dignity.  He  has  himself  set 
down  in  them  as  "Gent.,"  in  contrast  to  the  "cordwainer"  or 
"yeoman"  with  whom  he  deals.  Isaac  Searle,  for  example,  origi- 
nally from  Northampton,  who  became  his  fellow-soldier  here  and 
co-malcontent,  under  the  domination  of  "  ye  monarch  of  Hampshire  " 
and  his  minions  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  who  was,  in  1765,  the 
largest  taxpayer  in  Williamstown,  is  set  down  as  "cordwainer"  in 
one  of  Hudson's  deeds  to  him,  while  the  grantor  is  nothing  less 
than  "Gent."  In  1764,  Seth  Hudson  is  a  "resident  of  Great  Bar- 
rington,"  and  sells  out,  under  that  designation,  a  part  of  his  lands  in 
West  Hoosac.  He  does  not  appear  to  have  remained  a  great  while 
in  Barrington,  nor  to  have  made  much  of  a  mark  there.  He  certainly 
played  no  part  to  speak  of  in  Williamstown  during  the  Revolution, 
and  it  is  quite  improbable  that  hs  lived  here  then ;  but,  at  any  rate, 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  263 

he  returned  hither  in  his  old  age,  poor,  and  James  Smedley  remem- 
bers him  distinctly  about  the  years  1811-14  as  coming  to  his  father's 
house  more  than  once  as  a  veterinary,  to  treat  sick  cows  and  horses. 
He  lived  then  in  an  old  house  on  house  lot  58y  —  a  site  soon  to  be 
occupied  by  the  new  and  fine  house  of  Daniel  Noble,  —  from  which 
Joseph  White,  another  treasurer  of  the  College,  was  borne  to  his 
grave  in  1890.  Hudson,  at  that  time  an  old  man,  was  living  with 
a  second  wife,  who  had  borne  to  his  old  age  two  sons.  Ward  and 
Polydore.  The  mother  was  intemperate.  In  accordance  with  the 
slang  of  those  days,  she  was  said  to  be  capable  of  "  getting  drunk 
on  cider  emptyings."  She  not  only  had  a  stomach  that  craved, 
but  also  a  tongue  that  wagged.  The  boy  James,  the  deacon's  son, 
then  being  religiously  brought  up  just  over  the  Green  River,  was 
over-persuaded  by  another  boy,  named  Horace  Brown,  that  the  latter's 
father  was  in  some  way  in  business  company  witli  Dr.  Hudson,  and 
consequently  that  Brown,  Junior,  had  a  perfect  right  to  some  of  the 
cherries  growing  on  a  big  tree  in  the  rear  of  Hudson's  old  house,  the 
two  boys  approached  cautiously,  in  a  manner  that  betrayed  and 
belied  their  alleged  rights ;  and  the  tree  was  scarcely  reached  before 
the  slirill  voice  of  old  Mrs.  Hudson,  the  termagant,  standing  in  the 
back  door,  caused  both  boys  to  scud  through  the  corn-rows  for  dear 
life  and  the  Green  River ! 

There  is  no  direct  evidence  known  to  the  writer  as  to  the  locali- 
ties where  Captain  and  Dr.  Hudson  put  in  his  work  during  the  Rev- 
olutionary War;  but  nothing  is  more  likely  than  that  he  returned  to 
the  eastward,  perhaps  to  his  native  town,  Marlborough  or  Lexing- 
ton, both  of  them  then  full  of  his  kin,  and  sufficient  researches  in 
that  direction  might  disclose  him  as  bustling  and  efficient  as  ever. 
At  any  rate,  he  came  back  to  Williamstown  in  his  old  age,  and  was 
the  last  survivor  by  some  years  of  the  soldiers  in  garrison  at  the 
block-house  in  West  Hoosac.  It  was  deliberately  voted  by  town- 
meeting  of  Williamstown,  in  the  spring  of  1891,  that  the  second  of 
the  four  swells  on  the  summit  of  East  Mountain,  reckoning  south- 
ward from  "  Mount  Hazen,"  be  named  "  Hudson's  Height,"  in  mem- 
ory of  the  old  soldier  and  surgeon. 

Tlie  seventh  and  last  of  the  co-signers  to  the  proposals  to  picket 
the  main  fortress  on  the  Hoosac  River  was  Isaac  Wyman,  of  Woburn. 
He  was  in  the  second  Fort  Massachusetts,  in  some  capacity,  almost 
all  the  time  from  its  erection,  in  1747,  till  its  final  abandonment  in 
1760.  He  had  crept  up,  step  by  step,  from  sentinel  to  Captain.  He 
always  possessed  the  confidence  of  Ephraim  Williams.  Some  years 
after  the  death  of  tlie  latter,  and  the  consequent  outbreak  of  a  vio- 


264  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

lent  quarrel,  as  between  Colonel  Israel  Williams  and  his  subordi- 
nates at  Fort  Massachusetts  and  Captain  Seth  Hudson  and  his  men 
in  and  around  the  block-house  at  West  Hoosac,  there  was  a  formal 
investigation,  by  a  committee  of  the  General  Court,  of  the  whole 
matter  and  of  all  the  parties  concerned ;  and,  after  a  full  examina- 
tion, including  the  memorials  of  all  the  officers,  and  numerous  dep- 
ositions in  support  of,  and  in  opposition  to,  the  complaints  of  the 
petitioners  at  West  Hoosac,  the  committee  made  a  formal  report 
that  the  complaints  (with  one  or  two  exceptions)  as  to  the  conduct 
of  Captain  Wyman  were  not  proved.  After  a  final  end  was  put  to 
the  French  wars  by  Wolfe's  great  victory  on  the  Heights  of  Abra- 
ham in  1759,  Captain  Wyman  continued  for  some  time  to  cultivate 
his  farm  within  and  without  the  pickets  which  he  helped  contract 
to  set  up.  He  removed  to  Keene,  New  Hampshire,  whence,  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant-Colonel  of 
the  First  New  Hampshire  Regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel  John 
Stark,  —  a  position  which  he  did  not  hold  long,  and  from  which  he 
passes  out  of  our  sight  utterly. 

Before  giving  the  details  of  Wyraan's  life  and  services  as  com- 
mander of  the  fort,  we  must  now  go  back  a  bit  and  pick  up  the 
thread  that  interlinks  Ephraim  Williams  once  more  with  the  fort 
and  connects  him,  also,  indirectly  with  the  Expedition  to  Lake 
George  in  1755,  during  the  course  of  which  he  lost  his  life,  but 
gained  his  fame. 

The  encroachments  of  the  French  along  the  Ohio  River  in  1754, 
in  steady  opposition  to  which  George  Washington  became  the  force- 
ful agent  of  the  Province  of  Virginia;  the  hostile  conduct  of  the 
Indians  on  all  the  frontiers  of  New  England  under  the  influence  of 
the  Canadian  French,  such  as  the  ravage  of  Dutch  Hoosac  (Peters- 
burg Junction),  about  ten  miles  west  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  in 
May,  and  the  burning,  next  day,  of  all  the  settlements  at  St.  Croix, 
from  both  which  places  the  people  had  fled  for  safety  mostly  to  the 
fort ;  the  fright  of  the  people  at  Pontoosuck  and  Stockbridge  at  the 
bold  Indian  depredations  and  murders  committed  there  in  the  early 
summer,  and  similar  outrages  in  Maine  a  little  later,  —  so  convinced 
the  government  of  England  and  the  local  governments  of  all  the 
provinces  on  this  side  that  a  new  and  great  war  with  France  and 
her  allies  was  on  the  carpet,  that  special  orders  were  sent  from 
England  to  her  colonies  to  repel  force  by  force,  accompanied  with  a 
recommendation  to  them  to  form  a  solid  union  for  mutual  defence. 
Thus  was  summoned,  under  the  personal  lead  of  Governor  Shirley, 
the  first  American  Congress.     Delegates  from  the  four  New  England 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  265 

colonies,  and  from  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland,  met  at 
Albany,  June  14,  1754.  Benjamin  Franklin  was  the  leading  spirit 
of  this  gathering.  An  elaborate  Plan  of  Union  was  framed,  and  a 
copy  was  sent  for  approbation  to  the  King  in  council  and  to  each  of 
the  provincial  governments.  The  scheme  met  with  the  singular  fate 
of  being  rejected  by  each  and  every  one  of  the  proposed  parties  to 
it ;  by  the  King,  because  it  was  thought  to  grant  too  much  power  to 
the  colonial  assemblies,  and  by  each  colony  because  it  was  sup- 
posed to  give  too  much  authority  to  the  King.  And  the  shrewd 
Franklin  wrote  afterwards,  that  the  contradictory  reasons  of  dislike 
to  the  Albany  Plan  of  confederation  made  him  think  that  it  must 
have  been  just  about  the  golden  mean. 

This  plan  of  union  having  failed,  the  colonies  were  left  to  pros- 
ecute the  war  under  their  former  disjected  system.  Colonel  Israel 
Williams,  of  Hatfield,  commanding  the  northern  regiment  of  militia 
in  the  county  of  Hampshire,  as  Colonel  John  AVorthington,  of  Spring- 
field, commanded  the  southern,  was  again  entrusted  with  the  defence 
of  the  western  frontier.  He  had  gained  valuable  experience  during 
the  former  war  and  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  the 
country  bordering  the  limits  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire 
(then  including  Vermont),  which  enabled  him  to  draw  a  rough 
sketch  of  the  lay  of  the  land  and  water,  and  this  he  communicated 
to  Governor  Shirley,  with  a  detailed  plan  of  defence  to  be  adopted. 
He  proposed  to  abandon  forts  Shirley  and  Pelham,  as  having 
afforded  but  little  protection  in  the  preceding  war;  to  strengthen 
forts  Dummer  and  Massachusetts,  furnishing  them  larger  garrisons 
and  more  light  artillery,  and  to  connect  the  two  by  a  line  of  smaller 
works  erected  on  the  north  side  of  Deerfield  River ;  and  to  abandon 
the  fort  at  Charlestown,  New  Hampshire,  as  being  out  of  the  juris- 
diction of  ^Massachusetts  and  difficult  to  supply.  The  General 
Court  adopted  bodily  the  Colonel's  system  of  defence,  excepting  the 
abandonment  of  Charlestown,  and  new  bodies  of  troops  were  ordered 
to  be  raised  for  the  western  frontiers,  and  to  be  stationed  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  Colonel  Williams.  It  was  under  these  auspices  and  pros- 
pects, as  has  been  seen  incidentally  already,  that  Major  Ephraim 
Williams  was  willing  to  leave  Colonel  Worthington  as  his  superior 
officer,  and  Stockbridge  as  his  principal  place  of  residence,  and  to 
resume  the  command  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  with  authority  added 
over  small  garrisons  posted  or  proposed  to  be  posted  to  the  south 
and  to  the  west  of  it. 

Dropping  the  rank  of  Major,  which  he  had  borne  in  the  southern 
regiment,  and  reassuming  that  of  Captain,  which  he  had  carried  now 


266  ORIGINS  IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

for  ten  years,  Ephraim  Williams  went  back  to  Tort  Massachusetts 
about  the  first  of  September,  1754,  for  his  third  and  last  command 
there.  His  last  muster-roll  from  there,  to  whose  correctness  he  took 
oath  at  Boston,  June  13,  1755,  probably  one  of  his  very  last  acts 
before  leaving  for  Albany  and  Crown  Point,  contains  the  names  of 
forty-one  men  whose  service  covered  the  interval  from  September  to 
March,  1754-55,  a  list  that  will  be  here  given  at  length  for  several 
reasons.  It  holds  the  names  of  five  of  Williams's  co-signers  to  the 
picketing  proposals  of  1751 ;  the  name  of  one  of  the  Canada  cap- 
tives taken  from  the  first  fort  Aug.  20,  1746,  honors  this  final  roll 
of  his  old  Captain ;  and  fifteen  of  the  names  are  of  men  who  took 
the  risks  of  the  earliest  settlement  of  West  Hoosac. 

A    MUSTEK-KOLL    OF    THE    CoMPANY     IN    HiS    MaJESTY's     SeRVICE     UNDER    THE 

Command  Ephraim  Williams  Captain,  viz. 

Ephraim  Williams,  Capt.  John  Crofford,  Cent. 

Isaac  Wyman,  Lieut.  John  Bowin,  Cent. 

Samuel  Taylor,  Serjt.  Tho's  Trail  [Train?]  Cent. 

Edmond  Town,  Serjt.  John  Herrold,  Cent. 

Gad  Chapin,  Serjt.  Micha.  Harrington,  Cent. 

Oliver  Avery,  Corp^L  Ezra  Parker,  Cent. 

Sam'ii  Calhoun,  Corp^l.  John  Balsh,  Cent. 

Sam*Ji  Catlin,  Cent.  Josiah  Good  wish,  Cent. 

John  Taylor,  Cent.  Nath.  Nickells,  Cent. 

Elisha  Higgins,  Cent.  John  Gray,  Cent. 

Benja.  King,  Cent.  Seth  Hudson,  Cent. 

George  Willson,  Cent.  Mayhew  Daggitt,  Cent. 

John  Kosher,  Cent.  Gideon  Warren,  Cent. 

Tyrus  Pratt,  Cent.  Elisha  Sheldon,  Cent. 

Noah  Pratt,  Cent.  Simeon  Crawford,  Cent. 

Abraham  Bass,  Cent.  John  Meacham,  Cent. 

Jeremi'h  Chapin,  Cent.  Derrick  Webb,  Cent. 

John  Mills,  Cent.  Benja.  Simonds,  Cent. 

Enoch  Chapin,  Cent.  Gad  Corss,  Cent. 

Silas  Pratt,  Cent.  Henry  Stiles,  Cent. 
Ezekiel  Foster,  Cent. 

John  Gray  and  John  Crofford  and  Simeon  Crawford  of  this  list 
were  certainly  Scotch-Irishmen,  and  possibly  others,  doubtless  en- 
listed from  Worcester  or  its  vicinity.  Micah  Harrington  and  Benja- 
min King  and  the  Captain  himself  were  killed  in  the  fast-coming-on 
battle  of  Lake  George. 

In  the  meantime,  as  was  natural,  there  was  developing  in  several 
quarters  a  good  deal  of  jealousy  towards  Colonel  Israel  Williams, 
on  account  of  his  imperious  manners  and  subtle  ways  of  compassing 


EPHRAI^I  WILLIAMS.  267 

his  ends  in  the  General  Court  and  elsewhere.  This  jealousy  inten- 
sified itself  later  into  a  many-sided  quarrel,  involving  on  one  side 
prominent  relatives  and  previous  coadjutors  of  his  along  the  Con- 
necticut River,  and  on  another  side  the  subaltern  officers  and  some 
of  the  soldiers  of  Fort  Massachusetts  interested  in  the  original  lay- 
out of  West  Iloosac.  Neither  duty  nor  inclination  draws  us  into 
these  disputes,  except  so  far  as  is  needful  to  illuminate  the  pathway 
in  which  both  duty  and  inclination  compel  us  to  walk  at  present. 
Some  of  the  roots  of  this  controversy  ran  back  into  the  ecclesias- 
tical persecution,  and  apparently  unfortunate  dismissal  of  Jonathan 
Edwards  from  his  church  in  Northampton.  Others  of  them  ran 
still  farther  back  into  the  personal  qualities  ingrained  in  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Williams  family,  and  the  consequent  nepotism  and  con- 
solidated (though  often  secret)  influence  of  the  family  as  such. 

Joseph  Hawley,  of  Northampton,  was  own  cousin  to  Jonathan 
Edwards.  So  was  Israel  Williams,  who  was  fifteen  years  older  than 
Hawley.  Under  the  guidance  of  the  older  man,  Hawley,  who  him- 
self had  begun  life  as  a  preacher,  became  a  violent  opposer  of  the 
ecclesiastical  measures  of  Edwards,  and  very  active  in  effecting  his 
removal  from  Northampton.  He  afterwards  saw  reasons  for  radi- 
cally changing  his  views  as  to  that  whole  matter,  and  gradually 
became  a  warm  advocate  of  his  old  pastor,  then  resident  in  Stock- 
bridge,  and  in  1760  wrote  a  letter  of  regret  and  penitence  for  his 
own  previous  action  in  the  premises  that  will  ever  be  remarkable, 
and  that  was  for  half  a  century  famous.  The  following  letter  from 
Hawley  to  Williams,  dated  Northampton,  Oct.  3,  1754,  though 
bearing  not  the  least  reference  to  the  Edwards  affair,  will  interpret 
itself  to  the  penetrating  reader.  Williams  was  at  the  time  in  Hat- 
field, his  home.  Hawley  was  then  thirty  years  old,  already  distin- 
guished for  legal  attainments  and  political  knowledge  and  stern 
integrity,  and  destined  to  become,  perhaps,  the  most  influential  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Massachusetts  from  1764 
to  1776. 

S'r  I  unerstand  from  my  brother  y'*  ye  present  scheme  is  to  have  two  places 
fortified  at  Pontoosuck  —  y''  there  shall  be  16  men  posted  at  each  —  and  y't  at 
Hoosuck  there  be  oO  men.  It  is  not  of  importance  that  I  know  of  for  me  to 
say  how  disagreeable  such  a  settlement  to  the  westward  is  to  me.  But  I  humbly 
apprehend  y't  it  would  conduce  much  to  ye  concerting  of  a  good  scheme  for  ye 
defence  of  our  people  on  ye  west  of  Connecticut  river  y't  yourself,  Col.  Par- 
tridge, Maj''  Ephraim  and  I  should  have  a  free  conference  together  before  ye 
next  session  of  ye  Genii  Court,  and  y'*  we  labour  to  agree  in  some  gen'lplan  y't 
we  shall  labour  at  least  to  effect. 

Otherwise  it  seems  to  me  all  our  separate  designs  and  projections  will  be 


268  ORIGINS   m   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

likely  to  prove  abortive.  From  my  observation  the  case  stands  thus  (if  I  may 
be  permitted  to  speak  it)  you,  S'r,  and  Maj'r  Ephraira  concert  what  you  think 
proper,  and  labour  it  with  ye  Govenour,  and  he  also  with  ye  whole  Court.  Col 
Partridge  schemes  something  different  perhaps,  which  he  will  labour  with  ye 
Govenour  and  House.  I  am  privy  to  neither  scheme,  and  perhaps  ye  first  of  my 
hearing  thereof  should  be  in  ye  House.  Neither  may  appear  perfectly  agree- 
able, and  altho'  I  am  a  person  of  but  small  consideration,  yet  if  Providence 
should  so  order  it  that  I  should  be  in  ye  House  when  those  matters  should  be 
considered,  if  there  appears  sinister  designs  interwoven  in  ye  plans,  it  will  be  no 
difficult  matter  to  prevent  their  taking.  I  don't  think  y*  in  ray  private  capacity 
I  am  of  much  importance  in  such  matters,  but  as  a  member  of  ye  House  it  is 
possible  I  may  be,  for  I  have  always  spoke  my  mind  in  ye  House  and  sometimes 
have  been  heard. 

And  if  Providence  should  give  me  opportunity  probably  I  shall  be  as  free  as 
usual  respecting  affairs  this  way  especially.  A  man  of  little  influence  can 
obstruct  disburstment  of  money. 

I  am,  S'r,  with  all  due  respects, 

Your's 

Col.  "Williams.  Joseph  Hawlet. 

A  yawning  breacli  as  between  the  cousins  is  visible  enough  in  this 
epistle,  —  not  only  an  unuttered  protest  against  ^' ye  monarch  of 
Hampshire"  personally,  but  also  against  the  long-ago  observed 
tendency  of  the  "Williams  family"  to  pull  together,  and  that 
secretly.  But  Joe  Hawley  was  sturdy  and  patriotic  and  cou- 
rageous. Two  years  later,  when  he  heard  the  news  from  the  West 
Hoosac  fort  of  the  killing  of  Captain  Elisha  Chapin  and  the  two 
Chidesters,  almost  within  the  very  sweep  of  their  mounted  guns,  he 
wrote  to  the  Colonel  the  annexed  letter,  under  date  of  July  18, 
1756,  seven  days  after  the  disaster  on  Hemlock  Brook  :  — 

CoL.  Williams  S'r  Mr,  Barnard  has  given  me  a  sketch  of  the  news  from 
Hoosuck.  If  they  are  sure  y"  they  saw  French  in  [the  crowd  of  Indians]  I 
think  we  may  be  pretty  certain  y't  there  is  an  army  there.  Should  it  prove 
y't  there  is  an  army  there,  and  either  one  or  both  of  the  forts  should  be  taken, 
you,  S'r,  never  will  be  pardoned  if  you  don't  send  the  militia.  Were  it  not  for 
two  reasons  I  would  readily  offer  my  service  to  go  —  the  one  is  that  the  weather 
is  so  extream  hot  that  it  would  instantly  bring  ye  disorder  to  which  I  am  inci- 
dent in  hot  weather  —  the  other  is  that  it  is  a  hurrying  time  in  ye  business  of 
my  profession,  and  some  other  affairs  which  claim  my  particular  attention  at 
this  time. 

Perhaps  you  have  some  good  man  in  y'r  eye.  I  should  think  Capt.  Will™  Ly- 
man was  ye  best  with  us.    Pardon  my  officiousness. 

I  am  Sir  y'r's 

Joseph  Hawley. 

The  '^  officiousness,"  if  any,  consisted  in  his  commending  his 
neighbor,  Lyman,  to  the  now  vacant  headship  (such  as  it  was)  of 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  269 

the  West  Hoosac  fort.  We  shall  see  in  detail  in  the  next  chapter 
how  that  troublesome  post  came  to  be  occupied,  if  not  filled,  by 
Captain  Seth  Hudson.  It  is  difficult  for  a  writer,  himself  deeply- 
interested  in  all  the  details  of  his  task,  justly  to  estimate  how  far 
his  readers  also  may  take  pleasure  in  the  same;  yet  one  may 
scarcely  question  the  prospective  interest  with  which  a  future 
reader  of  these  pages  will  con  a  statement  from  the  pen  of  Gov- 
ernor Shirley  himself,  as  to  the  success  with  which  "  You,  S'r,  and 
Maj'  Ephraim  concert  what  you  think  proper  and  labour  in  it  with 
ye  Govenour." 

Boston,  Sept.  26,  1764. 

Sir,  I  have  received  a  packet  from  you  by  Major  Williams,  containing  a  plan 
of  the  western  parts  of  the  P*rovince,  a  list  of  the  officers  and  centinells  in  your 
Regiment,  and  three  letters,  one  dated  the  12^  and  two  the  17'*>  of  September 
instant. 

I  am  extremely  well  satisfied  with  the  great  care  and  vigilance  you  have 
already  show'd  for  the  protection  and  safety  of  the  people  upon  the  Western 
Frontier,  and  have  great  confidence  in  your  abilities  and  fidelity  in  the  discharge 
of  your  military  trust,  upon  any  future  emergency,  at  this  dangerous  conjuncture. 

As  to  the  difficulty  you  mention  in  your  letter  of  the  12^*»  instant  to  arise 
from  the  appearance  which  my  second  orders  to  you  have  of  abridging  the 
power  given  you  in  my  first  orders,  and  confining  it  to  the  limits  of  your  own 
Regiment,  I  think  my  remark  upon  the  enclosed  copys  of  the  orders  I  sent  to 
Col£  Worthington,  and  my  second  orders  to  yourself,  will  best  clear  that  up, 
and  explain  both  of  them,  so  as  to  msvke  them  consistent  with  each  other. 

I  am  glad  you  found  your  Regiment  and  the  towns  within  tlie  limits  of  it,  so 
well  provided  with  arms  and  ammunition  as  they  appear  to  be  by  your  return 
upon  those  articles  ;  exact  care  should  be  taken  that  all  failures  and  deficiencies 
should  be  fully  and  speedily  made  up :  the  refusal  of  the  select  men  of  the  town 
of  Northamptown  to  give  any  account  of  their  town  stock  shall  be  inquired  into. 

It  is  necessary  that  the  limits  of  yours  and  Col.  Worthington's  respective 
Regiments  should  be  settled.  I  don't  apprehend  any  better  rule  for  doing  that 
than  tlie  former  settlement  under  Col^  Stoddard,  vizi  the  northern  line  of 
Springfield,  which  is  the  southern  line  of  Northampton  and  Hadley,  to  be  the 
dividing  line  ;  and  so  I  state  it ;  at  least  for  the  present ;  if  there  should  be  any 
good  reason  for  altering  it,  that  may  be  done  hereafter. 

I  enclose  a  Major's  commission  for  Capt.  Elijah  Williams,  dated  the  day 
after  Major  Hawley's  commission.  Be  pleased  to  let  him  know  that  it  is  my 
clear  opinion  he  may  accept  it  quite  consistently  with  his  honour,  considering 
the  circumstances  of  Major  Hawley's  appointment,  notwithstanding  Major  Haw- 
ley  is  a  junior  Captain  to  him.  I  shall  likewise  appoint  Capt"  Williams  Com- 
missary, as  desired  in  your  letter.  I  approve  very  well  of  the  command  you 
propose  for  Lieuten't  Hawkes,  whom  I  have  a  good  knowledge  and  opinion  of, 
and  enclose  a  blank  commission  for  him,  to  be  filled  by  youi-self  accordingly. 
The  plan  you  sent  hath  been  of  great  service  for  my  information  in  the  state  of 
the  VV^estern  Frontier,  and  I  much  approve  of  the  line  of  Forts  proposed  by  you 
for  the  defence  and  protection  of  it,  by  marching  parties  or  scouts. 


270  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

So  far  as  I  could  go  in  the  Execution  of  it  before  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Court,  I  have  gone,  and  propos'd  to  his  Maj'ty's  Council  the  augmentation  of  the 
garrison  of  Fort  Massachusetts  with  25  men,  and  30  men  to  be  posted  and 
employed  in  Scouting  as  you  shall  think  meet  for  the  protection  of  the  Frontier 
under  your  Care,  which  you  will  find  they  have  advised  to,  and  you  will  raise 
the  men  accordingly. 

When  the  General  Court  meets  I  shall  endeavor  to  carry  the  remainder  of 
your  scheme  into  Execution,  and  shall  make  the  protection  and  defence  of  that 
part  of  the  Province,  in  the  most  effective  manner  in  every  respect,  one  of  the 
principal  objects  of  my  attention.  Major  Williams  put  me  in  mind  of  a  special 
commission  which  I  gave  the  late  C0I2.  Stoddard,  which  he  held  during  the  late 
war,  for  the  defence  of  the  Western  parts  of  the  Province ;  I  should  be  glad  if 
you  or  Major  Williams  could  by  any  means  recover  a  copy  of  that  commission 
for  me.  I  shall  be  glad  to  give  you  a  mark  of  the  regard  I  have  for  you,  in  that 
way  or  any  other  which  may  happen  in  my  power,  and  am, 
Sir,  your  most  assur'd  Friend  and  Servant, 

W.  Shirley. 

Col.  Israel  Williams. 

We  must  now  return  for  a  little  to  Isaac  Wyman,  and  finisli  the 
record  relating  to  him.  Although  Ephraim  Williams  was  appointed 
to  command  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  took  his  station  there  about 
the  1st  of  September,  1754,  under  the  expectation  that  a  large  body 
of  French  and  Indians  were  about  to  repeat  the  operations  of  1746, 
and  under  the  current  impression  that  Elisha  Chapin  was  unequal 
to  the  emergency  impending,  it  is  plain,  that,  as  the  autumn  wore 
on  and  no  such  army  appeared,  all  expectancy  of  its  coming  that 
year  disappeared,  and  the  fort,  as  a  place  to  be  defended  against  an 
assault,  lost  its  interest  for  the  present ;  and,  in  the  meantime,  as 
important  councils  were  being  taken  at  Boston  and  elsewhere  in 
relation  to  three  great  offensive  expeditions  against  the  French  so 
soon  as  the  next  spring  opened,  that  Major  Williams  found  himself 
more  useful  and  influential  in  connection  with  these  councils  at 
Boston,  in  which  even  George  Washington  participated  in  person, 
than  at  his  own  fort,  and  left  consequently  the  direction  of  affairs 
there  to  his  second  in  command.  Lieutenant  Wyman.  The  appended 
minute  shows  this,  and  also  especially  a  letter  soon  to  be  quoted 
from  Israel  Williams  to  Wyman  direct. 

These  certify  that  the  soldiers  belonging  to  Fort  Massachusetts  have  been 
absent  on  furlows  since  Sept.  22*^,  1754,  to  March  ye  28*^,  1755,  in  the  whole  one 
hundred  twenty  one  weeks  one  day  —  for  myself  and  negro  14  weeks. 

Isaac  Wyman,  Lieut. 

Hatfield,  Dec'r  31,  1754. 
Sir,  The  accounts  I  had  bro't  [to  me]  from  your  Fort  not  long  since  of  good 
order  and  regularity  subsisting  there  gave  me  singular  pleasure.     And  therefore 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  271 

the  information  I  now  have  of  the  clamorous,  mutinous  behavior  of  many  if  not 
most  of  the  men  under  your  com' and  was  the  more  unexpected  and  surprising. 
The  reason  pretended  for  so  much  disorder  is  a  very  poor  one  and  altogether 
insufficient  to  justify  it.  The  men  have  a  right  to  the  allowance  granted  'em  by 
the  Government,  and  if  detain'd  or  deny'd  unreasonably  have  a  right  to  seek  it 
in  a  proper  and  suitable  manner,  and  may  expect  relief  and  justice,  and  whilst 
the  care  and  government  of  the  garrison  is  devolved  upon  you,  in  case  of  the 
Com'issarys  failing  to  supply  it  will  be  expected  you  inform  your  superior  officer 
that  the  grievance  be  redress'd.  Lt.  Graves  tells  me  he  has  supply'd  the  garrison 
with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  rum  for  ye  men  posted  there,  since  Maj'r  Williams 
has  had  ye  Com'and  of  ye  garrison  ;  but  it  seems  it  has  been  disposed  of,  I  fear 
unnecessarily,  whereby  a  failure  has  happened  —  and  jx^rhaps  its  chiefly  owing 
to  those  persons  imprudent  use  of  it  who  now  make  ye  greatest  Complaint  and 
Clamour.  However  those  matters  are  or  have  been  conducted,  the  late  mutinous 
behaviour  of  the  men  is  to  be  condemned,  and  in  such  a  way  instead  of  obtain- 
ing relief  they  must  expect  to  loose  all,  and  suffer  a  much  greater  punishment, 
and  that  they  may  know  what  I  mean,  I  incert  the  following  paragraph  of  a  law 
now  in  force,  viz.  :  that  any  person  that  shall  be  in  his  Majesty's  service  being 
mustered  and  in  pay  as  an  officer  or  soldier  who  shall  at  any  time  during  the 
continuance  of  this  act  excite  cause  or  join  in  any  mutiny  or  sedition  in  the 
army.  Company,  Fortress  or  garrison  whereto  such  officer  or  soldier  belongs,  or 
shall  desert  his  Majesty's  service  in  the  Army,  Company,  Fortress,  or  garrison 
shall  suffer  death,  or  such  other  punishment  as  by  a  Court  Marshal  shall  be 
inflicted. 

And  for  your  further  encouragement  I  hereby  let  you  know  that  so  far  as  I 
have  been  informed  I  highly  approve  your  conduct,  and  you  may  depend  upon 
being  effectually  supported,  and  as  it  does  not  belong  to  you  to  settle  but  keep 
ye  acct?  of  the  Fort,  and  distribute  the  allowance  from  day  to  day,  as  you 
receive  it,  during  the  absence  of  the  Cap^  so  I  expect  you  proceed  and  see  to  it 
the  duty  asign'd  the  garrison  be  punctually  performed. 

As  soon  as  you  receive  this  muster  the  soldiers  belonging  to  the  garrison  and 
communicate  it  to  them,  and  unless  those  who  have  been  seditious  and  mutinous, 
give  you  ample  and  full  satisfaction  for  their  great  offence,  and  proper  a.ssurance 
of  better  behavior  for  the  future,  I  hereby  direct  you  forthwith  to  transmit  to 
me  the  names  of  such  delinquents,  with  a  full  ace?  of  their  crimes,  that  there 
may  be  a  full  inquiry,  and  they  proceeded  with  as  to  law  and  justice  appertains 
—  and  in  case  any  shall  offend  in  like  manner  hereafter,  whilst  the  com'and  is 
devolv'd  upon  you,  you  are  directed  to  give  information  imediately  to  your 
superiour  officer.  I  hereby  direct  you  further  to  send  me  a  list  of  the  names  of 
the  soldiers  belonging  to  your  garrison  —  and  also  a  list  of  those  that  belonged 
to  it  when  Capt.  Chapin  was  dismissed. 

I  am  yi  friend  and  serv't, 

IsR.  Williams. 

[Filed  "  LcU  to  Lt.  Wyman."] 

The  above  letter  was  dated  on  the  last  day  of  1754.  The  opening 
months  of  1755  were  busy  as  never  before  along  the  Atlantic  shore, 
from  Alexandria  in  Virginia  to  Falmouth  in  what  is  now  Maine,  in 
fitting  out  three  formidable  military  expeditions  against  the  French 


272  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

posts  fronting  the  English  settlements.  These  expeditions  were 
highly  pleasing  to  the  English  frontiersmen,  because  they  flattered 
themselves  that  such  conspicuous  oifensive  operations  would  relieve 
them  from  further  incursions  of  the  Indians  from  the  north.  They 
enlisted  with  alacrity  in  all  three  of  the  campaigns,  —  that  from 
Virginia,  to  be  commanded  by  General  Braddock,  with  British  reg- 
ulars as  well  as  volunteers,  directed  against  Fort  Du  Quesne  at  the 
forks  of  the  Ohio;  that  to  be  led  by  Governor  Shirley  in  person 
against  the  French  posts  on  the  Niagara  Eiver ;  and  the  one  headed 
by  Sir  William  Johnson,  with  the  rendezvous  at  Albany,  against  the 
fortress  at  Crown  Point.  But  the  hopes  of  the  settlers  proved  fal- 
lacious in  this  respect.  Under  this  new  impulse,  however,  in  part, 
Massachusetts  promptly  raised  one  entire  regiment  for  Crown  Point, 
principally  in  the  old  county  of  Hampshire,  largely  from  soldiers 
who  had  served  in  the  cordon  of  forts;  and,  after  a  good  deal  of 
management  and  something  of  finesse  on  the  part  of  the  "Williams  " 
influence.  Major  Ephraim  was  appointed  the  Colonel,  and  his  per- 
sonal popularity  soon  filled  the  ranks  up  to  the  full.  He  resigned 
his  command  at  Fort  Massachusetts  on  the  28th  of  March,  1755, 
and  Isaac  Wyman  was  at  once  appointed  to  succeed  him,  being  pro- 
moted for  the  purpose  from  Lieutenant  to  Captain.  A  little  fur- 
ther on  in  this  chapter  we  shall  carefully  follow  the  fortunes  of  the 
Johnson  expedition,  —  in  order  to  elucidate  the  story  of  Colonel 
Williams  to  the  end,  —  although  it  never  reached  Crown  Point  and 
never  reflected  any  credit  on  its  commander-in-chief,  while  the 
results,  on  the  whole,  were  much  less  disastrous  than  those  of  the 
other  two  marches. 

Additional  forces  were  soon  after  raised  by  Massachusetts,  the  gar- 
risons strengthened  on  all  the  frontiers,  and  the  people  were  required 
to  go  armed  when  attending  public  worship,  it  being  made  the  duty 
of  the  militia  officers  to  see  that  the  order  was  strictly  enforced. 
Corps  of  rangers  were  now  ordered  to  be  raised  to  traverse  the 
woods  to  the  noii;hward  of  the  cordon  of  forts ;  and,  to  induce  them 
to  turn  out  more  readily,  bounties  were  offered  for  Indian  scalps. 
As  Governor  and  General  Shirley  was  now  occupied  in  the  mili- 
tary organization  of  his  central  column,  designed  to  strike  Niagara, 
Lieutenant-Governor  Phipps  resumed  the  cares  of  the  local  govern- 
ment of  the  province,  which  he  had  borne  before  for  several  years 
while  Shirley  was  in  Europe,  and  issued  the  following  instructions 
to  Captain  Lyman,  of  Northampton,  who  had  been  appointed  to 
command  one  of  these  ranging  parties : —  / 


EPHRAEM  WILLIAMS.  273 

Boston,  June  19,  1755. 

Sir,  Having  appointed  you  to  be  captain  of  such  volunteers  as  have  enlisted  or 
may  enlist  under  you  (not  to  consist  of  less  than  thirty  men)  upon  the  encour- 
agement offered  by  the  government,  to  such  companies  as  shall  penetrate  into 
the  Indian  country,  in  order  to  captivate  or  kill  any  of  the  tribes,  this  govern- 
ment hath  declared  war  against  You  must  take  care  to  enlist  none  but  able 
bodied  men,  and  see  that  they  be  well  armed,  and  furnished  with  proper  ammu- 
nition. You  are  allowed  to  take  thirty  days'  provisions  for  your  company,  out 
of  the  commissary's  office,  before  you  march. 

You  must  perform  a  scout  of  at  least  thirty  days  upon  every  march,  unless 
some  special  reason  for  the  good  of  the  service  shall  appear  for  your  returning 
before  that  time.  And  in  such  case  you  must  account  for  your  company's  pro- 
visions not  expended. 

You  may  march  in  a  whole  body  or  in  two  or  three  divisions,  and  upon 
several  routes  as  you  and  your  commissioned  officers  shall  judge  most  expedi- 
ent, and  most  likely  to  answer  your  design. 

You,  and  each  of  your  commissioned  officers,  must  keep  as  exact  journals  as 
you  can,  in  each  of  your  marches,  to  which  you  must  be  sworn  before  me,  or 
one  of  his  Majesty's  justices  of  the  peace,  and  exhibit  the  same  to  me,  or  to  the 
commander-in-chief.  And  before  you  receive  the  bounty  for  any  Indian  killed 
or  captured,  you  must  deliver  up  the  person  captivated,  or  scalps  of  those  you 
kill,  at  Boston,  to  such  person  as  I  shall  order  to  receive  the  same. 

I  am  your  friend  and  servant      -p 

To  Capt.  Lyman.  ^  "^^^^• 

Eight  days  before  these  instructions  were  given, — that  is,  on  the 
11th  of  June,  —  a  party  of  six  Indians  swooped  down  upon  the 
Deerfield  valley  in  what  is  now  Charlemont,  while  Captain  Moses 
Rice,  the  first  proprietor  and  settler  there,  with  his  son  Artemas 
Rice  and  grandson  Asa  Rice,  and  several  others,  were  hoeing  corn 
in  his  meadow,  just  south  of  the  present  village  road,  one  man  act- 
ing as  sentinel  and  the  firearms  of  the  rest  being  placed  against  a 
pile  of  logs,  and  suddenly  fired  upon  the  party  at  work.  Phineas 
Arms  fell  instantly  dead  in  the  cornfield,  while  Captain  Rice 
received  a  severe  wound  in  the  thigh,  and  was  taken  prisoner  with 
his  grandson  and  one  other.  The  three  captives  were  taken  to  the 
high  plain  in  the  rear  of  the  present  public  house  in  Charlemont 
village,  where  the  old  man,  after  a  fearful  struggle  with  the  single 
savage  to  whom  he  was  given  over,  fell  beneath  the  tomahawk,  was 
scali)ed,  and  left  bleeding,  to  die  after  some  hours.  The  other  two 
prisoners  were  led  to  Crown  Point,  and  thence  to  Canada,  whence 
the  grandson  was  ransomed  after  a  captivity  of  six  years ;  and 
Titus  King,  the  other,  being  carried  to  France  and  then  to  England, 
at  length  returned  to  Northampton,  his  native  place.  Captain  Rice 
was  a  great-great-grandfather  of  Joseph  White  (Williams  College, 
'36),  and  treasurer  of  the  College  from  1859  to  1886. 


274  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

.  The  very  day  of  this  tragedy  at  Charlemont,  the  government  of 
Massachusetts  established  by  law  the  monthly  pay  of  the  officers 
and  men  employed  on  these  frontiers.  For  the  Ranging  Forces,  as 
involving  more  arduous  and  hazardous  duty :  Captain,  £4  16s. ; 
Lieutenant,  £S  4s. ;  Sergeant,  £1  14s. ;  Corporal  or  private,  £1  6s. 
8d.  And  for  the  Garrison  Forces  :  Captain,  £4 ;  Lieutenant,  £3 ; 
Sergeant,  £1  10s. ;  Corporal,  £1  8s. ;  Drummer,  £1  Ss. ;  Sentinel, 
£1  4s. ;  Armorer  at  the  westward,  £3. 

The  Ranging  Corps  required  men  of  great  strength,  inured  to 
fatigue  and  danger.  They  must  start  with  thirty  days'  provisions 
on  their  backs,  and  in  addition  carry  their  muskets  and  equipments, 
with  the  requisite  ammunition.  At  night  their  camp  was  upon  the 
bare  ground,  with  no  cover  unless  it  were  brush  huts.  In  winter  the 
march  was  made  upon  snow-shoes,  to  the  use  of  which  they  were 
sometimes  trained  before  the  campaign  began,  and  their  lodging  was 
generally  in  the  open  air,  Indian  fashion.  If  a  man  became  sick,  or 
was  wounded,  he  was  either  sent  back  or  carried  on  by  his  compan- 
ions. There  was  little  room  for  medicine  or  surgery,  and  conse- 
quently little  chance  for  recovery.  In  forest  stratagem  these 
rangers  of  the  last  French  war  showed  themselves  little,  if  any, 
inferior  to  the  Indians,  and  in  sustained  fighting  on  equal  terms 
generally  superior.  They  knew  nothing  of  regular  military  tactics, 
and  if  they  had  known,  it  would  have  been  a  constant  impediment 
to  them  in  the  woods,  as  was  demonstrated  in  the  case  of  the  Brit- 
ish regulars  in  Braddock's  march  and  battle  and  retreat.  Provided 
they  were  brave  and  hardy  and  good  marksmen,  —  and  these  were 
their  general  characteristics,  —  nothing  more  was  supposed  needful 
to  qualify  them  for  this  partisan  service.  The  celebrated  partisan. 
Major  Robert  Rogers,  a  Scotch-Irishman  of  Southern  New  Hamp- 
shire, introduced  into  his  corps  something  a  little  more  elaborate 
than  prevailed  in  this  region,  which  proved  itself  to  be  excellent  in 
his  numerous  marches  and  countermarches  to  the  northward ;  namely, 
a  simple  order  of  advance  for  the  centre  column,  with  flankers  on 
each  side,  and  a  rule  for  forming  on  sadden  emergencies  by  file 
movements  and  by  signals.  John  Stark,  the  subsequent  hero  of 
Bennington,  was  a  Captain  in  Major  Rogers's  corps  of  rangers  in 
the  course  of  this  war. 

The  bounties  offered  on  Indian  prisoners  and  on  Indian  scalps,  to 
which  Governor  Phipps  refers  in  his  instructions  above  quoted, 
were  an  inducement  by  which  scouting  parties  turned  out  from  the 
militia  not  at  the  time  in  active  service,  as  well  as  an  incitement  to 
vigilance  and  bravery  on  the  part  of  those  specially  enlisted  for  the 


EPHRABI  WILLIAMS.  275 

garrison  or  partisan  service.  The  bounty  on  Indian  captives  was 
generally  the  same  as  that  on  scalps.  In  New  York  it  was  higher 
on  the  living  prisoner ;  but,  in  any  case,  the  temptation  was  strong 
to  put  their  prisoners  to  death  and  carry  the  evidence  to  head- 
quarters for  a  reward,  rather  than  to  take  the  constant  risk  of  their 
escape  and  even  of  losing  their  own  scalps,  to  be  exhibited  for  a  cor- 
responding reward  in  Canada.  The  bounty,  when  obtained,  was  to 
be  divided  equally,  witliout  distinction,  between  officers  and  men,  — 
among  all  who  constituted  the  scouting  party  or  the  garrison.  In 
February,  1748,  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Massachusetts  had 
voted,  — "  and  that  over  and  above  the  bounty  above  mentioned, 
and  the  pay  and  subsistence  of  the  Province,  there  be,  and  hereby 
is,  granted,  to  be  paid  to  the  officers  and  soldiers,  in  equal  parts, 
who  shall  on  any  scouts  that  may  kill  or  capture  any  Indian  enemy, 
the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds ;  the  scalp  of  the  Indian  killed,  to 
be  produced  to  the  governor  and  council  as  evidence  thereof."  The 
following  letter  throws  light  upon  the  manner  of  obtaining  the 
reward  offered :  — 

Fort  Massachusetts,  August  ye  12,  1755. 
These  few  lines  are  to  inform  your  Honour  [Col.  Israel  Williams]  that  we 
have  been  down  with  a  scalp.  Your  Honour  not  being  at  home,  we  went  to 
Major  Elijah  Williams,  and  had  his  advice  concerning  it,  and  we  left  the  scalp 
at  Lieutenant  Graves.  We  heard  that  the  Assembly  was  to  set  pritty  soon, 
therefore  we  desire  your  Honour  would  send  us  word  whether  we  must  come 
down  or  not,  and  trust  your  Honour  would  be  so  good  as  to  send  us  word  if 
your  Honour  would  think  proper  for  us  to  carry  it  down  to  the  Assembly  or  not. 
We  rely  on  your  Honour  to  see  us  satisfied  concerning  it.  So  we  rest  and 
remain  your  Honour  most  Dutiful  and  Obedient  Servants, 

John  Crawford 
and 

Gideon  Warren. 

This  particular  scalp  was  paid  for  before  the  month  was  out,  and 
the  money  distributed  among  the  forty-five  men  then  composing 
the  garrison  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Isaac  Wyman.  We  shall  meet  with  Crawford  and  Warren  again, 
perhaps,  when  they  will  be  engaged  in  something  better  worth  the 
doing  than  carrying  one  scalp  between  them  from  the  fort  to  "old 
Hatfield."  Both  had  a  hand  in  laying  some  of  the  early  founda- 
tions oi  the  "  new  town,"  now  Williamstown.  The  same  month  and 
the  same  day  on  which  the  two  soldiers  wrote  to  Colonel  Williams 
about  the  scalp.  Captain  Wyman  gave  account  to  the  same  party,  as 
follows,  of  a  scout  that  he  had  accompanied  from  the  fort  to  the 
northward :  — 


276  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Honou'd  Sir,  According  to  your  directions  I  took  20  men  with  2  fortenits 
provision.  We  went  to  the  head  of  Melomscook  [Walloomsac]  River  the  first 
day,  and  there  we  camped  [near  Center  Pownal].  We  saw  a  grate  many  signs 
of  Indians  hut  none  verry  new.  From  there  we  steared  north  [into  Benning- 
ton], and  then  we  turned  our  coars  down  the  River  for  Saincoyck  [St.  Croix], 
The  3  day  of  our  marcli  about  12  a  clock  we  got  to  the  mouth  of  the  River 
[Hoosac  Junction].  From  there  we  set  out  and  steared  north,  but  we  got  but  a 
little  ways  that  night.  Georg  Willson  was  taken  verry  ill  and  continued  so  all 
that  night  and  the  next  day,  so  that  he  was  unfit  to  go  forard.  We  maid  no 
new  discovery  of  Indians,  and  we  turned  back  and  got  into  the  fort  the  fifth 
day.  S'r,  there  is  Daniel  Miller  which  I  have  sent  down,  he  hath  bin  verry  ill 
this  some  time,  and  is  verry  unfit  for  the  service.  He  is  willing  to  give  2  months 
wages  if  there  be  ceason  for  it  to  hire  a  man  to  supply  his  place.  I  told  him 
that  I  did  not  dout  but  that  the  Colo,  would  be  willing  to  change  him.  I  have 
no  nuse  to  acquaint  the  Colo.  of.  I  shall  send  a  scout  up  to  the  Carring  Place 
[Fort  Edward]  the  next  week.  There  is  2  or  3  hundred  of  Hampshire  forceses 
gon  alongue  this  week  to  Albany  [Crown  Point  Expedition]. 

These  from,  Sr, 

Your  verry  Humble  Serv't 

Isaac  Wtman. 

Disheartening  in  the  last  degree,  both  to  the  British  and  the 
colonial  governments,  were  the  issues  of  the  entire  campaign  of 
1755.  No  one  of  the  three  warlike  expeditions  of  the  year  had  even 
reached  their  objective  point :  General  Braddock's  advanced  column 
had  been  wofully  defeated,  and  the  General  mortally  wounded, 
seven  miles  at  least  from  the  site  of  Fort  Dii  Quesne,  now  Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania ;  Governor  Shirley,  whose  son  William,  a  British 
officer,  was  killed  with  Braddock,  commanded  in  person  the  central 
expedition  directed  against  the  ISTiagara  frontier,  but  neither  he  nor 
any  part  of  his  column  got  beyond  Oswego,  scarcely  more  than  half- 
way from  Albany  to  Niagara;  and  the  Crown  Point  expedition, 
under  the  command  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  a  rival  and  personal 
enemy  of  Shirley,  though  it  did  the  best  fighting  of  the  year  in 
the  battle  with  Dieskan  at  the  head  of  Lake  George,  Sept.  8, 
stopped  short  there  about  midway  between  Albany  and  Crown 
Point,  and  wasted  the  autumn  in  building  what  Bancroft  calls  a 
"useless  fort  of  wood."  Johnson  called  his  new  fort  "William 
Henry,"  and  the  fort  at  the  carrying-place  on  the  Hudson  below, 
"  Edward,"  from  members  of  the  royal  family,  while  the  lake  itself 
he  very  properly  named  "  George,"  in  order  to  honor  his  king  and 
"to  ascertain  his  undoubted  dominion  here."  Things  looked  no 
better  for  the  English  throughout  the  year  1756,  when  the  formal 
declaration  of  war  was  had  between  England  and  France,  though 
the  war  had  then  been  going  on  two  years ;  and,  in  some  respects, 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  277 

they  looked  worse  still  in  1757,  when  Montcalm  swooped  down  from 
Canada  and  took  and  burnt  Fort  William  Henry,  and  exposed  its 
surrendering  garrison  to  the  horrors  of  Indian  massacre. 

In  the  meantime,  Isaac  AV^yman  was  faithfully  performing  in  a 
small  way  the  functions  falling  to  him  at  Fort  Massachusetts.  He 
kept  a  journal,  as  required,  of  his  scouts  sent  out,  and  of  all  other 
notewortliy  events  at  his  fort,  from  which  some  quotations  will  be 
made  pretty  soon.  He  had  a  chaplain  there,  Rev.  Mr.  Strong,  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1756;  and,  so  far  as  now  appears,  this  was  the 
first  stated  service  of  the  kind  at  the  fort  after  the  "  captivation  "  of 
Rev.  John  Norton  there  in  the  summer  of  174G.  l^esides  these 
two,  we  only  know  of  one  other  stated  chaplain  at  the  fort,  and  that 
Avas  Rev.  Stephen  West,  who  served  during  the  summer  of  1758. 
Wyman  wrote  the  following  letter,  dated  May  17,  1756,  to  his 
superior,  Colonel  Williams  :  — 

Honoured  Sir,  I  have  finished  the  south  side  of  the  Fort  that  was  fallen 
down,  all  but  the  picket  in  the  top  of  the  single  work  —  and  have  secured  the 
west  and  north  side  of  the  duble  work  so  that  I  believe  there  is  no  danger  of  its 
falling  verry  soon.  The  top  of  the  Fort  wants  picketin  all  round.  There  was 
forty  six  feet  in  length  of  the  walls  was  fallen,  which  I  have  built  all  of  new 
timber  as  high  as  the  double  work  was  before,  and  fill**  up  with  gravell.  The 
top  timbers  ware  almost  as  sound  as  ever.  I  began  to  repair  the  Fort  on  Mon- 
day the  10  day  May,  and  Fryde  the  15  day  about  noon  I  finished  it.  There  is 
Bass  and  Meacham  I  have  consented  should  come  in  Simeon  Morgan  and 
Sam'  Southrick's,  if  the  Cola  be  willen,  for  a  while.  They  are  to  return  back 
any  time  if  they  are  call'd  for. 

I  keep  the  scouts  constant  east  and  west.    They  have  maid  no  discovery  of 
Indians  all  tliis  spring.     I  send  the  Cola,  the  accompt  of  the  scouts  I  have  sent 
out  this  Spring.    I  understand  by  Serg.'  Taylor  that  Chidester  hath  taken  Capt. 
Chapin  into  the  service  at  the  west  town.     He  is  to  do  the  duty  for  the  bileting. 
He  hath  taken  one  of  the  Horsfords'  place,  and  John  Vanarnum  the  other  Hos- 
ford's  place,  and  they  are  both  gon  Home  [to  Canaan  Ct.]. 
These  with  my  due  regards  to  the  Cola. 
I  remain  S'r 
Your  verry  Humble  Serv*  Isaac  Wyman. 

There  was  found  among  the  papers  of  Captain  John  Williams, 
of  Conway,  son  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  by  General  E.  Hoyt, 
the  antiquarian,  Aug.  31,  1820,  a  document  entitled  "Capt.  Isaac 
Wyman's  Journal  of  operations  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  in  1756." 
The  first  entry  on  the  journal  is  under  the  date  of  May  17,  the 
date  of  the  letter  but  just  now  quoted.  The  "  accompt  of  the  scouts 
I  have  sent  out  this  Spring,"  which  was  obviously  sent  at  the  same 
time  with  the  letter,  has  not  come  to  light ;  furthermore,  it  is  not  of 


278  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

mucli  consequence,  for  the  scouts  ''  have  maid  no  discovery  of 
Indians  all  this  spring."  But  the  supplemental  journal,  recovered 
by  General  Hoyt  sixty-four  years  after  it  was  written,  covering  the 
time  from  May  17  till  July  10,  is  invaluable.  We  quote  a  few  of 
the  more  significant  entries  :  — 

May  19th.  Sent  a  scout  —  4  men  guarding  men  aplowing. 

20th.  Sent  2  men  to  guard  plowmen. 

23d.  Sent  a  scout  up  the  North  Branch  [of  the  Hoosac-towards  Stam- 
ford]. 2  sermons  preach^  by  Mr.  Strong  —  one  man  in  from  Town 
[West  Hoosac]. 

24th.  Sent  a  scout  west  —  the  scout  return*.  Discov'r'd  the  signs  of  2  or 
3  Indians  about  four  miles  distance  from  the  Fort.  Brought  the  nuse 
that  Vanarnum's  boys  [first  "  boys  "  on  record  here  !]  saw  2  Indians 
running  up  the  River  to  head  them. 

25th.  Sent  2  scouts  one  East  one  West  —  the  west  scout  found  the  yester- 
day's nuse  to  be  nothing  but  some  of  the  Town's  people  out  a  fishing. 

27th.  This  day  stormy  and  wet  —  no  scout. 

28th.  Sent  2  scouts  one  East  one  West.  Dismiss'd  John  Herult  from  the 
service. 

30th.  Sent  a  scout  west  —  Sunday  —  2  [religious]  Exercises. 

31st.  Sent  2  scouts  one  east  one  up  the  South  Branch  to  Rush  Medow 
[between  North  Adams  and  Adams]. 
June   1st.    Sent  2  scouts  — one  west  one  to  the  Dutch  Setlments  [Dutch  Hoosac]. 
Muster' d  the  men  to  punish  one  man  being  found  unfaithful  on 
his  duty. 
6th.  Sent  a  scout  East  —  2  Exercises  by  Mr.  Strong. 

7th.  Sent  a  scout  west  —  Benjs  King  William  Meacham  —  the  scout 
ret^  about  3  a  clock.  Within  ^  of  a  mile  from  the  fort  [east  end  of 
Blackinton  near  where  John  Perry  "fenced"  and  built  in  1746]  ware 
shot  upon  by  a  scout  of  Indians  and  boarth  killed  and  scalp' d.  I 
sent  Ensign  Barnard  with  Eight  men  to  pursue  them  —  they  followed 
them  —  found  they  could  not  overtake  them  —  ret*^  to  the  fort  —  I 
sent  of  a  scout  to  the  Town  —  brought  home  the  dead  men  —  sent  of 
a  post  to  Deerfield  in  the  night  —  came  in  the  scout  from  Town 
[West  Hoosac]  with  some  men  that  came  from  Albany  Aron  Denio 
—  they  saw  fore  Indians  about  6  miles  from  the  fort  —  likely  to  be 
the  same  Indians  that  killed  our  men. 
8th.  Sent  Ensign  Barnard  with  7  men  with  Aron  Denio  and  Cors  in  serch 
after  the  [word  illegible]  and  lading  that  they  left  yesterday  in  there 
surprise — found  them  bag  and  bageg  —  ret^  to  the  fort  —  sent  4  men 
to  garde  Denio  and  company  to  Charlemont  —  buried  the  2  men 
kill'd  by  the  Indians  £King  and  Meacham]. 
9th.  The  four  men  that  went  to  guard  Denioh  and  others  ret'^  from 
Charlemon't 

11th.  This  day  our  scout  ret^  from  Deerfield  —  sent  over  some  stoars  to  the 
Town. 

13th.  Sent  a  scout  west  —  2  Exercises  by  Mr.  Strong. 


EPHRAI3I   WILLIAMS.  279 

16th.  Sent  a  scout  up  the  North  Branch  [Mayunsook]  —  I  with  5  men  went 
to  the  top  of  Sadel  Mountain  [first  record  of  an  ascent  of  Mt.  Wil- 
liams] —  at  night  came  in  Maj'r  Thaxter  from  the  camp  at  the  Half 
Moon  with  100  men  —  brouglit  in  2  men  on  bears,  one  wounded  by  a 
shot  of  a  pistol  from  one  of  there  own  men,  the  other  sick  of  the 
fever  —  they  saw  3  Frenchmen  one  Indian  at  Melomscot  [  Walloom- 
sac]  and  tired  at  them. 

10th.  This  morning  the  wounded  man  died  was  buried  —  sent  a  scout  west 

—  at  seven  a  clock  Maj't  Thaxter  marched  of  for  the  camp  at  Half 
Moon  with  all  his  men  but  six  three  of  tliem  not  well. 

17th.  Our  scout  east  heard  guns  supposed  to  be  tired  by  the  Indians  —  one 
Frenchman  or  Indian  was  seen  within  tifty  rods  of  the  Fort,  running 
to  git  around  one  of  our  men  —  I  emediately  went  out  with  twenty 
men  in  pursuit  of  them  —  found  where  a  small  scout  of  them  ran 
acros't  the  River  —  I  ret*  to  the  fort  —  took  twenty  one  men  with  me 
and  2  days  provision  —  set  out  for  the  loare  End  of  Hoosuek  —  found 
where  the  Indians  had  cros^  the  River  stearing  towards  Meloms- 
cook. 

20th.  Sent  no  scout  —  2  Exercises  this  Sunday  by  Mr.  Strong. 

22d.  Sent  no  scout  it  being  stormy  weather. 

23d.  Sent  2  scouts  one  east  one  west  —  the  east  scout  saw  signs  of  a  scout 
of  Indians  stearing  towards  the  Fort  —  Sent  a  scout  to  pilot  three 
men  to  the  army  at  the  Half  Moon. 

24th.  The  men  ret^  that  I  sent  out  to  go  to  the  army  —  saw  the  signs  of 
twenty  or  more  Indians  about  ten  mils  distance  from  the  Fort. 

25th.  Sent  out  Ensign  Barnard  with  Eighteen  men  to  range  the  woods  all 
round  the  Fort  —  ret^  —  maid  no  discovery  of  Indians.  Sent  a  post 
to  Colo.  Williams  of  Hatfield. 

20th.  At  night  came  in  an  Indian  fellow  from  the  Camps  —  brought  the 
nuse  that  there  ware  14  of  them  in  company  together  within  about 
thirteen  miles  of  this  fort  ware  fired  upon  by  a  large  body  of  Indians 

—  he  maid  his  escape  to  the  top  of  a  large  mountain  where  he  saw 
the  enemy  march  alonge  thrue  a  large  field  —  he  thought  there  ware 
better  than  two  hundred  of  them.  Lieut.  Grout  was  head  of  our 
scout  coming  from  the  Army. 

27th.  Sent  Ensn  Barnard  with  2  men  to  see  what  he  could  discover  of  the 
enemy  and  to  find  whether  they  ware  gone  of  or  coming  up  this  way 

—  sent  a  scout  west  —  the  scout  upon  there  return  come  so  near  a 
scout  of  Indians  that  they  heard  them  run  down  a  hill  —  they  fol- 
lowed them  —  found  they  steared  towards  the  Fort  —  2  meatins  as 
usual  being  Sunday. 

28th.  EnsD  Barnard  ret^  —  he  discovered  the  signs  of  a  small  scout  of 
Indians  stearing  towards  the  Fort  —  he  and  the  two  men  with  liim 
went  down  within  ten  rods  of  the  place  where  the  Indians  fired  upon 
our  men  —  coming  from  the  camps  saw  three  lie  dead  in  the  path  — 
they  heard  the  cracking  of  sticks  like  men  walking  alongue  a  little 
beyond  where  the  dead  men  lay  —  they  thought  it  not  prudence  to 
go  any  farther  for  fear  the  enemy  ware  lying  in  ambush  to  catch 
them  —  so  maid  of  and  ret'-*  to  the  fort. 


280  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

29th.  Sent  a  post  of  2  men  to  Colo.  "Williams  of  Hatfield  —  Serj'tElisha 
[illegible]  with  2  men  belongin  to  the  army  to  acquaint  the  General 
of  the  Indians  falling  upon  a  scout  of  his  men  that  ware  coming  up 
to  our  fort  —  at  three  of  the  clock  come  in  the  post  that  was  sent 
last  Fryday  morning  Serj'  Chidester  with  them. 

30th.  Sent  a  scout  west  —  discover'd  signs  of  Indians  up  Green  River 
[earliest  record  of  that  name]  —  2  scouts  of  them  six  in  each  scout 

—  saw  the  signs  of  them  west  of  pine  hill  [Dea.  Foot's  hill]  just  gon 
alongue  —  saw  other  signs  of  them  in  another  place  where  they  had 
just  crossed  the  River  towards  the  Town. 

July    1st.    Sent  a  scout  east  —  the  scout  ret^  —  discovered  new  signs  of  Indians 

—  cleared  the  well  in  the  paraid. 

2d.  Sent  a  scout  west  —  saw  the  signs  of  ten  or  twelve  Indians  stearing 

towards  the  fort. 
4th.  Sunday  —  sent  no  scout  —  2  sermons  by  Mr.  Strong. 
5th.  Sent  Enss  Barnard  with  Eighteen  to  guard  provision  to  the  West 

Town  —  at  night  came  in  Capt.  Buterfield  from  the  Camps  at  the 

Half  Moon  with  one  hundred  and  forty  men  —  found  eight  of  there 

men  killed  by  the  Indians  the  26  day  of  June  —  coming  to  the  Fort 

they  buried  them. 
6th.  Sent  a  guard  of  12  men  to  guard  eight  men  howing  corn  about  three 

quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  Fort  [probably  the  patch  John  Perry 

"fenced"  in  1746]. 
10th.  Sent  a  scout  East. 

The  next  day  after  this  last  entry  in  Wy man's  jonrnal,  Captain 
Chapin  and  the  two  Chidesters  were  killed  and  scalped  on  Hemlock 
Brook  in  the  West  Town,  as  already  related.  There  is  a  letter  from 
Colonel  Williams  to  the  Governor  at  Boston,  enclosing  an  "Express  " 
from  Captain  Wyman  in  relation  to  the  killing  of  King  and  Meacham 
the  month  before.     The  enclosure  is  as  follows  :  — 

Fort  Massachusetts,  June  7,  1756. 
Sir,  Our  scout  I  sent  west  this  day  upon  their  return  was  shot  upon  by  the 
Indians,  about  half  a  mile  distance  from  the  Fort,  and  are  booth  killed  and 
scalp'd.  Benjn  King  Wm  Meacham  was  the  scout.  I  sent  Ens,  Barnard  with 
a  number  of  men  after  them.  They  returned  in  a  short  time.  Thought  they 
could  not  overtake  them.  The  En?  thinks  there  was  about  Seven  or  Eight  of 
the  Indians.  j   ^yman. 

William  IVTeacham  was  from  New  Salem,  in  the  present  county  of 
Franklin,  the  first  settler  of  which  town,  in  1737,  was  Jeremiah 
JMeacham,  of  Salem  by  the  sea.  The  first  of  the  name  in  this  country 
was  Jeremiah,  of  Salem,  1660,  a  ftdler.  The  fate  of  their  brother 
(or  cousin)  W^illiam  did  not  deter  James  and  Jonathan  Meacham, 
who  w^ere  cousins,  from  coming  a  few  years  after  from  New  Salem 
as  permanent  settlers  in  the  "new  town,"  where  both  became  promi- 


EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS.  281 

nent  landowners  and  useful  citizens ;  and  where  James,  who  became 
one  of  the  two  original  deacons  here,  left  a  large  landed  estate,  which 
is  still  in  the  hands  of  his  great-grandson  of  the  same  name,  James 
B.  Meacham  (Williams  College,  1854).  Deacon  James  Meacham 
died  in  1813,  aged  79.  His  youngest  son,  Israel,  was  a  graduate  of 
the  College  in  its  third  class,  1797,  who  became  a  physician  in  Rich- 
field, New  York,  and  died  there  in  1824.  Both  James  and  Jonathan 
Meacham  will  cross  our  path  many  times  in  many  relations;  and 
members  of  the  family,  intermarried  with  the  AVarners,  immigrated 
early  into  western  Vermont,  and  have  been  prominent  and  excellent 
people  there.  James  Meacham,  clergyman  and  college  professor, 
was  member  of  Congress  from  the  Middle] nuy  district  from  1849 
till  1855. 

The  last  of  June  of  this  discouraging  year,  1756,  Captain  Wyman 
wrote  the  letter  that  follows  to  Colonel  Williams,  which  is  worth 
quoting  entire  for  many  reasons,  especially  as  indicating  a  better 
state  of  feeling  than  always  existed  between  the  garrisons  at  Fort 
Massachusetts  and  at  West  Hoosac.  The  last  sentence  of  the  letter, 
namely,  "  Serj.'*  Chidester  is  not  ret-  yet,"  may  perhaps  go  far  to 
explain  this. 

Hono*  Sir,  The  seventeenth  of  this  month  one  of  our  men  saw  an  Indian 
about  sixty  rods  from  the  Fort.  I  went  out  with  eighteen  men.  Found  where 
five  or  six  of  them  run  aerost  the  River,  Stearing  west,  I  ret4  to  the  Fort- 
Called  the  men  together  and  enlisted  sixteen  of  em  to  go  out  with  me  two  day 
scout.  We  went  to  the  Town.  They  join'd  us,  maid  our  number  twenty  one 
with  the  Duch  that  went  with  us.  I  went  down  the  River  10  mils  that  night. 
The  next  morning  I  set  out  to  go  to  the  loar  eand  of  Hoosuck  Town.  Found  where 
some  of  the  enemy  had  got  before  us.  We  went  down  a  little  further  —  found 
a  place  where  we  thought  they  would  come  along,  if  we  ware  before  any  of  them 
there.  We  laid  an  ambush,  but  did  not  see  much  above  half  a  day.  Our  men 
seem  to  be  as  unea.sy  as  tho  they  lay  on  nettels.  We  ret^  within  about  ten  miles 
of  the  Fort  —  there  lodg^.  The  next  day  we  ret^  to  the  Fort.  Our  scouts  have 
discovered  signs  of  the  enemy  booth  east  and  west.  I  sent  of  one  man  yesterday 
to  pilot  three  men  aerost  to  the  army,  at  the  Half  Mon.  They  came  upon  a 
number  of  Indian  tracks  about  ten  miles  Norwest  from  the  Fort.  •  They  say  they 
believe  there  is  upwards  of  twenty  by  there  signs.  The  enemy's  tracks  seem 
to  be  as  new  as  thers  they  tell  me. 

General  Winslow  sent  last  week  Maj.  Thaxter  with  one  hundred  fifty  men 
aerost  to  our  Fort  at  the  loar  Eand  of  the  Melomscot.  They  saw  three  French- 
men and  one  Indian,  and  shot  at  them.  They  run  up  the  mountains.  The 
Majr  told  me  he  thought  it  not  worth  a  while  to  follow  them.  They  wounded 
one  of  there  men  by  the  way  with  a  pistail  going  of  so  that  he  died  the  next 
morning  at  the  Fort.  They  left  one  man  sick  and  2  lame  at  the  Fort,  and  three 
to  tend  them.  The  General  rote  me  word  that  the  enemy  ware  verry  thick 
about  them. 


282  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTGWN. 

Serj^  Taylor  is  very  desirous  of  being  put  into  the  service  somewhere  if  it 
could  be.  He  hath  no  way  to  supoart  his  famole  under  his  circumstances.  He 
liveth  there  at  the  Town  waiting  for  some  releaf .  It  is  a  general  time  of  helth 
amonst  us.  I  have  bin  not  well  this  two  or  three  days.  I  am  got  some  better. 
Serj'  Chidester  is  not  ret^  yet. 

From,  Sir, 

Your  verry  Humble  Serv* 

Isaac  Wyman. 

The  only  direct  evidence  known  to  the  writer,  that  there  was  a 
fort  during  this  war  near  the  junction  of  the  Walloomsac  and  the 
Hoosac,  what  is  called  now  in  railroad  phrase  "  Hoosac  Junction,"  is 
the  incidental  expression  in  the  above  letter,  "  our  Fort  at  the  loar 
Eand  of  the  Melomscot."  This  fort  was  doubtless  built  and  main- 
tained by  the  province  of  New  York,  within  whose  assumed  jurisdic- 
tion it  stood,  although  the  boundary  line  between  New  York  and 
Massachusetts  was  not  settled  till  1787,  and  still  later  the  line 
between  Vermont  and  New  York.  It  was  a  strategical  point,  at  any 
rate,  for  much  the  same  reason  as  the  site  of  Fort  Massachusetts  was 
at  the  junction  of  the  north  and  south  branches  of  the  Hoosac,  twenty 
miles  up  that  stream.  The  Walloomsac  gave  easy  access  by  its  three 
main  head  streams  (though  small)  from  the  Green  Mountains  to  the 
central  valley  of  the  lakes  and  the  Hudson,  up  and  down  which,  of 
geographical  necessity,  all  the  chief  operations  of  all  the  French  wars 
had  to  be  conducted.  There  was  then,  and  remains  to  this  day,  a 
ford  across  the  Walloomsac  about  twenty  rods  from  its  mouth,  the 
stream  below  the  ford  being  deep  and  swift,  and  above  it  a  series  of 
stony  rapids  and  steep  banks.  Across  this  ford  passed  our  captives 
of  1746,  on  their  way  to  Canada,  and  all  the  soldiers  of  Massachu- 
setts to  and  from  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point;  for  the  path  lay  on 
the  north  bank  of  the  Hoosac  all  the  way,  and  another  path  ran  up 
from  the  ford  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Walloomsac  to  the  north  end 
of  Bennington  Hill,  and  it  was  not  an  unreasonable  matter  (as  hap- 
pened once  in  a  notable  case)  for  soldiers  coming  from  the  north  to 
mistake  the  path  leading  to  Bennington  for  the  one  leading  to  Fort 
Massachusetts.  It  was  along  this  very  path  up  the  Walloomsac, 
later  widened  into  a  rude  road,  that  the  so-called  battle  of  Benning- 
ton was  fought  in  1777. 

Captain  Wyman  mentions  more  than  once  in  these  dispatches  "  the 
loar  Eand  of  Hoosuck  Town."  This  was  at  the  junction  of  the 
"  Little  Hoosac  "  with  the  Hoosac  Eiver  proper,  about  six  miles  south 
of  the  Walloomsac  ford,  termed  now  in  railroad  parlance  "Peters- 
buro:   Junction."      The    extended    hamlet    alon.e^   the   lower   Little 


EPHRAIM  WILLIAMS.  283 

Hoosac  and  on  the  broad  meadows  around  its  mouth  was  called  in 
those  days  "  Dutch  Hoosac,"  from  the  nationality  of  its  first  settlers, 
— Van  der  Vericks,  Bratts,  Breeses,  Van  Vosburghs,  and  others,  —  and 
included  the  present  village  of  North  Petersburg  and  the  scattered 
farm-houses  on  both  the  Hoosacs  near  their  junction.  The  next 
hamlet  north  is  what  was  long  denominated  "  Hoosac  Corners," 
because  the  turnpike  from  Bennington  to  Troy  here  crosses  the  old 
Hoosac  road.  Next  below  is  ''  Hoosac  Falls,"  the  origin  of  wliich 
designation  is  obvious.  Then  follows  at  the  mouth  of  the  Walloom- 
sac  the  "  Hoosac  Junction,"  of  which  we  have  been  speaking ;  and 
up  the  Walloomsac  itself,  where  the  "  Little  White  Creek "  drops 
into  it  from  the  north  at  right  angles,  is  the  straggling  village  of 
"  North  Hoosac,"  where  the  battle  of  Bennington  began  and  ended. 
All  five  of  these  present  railroad  stations,  and  indeed  a  sixth,  called 
"Buskirk's  Bridge,"  where  Owl  Kill  tumbles  in  also  from  the  north 
into  the  Hoosac  below  the  junction,  are  within  the  large  township 
of  Hoosac,  Rennsalaer  County,  New  York.  All  these  places  are  of 
lasting  interest  and  significance,  (1)  because  they  were  points  and 
camping-places  on  immemorial  Indian  paths ;  (2)  because  most  of 
them  played  a  figure  and  came  of  record  during  the  old  French 
wars ;  and  (3)  because  many  of  them  were  either  a  rendezvous  or 
a  fighting-place  in  the  war  of  the.  Revolution. 

The  appended  letter  from  Colonel  AVilliams  to  the  governor  at 
Boston  bears  indeed  no  date,  while  its  contents  demonstrate  that  it 
must  have  been  written  in  July,  1756.  It  was  about  the  darkest 
period  for  all  the  English  colonies  in  America  during  the  whole 
course  of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  In  no  other  letter  of  Israel 
Williams  extant  is  there  seen  so  pervading  a  spirit  of  despondency 
as  in  this.  There  was  jealousy  and  bickering  between  Sir  William 
Johnson  and  Governor  Shirley,  the  commander-in-chief;  and  a  cabal 
instituted  by  the  former  against  the  latter  made  head  with  the  home 
government,  and  sent  over  in  succession  three  Incompetents,  Webb 
and  Abercrombie  and  Loudon,  to  supersede  Shirley,  and  to  botch 
the  whole  business.  While  General  John  Winslow,  of  Massachu- 
setts, was  pushing  his  men  and  supplies  forward  from  Albany  to 
Half  Moon  and  beyond  to  Fort  William  Henry,  French  and  Indian 
scouting  parties  constantly  harassed  him ;  although  the  colonial 
rangers  became  after  a  little  as  active  as  the  French,  and  Captain 
Robert  Rogers  particularly  distinguished  himself  in  this  and  the 
following  year,  both  years  however  proving  in  general  disastrous  to 
the  English. 


28-4  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Sir,  This  acquaints  you  that  at  Capt.  Bridgman's  Farm  about  Eight  miles 
above  Northfield  a  week  since  3  women  11  children  were  captivated  by  the 
Indians  —  1  man  kill'd,  and  one  Endeavoring  to  make  his  escape  supposed  to  be 
drown'd  in  Con't  lliver.  The  buildings  burnt  —  and  Tuesday  last  one  man 
killed  or  (?)  captivated  at  ye  Ashuelots.  The  enemy  are  discovered  dayly,  and 
within  these  few  days  —  in  almost  every  part  of  our  Frontiers,  150  are  said  to 
be  come  down  with  design  to  murther  and  destroy  our  people.  We  have  full 
evidence  of  their  being  very  numerous.  This  Morning  by  express  from  Capt. 
Wyman  of  Fort  Massachusetts  I  am  inform' d  that  the  scouts  from  that  garrison 
this  week  discovered  the  tracks  of  30  or  40  Indians  steering  towards  pontoosook, 
besides  diverse  other  small  partys  —  their  course  southward  —  Two  men  present 
in  order  to  inform  ye  people  at  pontoosook  saw  five,  fir'd  upon  'em  &  probably 
kill'd  one. 

The  people  in  the  new  places  above  keep  close  —  business  is  at  an  end,  and 
they  will  be  impoverished  and  ruin'd.  And  if  our  enemy s  continue  to  press  us 
at  this  rate,  we  must  quit  our  husbandry  and  other  business  and  take  to  our 
arms.  I  can't  think  the  people  at  Southampton  Blondford  No.  1  — New  Marl- 
borough &c,  &c,  and  the  other  places  between  Westfleld  and  Sheffield  will  be 
safe  &  secure  any  longer.  I  sent  8  men  yesterday  to  Wings  garrison  at  No.  4  — 
and  expect  8  men  more  from  below,  which  I  design  for  Southampton.  It  is  not 
in  my  power  to  grant  relief  to  any  other  at  present.  Several  places  before  men- 
tion'd  are  a  cover  to  your  people,  and  unless  protected,  they  tell  me  they  must 
&  will  leave  their  habitations.  Notwithstanding  the  gloomy  prospect  our  people 
support  with  the  hopes  of  being  soon  delivered  from  ye  cruelty  &  inhumanity  of 
our  inveterate  as  well  as  savage  foes. 

To  have  our  people  women  &  children  butcher'd  and  captivated  by  such 
miscreants  is  very  provoking,  but  not  wholly  to  be  prevented.  The  murdhers  & 
deaths  of  so  many  innocents,  &  the  Cruel  oppressions  we  now  groan  under,  Cry 
aloud  to  Heaven  for  vengeance.  If  our  iniquities  don't  prevent  may  we  not 
hope  to  have  an  Almighty  arm  engaged  for  our  help.  Pray  God  turn  to  flight 
the  armys  of  the  aliens,  &  crown  all  our  enterprizes  with  success. 

I  have  directed  ye  bearer  to  wait  y'r  answer. 
I  am  w^  sincere  respects  to  y'r  Hon'lile  Council  of  war,  Sir, 
Your  Most  Ob^  Hum'e  Serv't, 

I.  W.  [Israel  Williams]. 

Meanwhile  things  were  going  badly  at  the  West  Hoosac  fort. 
Aug.  9,  1756,  two  days  less  than  one  month  after  the  surprise  and 
massacre  there  of  Chapin  and  the  two  Chidesters,  Captain  Wyman 
writes  from  Fort  Massachusetts  to  his  Colonel  at  Hatfield  as 
follows :  — 

Hono^  Sir,  The  men  at  the  west  Fort  live  in  continual  confusion  together. 
Serj't  Taylor  was  over  at  our  fort  last  Satoday  with  fore  men  with  him  for 
stoars.  They  tell  me  that  Seth  Hudson,  Jabez  Worren,  John  Horsford,  Will'm 
Horsford,  and  Will'm  Chidester  are  set  upon  it  that  they  will  obey  no  orders  but 
what  cometh  amediatly  from  the  Governour  to  them.  Hudson  and  those  with 
him  ensist  upon  it  that  they  are  an  endependant  Company.  The  way  that  they 
go  in  I  am  afraid  will  not  only  be  a  means  of  there  losing  there  own  lives  but 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  285 

the  lives  of  those  that  are  posted  there  with  them.  Taylor  tells  me  they  go  as 
carles  about  there  work  as  tho  there  never  had  bin  any  Indians  there,  and  will 
do  no  scouting  at  all,  but  seam  to  trye  to  destroy  themselves  and  others  withe 
them  as  fast  as  they  can.  My  having  to  many  men  at  this  fort  I  have  dismissed 
Tyras  Pratt  and  Noah  Pratt  I  have  sent  over  to  fill  up  the  vacancy  there.  I 
have  neglected  sending  a  scout  to  the  army  by  reason  of  a  scouts  coming  from 
there  last  week.  Our  scout  have  of  late  discov'd  the  tracks  of  Indians  boorth 
east  and  west  of  us    Small  scouts  of  them. 

These  from,  S'r, 

Your  Verry  Humble  ServM, 

Isaac  Wvman. 

For  some  reason  not  known  to  the  writer,  Captain  Wyman  was 
absent  from  his  fort  in  October  of  this  year  (and  perhaps  for  a 
longer  period),  and  Ensign  Salah  Barnard,  of  Deerfield,  after- 
wards Captain  in  Colonel  William  Williams's  regiment,  who  seems 
to  have  been  for  some  time  second  in  command  to  Wyman,  became 
for  a  little  the  chief  officer  at  the  fort,  and  consequently  the  superior 
officer  over  the  one  having  for  the  time  being  the  command  over  the 
blockhouse  in  the  West  Town ;  and,  in  this  capacity,  Barnard  wrote 
a  letter  to  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  describing  a  visit  which  he  made 
to  the  blockhouse,  and  letting  us  into  the  secrets  of  that  establish- 
ment as  they  were  slowly  revealing  themselves  in  the  early  days  of 
October,  1756.  We  dwell  with  the  more  interest  and  in  the  more 
detail  upon  these  rude  contemporary  documents  because  they  give 
up  glimpses  —  not  always  flattering  to  the  men  themselves — of 
those  who  commenced  "  to  replenish  and  subdue  "  the  original  fields 
and  homesteads  of  a  town  now  dear  to  multitudes  of  hearts.  Most, 
if  not  all,  of  the  men  mentioned  by  name  in  this  letter  were  among 
the  early  proprietors  of  Williamstown. 

Fort  Massachusetts,  Oct.  3,  1756. 
Hon'i^  Sir,  The  paper  y^  you  d**  to  me  at  yr  Hon's  is  enclosed  herein.    When 

(•Ulivcred) 

I  was  at  the  West  Fort  I  let  the  men  know  that  I  had  it  by  me  and  if  they  own** 
it  as  theirs  ait  (?)  they  might  have  an  opportunity  to  put  their  hands  to  it.  At 
first  the  two  Ilorsfords,  Warren,  and  Noah  Pratt  made  answer  that  they  intended 
to  have  done  it  before  it  was  carried  down,  but  when  it  was  read  to  them  they 
refused  to  do  it,  but  said  since  it  was  to  be  laid  before  His  Excellency  they  chose 
to  have  one  written  in  another  form  and  send  it  themselves,  fearing  that  might 
turn  to  their  disadvantage. 

Serj't  Taylor  requests  that  he  may  carry  his  family  from  the  Fort,  the  which 
I  let  the  men  know,  which  seam'd  to  pleas  them  quite  well.  But  at  the  same 
time  I  let  them  know  y*  I  should  not  consent  to  it  untill  I  could  see  a  belter 
spirit  in  them  towards  him,  and  that  since  they  had  try"  to  impose  upon  liim  in 
every  respect  he  should  still  continue  to  have  the  command  of  that  garrison. 
Taylor  has  all  along  taken  his  turn  in  the  Box  with  the  rest  of  the  men,  but 


286  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

I  have  let  them  know  that  I  think  that  by  their  misdemeniours  they  give  him 

quite  trouble  enough  without  assisting  them  in  that  shape,  and  therefore  have 

freed  him  from  that  part  of  duty.    Warren  has  got  liberty  to  be  absent  from  the 

garrason  ten  days.     Suppose  he  intends  to  ask  a  dismission  from  the  service 

when  he  comes  to  see  y?  Hon'F.     Should  be  glad  you  w^  grant  him  his  request  if 

you  can  think  proper.     It  may  be  a  means  of  making  peace  at  the  garrison. 

Serjt  Taylors  intend  to  carry  off  his  family  to  Northfield  as  soon  as  he  can  get 

liberty.     Sends  his  duty  and  prays  that  y?  Honr  w^  give  him  a  birth  as  near  his 

family  as  may  be. 

I  am  Sir, 

Yr  very  Humble  Serv'^  ci  -r. 

CoL?  Israel  Williams.  Salah  Barnard. 

This  Samuel  Taylor  referred  to  in  the  above  letter  as  commanding 
at  the  blockhouse  at  West  Hoosac,  and  as  being  very  desirous  to  be 
dismissed  from  that  service,  was  a  Northfield  man,  born  in  1716; 
was  older  than  most  of  his  fellow-soldiers  in  Fort  Massachusetts  and 
at  West  Hoosac,  but  was  constantly  in  the  service  with  them  from 
1746  to  1757;  his  wife  was  with  him  much  of  the  time  in  the  garri- 
sons;  their  daughter,  Susanna,  was  born  in  Fort  Massachusetts, 
June  27,  1754,  and  their  son,  Elias,  exactly  two  years  later  to  a  day 
in  the  West  Hoosac  Fort;  and  so  far  as  appears  at  present,  this 
"  Elias  Taylor  "  was  the  first  male  white  child  born  in  Williamstown. 
Eachel  Simonds  was  born  here,  April  8,  1753,  and  this  Taylor  boy 
was  apparently  next  in  order,  and  the  first  of  his  kind.  The  father 
soon  obtained  the  dismission  from  West  Hoosac  that  he  desired,  for 
we  find  him  the  next  March  in  the  service  at  Charlemont,  and  a  year 
later  at  his  home  in  Northfield.  He  and  his  wife  were  dismissed 
from  the  church  in  Northfield  in  March,  1780,  to  be  gathered  into  a 
church  in  Hartford,  Vermont.^ 

We  must  now  go  back  a  little  in  point  of  time  to  the  expedition 
against  Crown  Point  of  1755,  under  the  command  of  Sir  William 
Johnson.  Our  long  story  of  Williamstown  and  of  Williams  College 
turns  radically  upon  this  expedition,  and  upon  some  of  its  issues, 
and  particularly  upon  Ephraim  Williams,  who  commanded  one  of  its 
regiments,  who  had  had  a  peculiar  personal  training  for  ten  years 
in  connection  with  a  line  of  small  forts  and  their  garrisons  stretch- 
ing from  the  Connecticut  River  to  the  upper  water  of  the  Hoosac, 
who  had  had  also  an  unusual  opportunity  during  these  years  to 
acquire  influence  with  each  branch  of  the  Provincial  Grovernment  at 
Boston,  whose  popularity  in  the  West  had  been  availed  of  by  the 
government  to  raise  a  new  regiment  for  the  expedition,  who  had 
started  upon  his  march  from  Fort  Massachusetts  to  Albany  with 

1  See  Family  Genealogies  in  Temple  and  Sheldon's  Northfield,  pp.  555,  556. 


EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS.  287 

unwonted  trains  of  thought  stirring  in  his  brain,  —  trains  of  thought 
that  discriminated  hiin  sharply  from  all  the  rest  of  his  own  able,  and 
ambitious,  and  self-compacted  coterie ;  trains  of  thought  which  not  the 
trials  nor  the  turmoils  of  the  rendezvous,  nor  even  the  desperate  news 
soon  arrived  from  the  Monongahela,  could  drive  away.  There  is  a 
plenty  of  indirect  proof  that  premonitions  of  coming  death  hovered 
over  his  mind.  He  was  forty -one  years  old.  He  had  neither  wife 
nor  child.  A  very  few  children  had  already  been  born  to  his  trusted 
comrades,  subalterns,  and  centinels,  in,  or  in  connection  with,  each 
of  the  rude  forts  of  his  line;  there  would  certainly  be  more,  and 
especially  at  West  Hoosac,  where  the  centrifugal  force  of  the  num- 
bered house  lots,  several  of  them  with  their  "  regulation  "  houses 
already  erected  and  individually  owned  by  the  garrison,  made  against 
the  common  blockhouse  on  No.  6  as  a  centre,  which  came  to  be 
regarded  rather  as  a  place  of  refuge  in  times  of  alarm  than  as  a 
residence  for  their  families;  and  Colonel  Williams  that  summer 
through  all  its  delays,  first  in  Albany  itself,  and  later  camped  with 
his  regiment  "  On  the  Flats "  to  the  northward,  kept  thinking  of 
those  children  present  and  prospective,  and  could  not  rest  at  ease  in 
mind  in  the  "  Dutch  "  country  till  the  stranger  lawyer  was  sought 
out,  the  scheme  of  the  school  for  his  comrades'  children  unfolded, 
the  will  drafted  and  signed  and  witnessed  and  sent  back  to  his 
executors  upon  the  Connecticut.  There  were  })icturesque  incidents, 
a  great  number  of  them,  that  late  summer  and  early  autumn  along 
the  upper  Hudson  and  across  the  "  Great  Carrying-Place,"  in  the 
"  Bloody  Morning-Scout,"  and  in  Dieskau's  deadly  battle  on  the  lake ; 
but  looked  back  upon  from  the  vantage-point  of  three  half-centuries 
of  development,  nothing  seems  to  the  present  onlooker  so  pregnant 
of  consequences  and  so  potent  of  good-will  to  men,  as  the  bluff 
questions  put  and  the  legal  queries  raised,  the  tentative  dictation  of 
items  on  the  one  hand  and  the  awful  legalization  of  terms  on  the 
other,  the  solemn  and  soldierly  signature  and  seal-affixing  with  the 
witnessing  of  the  three  other  Yankees  (one  of  whom  signed  twenty 
years  later  the  Declaration  of  Independence),  in  that  lawyer's  office 
in  Albany  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  July,  1755. 

About  a  month  before  this  memorable  date  all  the  forces  destined 
for  the  reduction  of  Crown  Point  had  assembled  at  Albany.  They 
were  composed  chiefly  of  provincial  militia  from  the  colonies  of 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  New  York  had  contributed  one 
regiment  to  the  expedition,  mainly  in  recognition  of  Braddock's 
courtesy  at  the  council  at  Alexandria  in  the  spring,  in  making  their 
fellow-citizen,  William  Johnson,  a  Major-General  and  Commander-in- 


288  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Chief  of  this  one  of  the  four  campaigns  of  the  season;  and  New 
Hampshire  had  raised  for  the  same  object  500  sturdy  mountaineers, 
and  had  placed  them  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Joshua  Blanch- 
ard,  and  John  Stark  (later  to  become  famous)  was  one  of  Blanchard's 
Lieutenants.  Boston  had  been,  during  the  preceding  winter,  the  head- 
centre  of  counsel  and  intrigue.  Massachusetts  was  loyal  towards  the 
crown,  and  bitter  towards  the  French  Catholics  and  the  wily  savages 
of  Canada.  There  was  no  proposal  to  invade  Canada  in  the  present 
campaign,  but  only  to  repel  encroachments  along  the  frontiers  from 
the  Ohio  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  Massachusetts  cheerfully  lev- 
ied about  7900  men,  or  nearly  one-fifth  of  the  able-bodied  men  in  the 
colony.  Of  these,  one  detachment  under  Winslow  took  part  in  the 
scandalous  deportation  of  the  Acadians  from  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  rest 
mustered  under  Johnson  at  Albany.  The  towns  on  the  Connecticut 
Eiver,  on  both  banks,  and  pretty  well  back  from  the  stream  east 
and  west,  which  was  the  realm  of  the  Williamses,  shared  to  the  full 
the  military  spirit  of  the  colony  in  general,  and  this,  as  well  as  the 
natural  push  of  these  leaders,  gave  them  a  right  to  expect  and  cour- 
age to  demand  from  Governor  Shirley  both  influence  and  promotion. 
Letters  passed  back  and  forth  with  rapidity,  and  journeys  were  fre- 
quent. As  always  happens  under  such  circumstances,  there  were 
envies  and  jealousies  a  plenty.  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  of  Hatfield, 
very  properly  and  very  strongly  considered  that  he  should  have  the 
direction  of  affairs  at  the  west ;  also  that  it  was  time  his  cousin.  Major 
Ephraim  Williams,  should  have  the  command  of  a  regiment  of  his 
own ;  had  he  not  been  for  ten  years  pretty  constantly  in  the  service 
on  the  frontiers  in  subordinate  positions  ?  and  that  Major  Joseph 
Hawley,  of  Northampton  (though  then  fully  in  the  ring),  and  Major 
Seth  Pomeroy  (distinguished  at  Louisburg  in  1745)  ought  not  to 
cl^im  precedence  over  the  bachelor  and  popular  and  aspiring  man 
of  Fort  Massachusetts.  The  writer  may  be  mistaken  in  his  judg- 
ment, but  he  believes  that  some  at  least  of  his  future  readers 
would  like  to  take  a  look  into  some  of  the  letters  of  that  time 
and  that  crisis,  both  as  illustrating  colonial  character  and  manners, 
and  as  forecasting  a  light  on  the  great  revolution  even  then  draw- 
ing on. 

The  following  extended  letter  from  Colonel  Israel  AVilliams  to 
Governor  Shirley  at  Boston,  which  is  dated  Hatfield,  Sept.  12,  1754, 
will  well  repay  an  attentive  perusal  in  every  line  of  it,  both  for 
the  light  that  it  casts  on  the  temper  and  position  of  the  Colonel 
and  the  governor  respectively,  and  for  that  cast  also  on  the  circum- 
stances (trying  enough)  under  which  each  was  acting  at  the  time:  — 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  289 

Sir,  I  conclude  you  have  before  this  time  been  fully  informed  of  ye  hostile 
attempts  of  ye  Indians,  and  the  mischiefs  done  by  them  in  our  own  Frontiers, 
&  also  in  ye  Frontiers  of  ye  neighbouring  Gov**  —  in  one  of  which  they  have 
made  most  terrible  wast  —  and  the  universal  terror  and  surprize  the  people  are 
in.  It's  now  open  War,  and  a  very  dark  &  distressing  scene  opening.  A 
merciless,  miscreant  enemy  invading  us  in  every  quarter,  push'd  on  by  our  invet- 
erate enemy  as  if  their  savage  nature  and  blood-thirsty  temper  needed  excite- 
ments to  perpetrate  their  cruel  and  barbarous  &  designs.  The  designs  of  ye 
French  in  all  this  are  very  visible  —  to  prevent  our  making  any  new  sett'?!**  to 
ye  North  —  ye  Northern  GovL*  sending  any  assistance  of  men  to  Ohio  —  impov- 
erishing even  as  much  as  possible,  preventing  y*'":  Indians  trading  to  Albany, 
opening  the  way  for  ye  reduction  of  that  city,  and  finally,  if  attended  like  suc- 
cess, ye  securing  ye  Six  Nations  in  their  interest  —  which  when  effected  farewell 
peace  &  prosperity  to  New  England,  yea  to  North  America. 

It  gives  me  no  small  satisfaction  that  under  God  we  have  y'^  Ex'cy  still  whose 
enterprizes  ag't  our  common  enemy  have  heretofore  been  attended  with  great 
success  to  apply  to  for  relief  in  our  distresses,  of  whose  wisdom,  care,  and  com- 
passion we  have  had  so  large  experience,  and  in  assurance  of  y'r  tender  care, 
ability,  and  readiness  to  afford  succour  &  help  to  us  under  our  pressures,  we 
shall  as  to  our  Com'on  Father  make  our  application. 

My  situation  &  circumstances  makes  ye  Western  Frontiers  of  the  County  of 
Hampshire  ye  imediate  object  of  my  attention,  and  the  violent  attacks  of  ye 
enemy  in  tliis  quarter  calls  for  the  publick  more  than  any  other  part  of  the 
province.  I  begg  leave  therefore  to  represent  the  state  of  this  Frontier,  and  to 
lay  before  y'n  Ex'E?  what  I  judge  woud  most  conduce  to  its  safety,  &  ye  security 
of  His  Majes^  subjects  here  &  ye  neighbourigGov'^.  Herewith  I  send  a  plan  of 
the  Western  Frontiers,  by  which  y'r  Ex's^  will  be  able  to  form  a  judgment  of  our 
situation,  and  whether  what  I  am  about  to  propose  will  serve  ye  good  of  ye 
whole  —  which  is  that  there  be  a  garrison  at  Fall  Town,  another  at  Coldrain,  at 
Morrisons,  two  at  Charlemont,  Massachusets  Fort  —  &  a  garrison  at  Pontoosook. 
At  the  two  first  places  there  are  Forts,  which  the  Gov'.^  have  been  at  some 
expense  in  building  heretofore.  At  Charlemont  &  Pontoosook  the  people  are 
preparing  for  their  defence,  and  the  charge  in  makeing  those  places  sufficient 
will  not  as  I  apprehend  be  great  to  yt  Gov'K 

I  propose  that  there  be  at  least  fifty  men  posted  at  Fort  Massachusets  — 
thirty  at  Pontoosook,  they  to  maintain  a  constant  scout  from  Stockbridge  thro' 
the  Westerly  part  of  Framingham  [Lanesboro],  and  the  west  Township  at 
Hooseck  [Williamstown],  to  ye  fort,  &  from  thence  to  ye  top  of  Hooseck 
Mountain.  That  there  be  12  at  each  garrison  at  Charlemont,  20  at  Morrisons  & 
12  or  14  at  Fall  Town,  who  shall  perform  a  constant  scout  from  Con'?  river 
against  Northf'd  to  ye  top  of  Hooseck  Mountain. 

These  scouts  thus  perform'd  will  cross  all  ye  roads  ye  enemy  ever  travail  to 
come  within  ye  afore'j?  line  of  Forts.  The'd  also  afford  ye  people  a  guard  where 
they  can  be  spar'd  for  that  purpose.  There  will  doubtless  be  more  men  wanted 
for  ye  protection  of  ye  inhabitants  at  Coldrain  and  some  other  places.  However 
I  apprehend  the  aforemention'd  garrisons  will  be  a  great  security  to  ye  old 
towns  and  new  places  within  ye  line  aforesaid  —  and  if  the  scouts  are  faithfully 
perform'd  there  can't  any  considerable  body  of  ye  enemy  come  within  ye  line 
aforesaid  undiscov'd,  and  they  will  be  a  great  restraint  upon  small  parties,  who 


290  ORIGINS    IX    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

will  be  afraid  of  being  ensnar'd.  The  reasons  why  I  propose  such  a  large  num- 
ber of  men  at  Fort  Massachusets  and  Pontoosook  are,  because  it's  most  likely 
the  approach  of  ye  enemy  within  ye  line  will  be  chiefly  thro'  ye  line  of  scouting 
from  Stockbridge  to  ye  top  of  Hooseck  Mountain,  and  if  they  make  a  discovery 
there  ought  to  be  a  sufficient  number  of  men  imediately  to  pursue  within  ye  line 
and  out  —  and  also  to  give  intelligence  &  defend  ye  garrisons  at  ye  same  time, 
and  also  that  parties  might  be  sent  from  Fort  Massachusets  to  way  lay  ye  roads 
from  Crown  Point,  &  we  not  be  altogether  upon  ye  defensive.  The  enemy  gen- 
erally when  they  leave  Crown  Point  come  to  ye  south  side  of  ye  Lake  or 
Drowned  Lands,  leave  their  canoes,  and  come  down  to  Hooseck,  or  turn  off  to 
ye  East.  Let  which  will  be  ye  case  that  fort  is  best  scituate  to  send  out  parties 
from  to  gain  advantages.  The  reason  why  I  woud  neglect  Shirley  &  Pelham  is 
because  the  Indians  were  scarce  ever  known  the  last  war  to  come  down  Deer- 
field  river,  and  that  road  is  almost  impassable.  Shirley  is  rotten,  and  if  main- 
taind  must  be  rebuilt  —  and  I  think  that  at  Morrison's  will  answer  all  intents 
full  as  well,  &  be  much  easier  supply'd.  As  to  ye  forts  above  ye  line,  if  ye 
Gov't  of  New-Hampshire  will  support  'em  it  will  be  well.  But  as  for  ye  advan- 
tages that  will  arise  to  this  Gov'?  should  they  maintain  &  defend  'em,  they 
will  never  countervail  ye  charge  and  expence.  Not  with  stand' g  a  garrison  at 
No.  4  the  Indians  can  &  will  come  down  Black  River,  Williams  River,  or  West 
River,  turn  down  South,  pass  over  Connecticut  River  to  ye  Eastern  Towns,  with- 
out the  least  hazard,  and,  when  they  have  done  mischief,  return  with  like  security, 
or  pass  up  above.  The  last  war  the  French  were  with  ye  Indians,  and  the  Forts 
were  often  attack' d,  &  ye  enemy  in  some  measure  diverted.  But  Indians  alone 
will  never  fight  forts  much,  and  indeed  we  lost  more  men  above  ye  line  ye  last 
war  than  in  all  parts  of  ye  frontiers,  those  taken  at  Massachusets  Fort  included. 

The  grand  design  C0I2  Stoddard  proposed  in  having  a  garrison  at  No.  4 
was  that  parties  might  be  sent  from  thence  to  way  lay  ye  roads  from  Crown 
point,  and  said  there  ought  to  be  100  hundred  men  posted  there,  one  half 
to  be  out  at  a  time.  But  his  scheme  was  intirely  frustrated.  The  Gov'?  never 
did  afford  a  sufficient  number  of  men  for  that  purpose,  and  they  were  scarcely 
able  to  obtain  a  supply  of  provisions  for  those  that  were  there,  and  many  there 
were  lost  in  going  thither  without  doing  any  good.  I  expect  ye  like  shoud  that 
place  be  again  detain' d,  and  it  appears  to  me  to  be  much  best  that  those  distant 
places  should  be  broke  up,  as  it  never  was  prudence  to  attempt  ye  settlement  of 
'em,  whilst  there  was  such  a  wilderness  between  them  &  ye  old  towns,  &  the 
charge  of  defending  'em  will  be  very  great  protection  being  granted 

other  places  within  our  own  Jurisdiction,  which  will  want  it  every  whit  as 
much,  whether  those  places  above  ye  line  are  protected  or  deserted.  The 
charge  to  ye  Gov't  in  supporting  men  at  Northfield  and  other  places  East  will 
be  much  cheaper  to  ye  Gov't,  and  with  suitable  guards  provisions  may  be  rais'd 
for  ye  men  necessary  to  be  sent  there.  It  appears  most  likely  this  will  be  a 
scalping  war  till  ye  French  openly  enter  into  it,  and  affect  all  parts  of  ye 
frontiers,  and  therefore  our  interest  to  be  as  compact  as  jjossible. 

I  would  further  propose  that  two  forts  be  built  between  Massachusets  & 
Hudson's  River  as  laid  down  in  ye  plan  between  which  places  there  is  a  large 
opening  where  the  enemy  can  come  down  to  ye  Dutch  settlements  or  to  Stock- 
bridge  &  Sheffield  &  whe'  they  are  gone  to  Conn?  without  difficulty  —  That  one 
Fort  be  built  and  garrison'd  by  Con't,  ye  other  by  New  York.     This  line  of 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  291 

Forts  will  shut  up  all  between  ConM  &  Hudsons  River,  &  be  ye  best  defence  & 
security  to  all  within,  if  well  supply'd  wi'b  men  of  anything  I  can  think  of,  and 
if  y't  Excy  approves  of  it  &  sliould  press  it  upon  those  Gov'^,  it  is  so  reasonable  & 
necessary  for  their  safety,  I  can't  but  think  they  will  at  once  comply  with  it. 
I  submit  ye  whole,  and  ask  y'L  Exiy't  patience  for  ye  tediousness  of  my  letti. 

[Israel  Willia3is.] 

This  document  demonstrates  Israel  Williams  to  have  had  a  good 
military  eye,  and  a  sterling  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  new  set- 
tlers who  had  been  crowding  in  upon  the  exposed  frontiers  over 
which  he  had  been  in  faithful  charge  ever  since  the  death  of  Colonel 
Stoddard  in  1748.  More  than  on  anybody  else  a  good  deal,  military 
affairs  in  the  west  of  New  England  turned  on  the  vigilance  and  activ- 
ity of  this  patriotic  and  competent  offtcer,  until  tlie  great  battle  of 
Wolfe  in  1759  settled  that  whole  set  of  questions.  For  the  most 
part  he  stuck  steadily  to  his  headquarters  at  Hatfield.  Expresses 
were  all  the  time  coming  in  to  him  from  the  forts  and  the  scouts, 
and  couriers  as  constantly  going  out  bearing  orders  and  conveying 
counsels  to  non-combatants ;  and  consequently  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  keep  confidential  agents  more  or  less  constantly  both  at 
Boston,  whence  his  own  authority  emanated  at  once  from  the  Gen- 
eral Court  and  Governor  Shirley,  and  later  at  Albany,  where  the 
Crown  Point  expeditions  concentred.  It  was  undoubtedly  this 
felt  need  for  authentic  news  and  for  influence  as  direct  as  possible 
on  affairs,  that  led  him  to  find  Major  Ephraim  Williams  more 
useful  to  the  cause  by  attending  on  the  governor  and  Court  during 
the  fall  and  winter  of  1754-55  than  he  could  be  presiding  over  the 
routine  of  the  line  of  forts.  There  were  also  ulterior  reasons,  of 
course.  Both  of  these  gentlemen  were  ambitious  of  personal  and 
family  preferment.  They  all  clung  together  as  towards  these  ends 
with  remarkable  skill  and  persistence.  The  now  to  be  quoted  letter 
from  the  ^Major  to  the  Colonel  reflects  abundant  light  upon  the  char- 
acter of  each,  and  also  upon  the  general  state  of  colonial  activities 
as  the  great  crisis  was  now  drawing  on. 

Boston,  Novt  21«*,  1754. 

Sir,  I  have  recv'^  yours  &  [one  from]  Capt.  Steven.  Have  inclos'd  the  direc- 
tions from  Moffet.  Shall  bring  Mr.  Sales  Capashun  [capuchin-cloak]  with  me. 
S?i  William  [Johnson]  has  not  been  in  town.  I  sent  yt  letter  [to]  Colo.  Williams 
of  Weathersfield.  Have  received  no  answer.  They  have  agreed  to  raise  in  the 
County  of  Hampshire  40  men  to  be  posted  at  Stockbridge  &  elsewhere. 

Lt.  Brown  is  desirous  to  have  5  men  put  into  the  service  Bilonging  to  Stock- 
bridge,  which  are  drove  of  their  lands,  which  I  can't  but  think  will  be  very  ser- 
visible  for  beds  of  scouts,  since  they  are  all  smart  able-bodied  men. 


292  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

As  to  Capt.  Chapin  gitting  the  Com5  from  me  I  bleve  there  is  nothing  in  that. 
But  the  GoverL  has  promist  to  restore  him  to  the  Chief  command  of  the  Fort 
as  soon  as  a  fort  is  built  west  of  that,  which  is  to  be  erected  imediately,  which 
I  conclude  I  shall  have  the  command  of,  if  I  please.  They  have  noted  530 
pound  to  be  laid  out  to  the  west,  part  of  which  is  to  be  laid  out  for  the  above 
mentioned  fort.  The  Com'ls  is  Capt.  Ruggles,  Maj.  Hawley  and  Mj.  Williams. 
They  have  not  made  any  supply  as  yet.  Last  evening  the  Board  nonconcur'd 
the  Bill  for  laying  the  excise  upon  the  Still  Head.  Chapin  will  be  along  very  soon, 
I  conclude,  but  has  not  got  his  money  as  yet.  Can't  git  out  of  town  without  it. 
I  bleve  it  will  be  most  likely  to  keep  things  easy  to  let  him  have  his  Lt.  Comn. 

The  last  time  I  dined  with  the  Goyi  he  told  me  he  would  git  your  Comi 
ready  &  send  it  up  by  me.     I  shall  return  as  soon  as  I  can  have  his  leave. 
I  am  S?i  your  Honr'i  Most  Humble 

Serv't,  Eph.  Williams. 

Colo.  Israel  Williams. 

About  three  weeks  after  the  above  letter  was  written,  the  Colonel 
despatched  to  the  Major  an  apparent  reply  from  Hatfield,  which 
indicates  the  extremely  confidential  relations  between  the  two  men, 
and  illustrates  at  many  points  the  condition  of  society  at  that  criti- 
cal time.  The  Colonel's  wife  was  Sarah  Chester,  sister  of  Colonel 
Chester,  of  Weathersfield,  Connecticut. 

Hatfield,  Dec'LlG,  1754. 

Sir,  I  rec'd  y'l!.     MajL  [Elijah]  W™?.  forgot  in  his  hurry  to  leave  any  money. 

I  am  sorry  ye  publick  affairs  are  so  many  of  'em  retarded,  and  am  very  much 
dissatisfied  with  ye  conduct  of  his  Majest'i  wise  Council  in  some  particulars.  I 
hope  you  are  satisfied  as  to  the  necessity  &  prudence  of  your  remaining  at 
Boston,  and  that  you  do  good  ef  others  dont  —  if  not  I  think  you  ought  in  duty 
to  return  to  yi  family.  The  great  schemes  on  foot  we  are  not  inform' d.  I  wish 
well  to  my  country,  &  hope  others  will  be  directed  right,  and  a  foundation  laid 
for  our  future  tranquility  &  well  being.  I  mentioned  to  you  ye  advantage  that 
woud  arise  from  ye  intelligence  that  might  be  obtain' d  from  a  certain  quarter 
with  some  cash.  I  am  certain  of  a  greater  necessity  now  than  ever.  The  Scan- 
ticook  Indians  have  been  to  Hooseck  &  and  tell  ye  Dutch  they  must  not  stay 
longer  than  March,  when  the  river  must  be  open.  They  are  gathering  their 
stuffs  &  preparing  for  a  remove, 

Chapin  return'd  across  lots  —  Tells  the  Soldiers  he  has  got  no  money,  and 
that  he  has  ye  comisary  business.  The  man  has  undone  himself  and  Graves  is 
in  great  horror  least  he  undo  him,  and  beggs  your  help.  He  has  deliv'd  into  ye 
fort  under  ye  care  of  Lt.  Wyman,  to  whom  I  have  given  a  Commission, 
ab*  12000  lb  of  meat,  and  is  purchasing  what  wheat  he  can,  but  complains  there 
is  no  convenient  place  for  ye  stores. 

If  you  dont  interpose  in  Graves's  behalf  and  secure  ye  Comisary  business  to 
him  he  will  be  soon  ruin'd  ;  and  as  it's  probable  he  must  pay  all  if  you  ever  get 
y'r  money,  I  think  you  ought  in  justice.  He  desires  you  to  send  him  1  doz.  of 
lemons  by  ye  first  opportunity,  which  are  wanted  to  make  a  medicine  for  his 
poor  wife.  I  hear  nothing  from  S'?  Woi.  Conclude  he  will  be  at  Boston,  & 
desire  you  would   press  him  on  my   behalf.     I  rec'd  a   Comission  from  ye 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  293 

Gov'?.  I  don't  write  him  because  he  is  so  extremely  press' d,  but  if  you  are 
permitted  at  any  time  to  see  him,  return  him  my  thanks,  and  tell  him  I  wish 
my  service  may  be  acceptable  to  him.  If  we  are  to  have  a  Vice-president,  use 
all  your  interest  in  engaging  those  who  can  do  any  good  by  writing  to  ye  other 
side  of  the  water  for  Gov'r  Shirley.  He  is  certainly  best  acquainted  by  far  of 
any  GenT?  with  the  state  of  ye  Colony  &  North  America  that  we  can  expect, 
and  I  dont  doubt  but  he  will  vigirously  pursue  their  several  interests  and  exert 
himself  as  much  as  any  man  for  ye  ruin  of  ye  comon  enemy.  God  can  and  I 
know  will  raise  up  instruments  to  do  his  own  work.  What  is  in  ye  womb  of 
Providence,  or  what  ye  event  of  ye  present  projections  may  be  I  desire  humbly 
to  refer  to  ye  wise  Governour  of  ye  world,  who  can  save  His  i>eople  and  advance 
ye  Redeemer's  Kingdom  in  ways  unthought  of  by  us.  May  Zion's  peace  be 
prolong'd  and  establish'd.  I  desire  you  would  get  me  2  quire  of  Blanks  &  a  box 
of  wafers,  &  other  things  wrote  for  heretofore.  Remember  ye  blank  musterolls, 
and  be  able  to  let  me  know  ye  Establishment  wages  of  officers  &  men,  how 
many  Subalterns  etc.  Get  me  2  '*»  of  good  tea  —  we  have  drank  wishwash  till 
we  are  tir'd.  Inclos'd  is  ye  patteni  of  ye  cloth  I  chuse  for  a  coat  unless  he  has 
a  better.    Let  there  be  a  collar,  &  mettle  buttons  —  not  too  bigg  —  no  shapes. 

There  will  be  occasion  for  a  considerable  number  of  magasons  ;  if  Mr.  Wheel- 
wright will  give  order,  our  leathr  will  do  for  that  purpose.  There  are  but  a  few 
left  that  are  good,  they  are  now  wanted  for  ye  scouts.  If  you  can  find  at  ye 
leathr-dressers  a  good  fine  oil  dress'd  skin  that  is  clean  &  white  I  desire  you  to 
get  me  one  large  eno  for  a  p'r  breeches.  I  send  no  money  —  Col.  Chester  pays 
all.  I  have  put  down  things  as  they  come  to  mind  in  my  hurry  —  &  you  will 
think  it  well  crouded  wb.  errands.  Salles  is  afraid  ye  winter  will  be  over  before 
ye  Capashun  [the  cloak]  arrives.  The  news  you  will  write  me  if  you  shoud  not 
return  soon  yrself.  The  men  ordered  to  Stockbridge  Sheffield  Brewers  Kings 
Glasgow  &c.  are  not  needed,  and  ye  main  of  them  at  present  are  a  needless 
expense  to  ye  Gov'^  I  hope  unless  they  are  needed  for  some  service  ye 
Gov'?  will  give  orders  for  their  discharge,  which  may  be  of  advantage  hereafter. 
Those  in  ye  line  for  scouts,  and  some  at  Pontoosook  are  necessary,  &  at  present 
ye  Con?  soldiers  are  at  ye  last  place.  I  fear  ye  great  schemes  afoot  will  prevent 
due  care  of  ye  frontiers,  and  also  prevent  ye  building  of  Forts,  &  before  we  put 
our  schemes  into  execution  the  French  will  theirs,  surprize  us  in  ye  spring,  & 
very  much  distress  us.  But  as  I  dont  expect  to  turn  ye  tide,  shall  make  myself 
easy.  I  have  wrote  the  Gov'r  my  fix'd  opinion,  respect'g  Stockbridge  Indians, 
and  if  a  neutrality  be  never  discovered,  I  shall  notwithstanding  firmly  believe  it. 

I  am  determined  never  to  restore  Capt.  C n  [Chapin]  to  his  butlership.     He 

has  almost  ruin'd  ye  garrison  as  I  am  sufficiently  inform'd  —  the  soldiers  were 
debauch'd  &c.  Wyman  behaves  well  —  has  restored  good  order  &  government 
and  things  are  now  to  satisfaction.    I  hear  y?  Carpenter  is  &  I  fear  Hall 

is  who  was  dismiss'd  from  Pelham,  and  if  so  Cofferan.  See  how  long.  Keep 
this  letter.     Write  without  order  to  yourself. 

IamyTafl-.;Hum'.Ser-.,  I,„.  w.ll.am,. 

MajT  Elijah  just  now  sent  ye  money  —  I  know  not  how  much. 
Sarah  desires  you  would  get  her  a  white  Twitcher  —  they  know  y£  thing  at  ye 
shops. 

^Ja.!'"  Kill*  ■  ^^'ll.l.lAMs. 


294  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

There  is  a  significant  letter  from  Grovernor  Shirley  to  Colonel 
Israel  Williams,  dated  Boston,  Feb.  7,  1755,  which  shows,  among 
other  things,  that  Major  Ephraim  did  not  fling  up  his  general  com- 
mand over  the  forts  and  squads  in  the  west,  when  he  left  Fort 
Massachusetts  in  the  autumn  under  the  direct  command  of  Captain 
Wyman,  but  retained  his  position  and  pay  as  was  proper,  while 
residing  mainly  in  Boston  during  the  fall  and  winter,  in  close  con- 
sultation with  Governor  Shirley  and  others  in  authority,  as  to  the 
pressing  matters  of  the  impending  campaign.  Wyman's  command 
was,  and  continued  to  be,  merely  local ;  and,  as  the  offensive  against 
Canada  was  already  determined  on  in  the  projected  Crown  Point 
expedition,  the  soldiers  posted  at  Blandford  and  Stockbridge  and 
Pontoosuck,  and  relatively  even  those  in  Fort  Massachusetts,  —  all 
to  be  soon  in  the  rear  of  a  large  force  advancing  up  the  North  Eiver 
and  down  Lake  Cham  plain,  would  be  of  little  or  no  use  where  they 
were,  and  might  well  be  drawn  upon  for  the  new  regiments  to  be 
impelled  northwards.  The  popularity  of  the  Major  with  the  scat- 
tered soldiers,  who  had  been  more  or  less  under  his  command  for 
ten  years,  is  another  thing  very  visible  in  this  letter :  it  was  evi- 
dently relied  upon  at  Boston  as  a  good  resource  for  gathering  in  the 
new  levies.  That  the  Major  had  come  to  have  a  strong  personal 
hold  upon  the  governor,  as  well  as  upon  the  members  of  the  General 
Court,  who  must  pass  all  the  legislation  required  for  the  campaign, 
—  in  short,  that  he  was  a  very  influential  person  in  Massachusetts, 
during  the  last  winter  of  his  life,  —  may  be  read  in  every  line,  and 
between  every  two  lines,  of  this  brief  letter. 

Sir,  As  Maj.  Ephraim  Williams  will  engage  in  my  Regiment,  it  may  be  nec- 
essary to  appoint  an  officer  to  his  Command,  which  I  must  leave  with  you.     The 
soldiers  in  the  Several  Forts  he  may  enlist  their  places  you  must  see  supply'd  by 
a  new  detachment  or  by  a  removal  of  the  forty  men  sent  to  Stockbridge  and 
places  adjacent  if  you  have  not  already  dismist  them. 
I  am  with  great  Truth,  Sir, 
Your  most  assured  Friend 
and  Servant, 
Col.  Israel  Williams.  W.  Shirley. 

Four  days  after  this  letter  was  written  to  Israel  Williams,  in 
which  Ephraim  Williams  is  spoken  of  by  Shirley  as  "Major,"  gen- 
eral orders  for  the  guidance  of  his  conduct  in  enlisting  men  were 
forwarded  to  him,  which  orders  in  full  follow  hereby,  in  which  the 
title  of  "  Colonel "  is  accorded  to  him  in  form,  although  in  the  body 
of  the  paper  itself  he  is  still  denominated  "  Major,"  and  although  at 
that  time   (as  we  shall  shortly  perceive),  he  was  only  expecting  a 


EPHRAIM  WILLIAMS.  295 

first  lieutenancy  in  the  "company"  to  be  called  Shirley's  in  the 
"  regiment "  to  be  so  named  also,  which  position  involved  certain  pre- 
cedencies and  contingent  promotions  in  the  service,  all  which  we 
shall  understand  better  when  we  come  to  the  battle  of  Lake  George. 

By  his  Excellency  William  Shirley,  Esq.,  Colonel  of  a  Regiment  of  foot  to  be 
raised  for  the  defence  of  his  majestys  Colonies  in  North  America. 

To  Majr  Ephraim  Williams, 

Sir;  As  you  have  received  Beating  Orders  from  me  to  inlist  men  into  his 
majesty's  Service  in  the  Regiment  under  my  Command,  for  your  management  in 
that  affair  I  give  you  the  following  directions. 

1.  You  are  to  enlist  no  person  below  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  nor  above 
thirty  five  years. 

2.  You  are  to  inlist  none  but  able  bodied,  EfEectivis  men,  such  as  be  free  from 
all  bodily  ails  &  of  perfect  limbs. 

3.  You  are  to  inlist  no  Roman  Catholic,  nor  any  that  are  under  five  feet  four 
inches  high  without  their  shoes. 

4.  You  are  to  assure  the  persons  inlisted  that  they  shall  enter  into  his 
majesty's  pay  from  the  day  of  their  inlistm'.'  to  be  paid  them  at  their  arrival  at 
the  headquarters,  which  is  Boston. 

6.  You  are  also  to  assure  'Em  that  they  are  to  have  his  Majesty*s  Cloaths 
delivered  them  before  they  enter  on  actual  duty. 

6.  Such  persons  as  shall  not  choose  to  inlist  at  large  you  are  to  engage  for 
t)-ree,  five,  or  seven  years,  &  for  those  who  inlist  for  three  years,  I  will  allow 
twenty  shillings  sterl'g  a  bounty,  for  five  years  thirty  shillings,  &  for  seven 
years  forty  shillings,  &  for  those  who  shall  inlist  at  large  fifty  shillings  ai)iece, 
one  quarter  part  to  be  paid  at  the  time  of  inlistment  &  the  other  three  parts  at 
their  arrival  at  the  Head  quarters. 

7.  You  are  to  inlist  no  persons  but  such  as  you  can  be  answerable  for  the 
money  you  advance,  as  well  for  their  being  fit  for  the  service  as  for  their  deser- 
tion before  their  arrival  at  Boston. 

8.  You  are  before  paying  any  part  of  the  bounty  to  cause  the  2*  &  &^  Sec- 
tions of  the  Articles  of  War  to  be  read  to  them  &  have  them  also  sworn  & 
attested  before  a  justice  of  the  peace. 

Given  under  my  hand  at  Boston 

By  order  of  Gov'r  Shirley, 

E?*.  Hutchinson. 

Fortunately,  we  possess  over  his  own  sign  manual  the  evidence 
that  Williams  (whatever  his  military  title  at  the  time)  proceeded  to 
carry  out,  at  once,  the  desires  of  the  governor  in  respect  to  the  enlist- 
ment of  men  for  what  was  to  be  called  "  Shirley's  own  Regiment," 
and  in  the  exercise  of  that  function  ran  across  obstacles,  which  he 
himself  describes  in  a  letter  to  the  governor  dated  "  Hatfield,  March 
7,  1755."  The  ^'  Phinehas  Stephens,"  who  signs  the  letter  in  con- 
junction with  "Eph.  Williams,"  was  a  man  whose  acquaintance  we 
have  already  made,  was  a  character  which  grows  more  interesting  by 


296  ORIGINS   IN    WILLI AMSTOWN. 

lapse  of  time,  had  been  a  comrade  with  Williams  many  years  before 
as  well  as  at  the  present  time  ;  while  Williams  was  commanding  at 
Fort  Massachusetts  in  the  last  war,  Stevens  was  a  volunteer  in  an 
expedition  against  Canada,  whither  he  had  been  carried  a  prisoner, 
at  the  age  of  sixteen,  from  Eutland,  New  Hampshire ;  he  was  after- 
wards ordered  to  the  frontiers,  and  at  "  No.  4 "  made  a  memorable 
defence  against  the  French  and  Indians  in  March,  1741 ;  for  his 
bravery  on  this  occasion  he  was  presented  with  a  valuable  sword  by 
Commodore  Charles  Knowles,  from  which  circumstance  the  name  of 
No.  4  was  changed  to  "  Charlestown,''  where  Stevens  was  in  command 
till  1750 ;  and  Governor  Shirley  sent  him  on  a  confidential  mission  to 
Canada  in  1749,  of  which  he  kept  a  copious  journal  published  in  the 
"  New  Hampshire  Historical  Collections.'^  He  died  at  Charlestown 
in  1756,  surviving  his  old  comrade  and  coadjutor  but  about  one  year, 
and  leaving  a  name  cherished  on  much  the  same  grounds  as  his. 

Sir,  We  have  in  pursuance  of  y'r  Excel, cy's  orders  endeavor'd  to  enlist  some 
effective  men  &  have  engaged  between  40  &  50,  and  assured  them  upon  w^hat 
Colo.  Partridge  wrote  their  service  would  be  to  the  northward,  and  we  were  to 
go  with  them,  which  we  supposed  we  might  safely  do.  But  as  the  projections 
are  still  a  secret,  and  fearing  we  may  incur  blame  if  we  proceed  &  make  such 
declarations,  upon  consideration,  we  think  that  it  is  our  duty  to  acquaint  your 
ExceljCy  with  what  we  have  done,  &  further  inform  that  unless  the  great  obsta- 
cle, ye  uncertainty  of  the  service  can  in  some  measure  be  removed  there  is  but 
little  prospect  of  success,  but  if  it  can  we  have  good  assurances  of  raising  a  con- 
siderable number  of  likely,  effective  men,  who  act  upon  principle,  and  have 
the  interest  and  security  of  their  country  at  heart,  and  wou'd  with  courage  and 
resolution  engage  the  com' on  enemy.  The  enlisting  for  three  years  is  a  difficulty 
with  many,  and  that  the  bounty  is  no  more  for  three  years  than  for  one,  which 
occasions  our  losing  some  likely  men,  who  engage  in  the  other  regiments.  And 
yet  after  all  if  y  Excel, cy  will  give  leave  to  enlist  conditionally  that  if  they 
should  not  be  destined  to  the  northward  upon  their  returning  ye  bounty  they  be 
discharged,  if  they  desire  it,  the  bounty  being  increased  withall,  we  hope  to  sur- 
mount the  other  objections,  and  engage  some  good  men  that  we  shan't  be  afraid 
to  trust  our  lives  with.  People  begin  to  guess  that  their  is  something  projecting 
by  the  gover^i  that  will  demand  men,  tho'  they  no  not  what,  and  imagine  that 
their  will  be  as  much  gain,  &  more  freedom  than  in  ye  regiments  now  raising, 
however  it  may  fare  with  those  that  now  inlist  if  called  to  action,  they  shall  be 
discharged  and  allowed  to  return  to  their  respective  homes. 

We  submit  the  whole  to  your  Excel, cy's  wisdom  &  direction,  and  beg  leave 
to  assure  your  Excel, cy  we  shall  cherfully  contribute  everything  in  our  power 
to  serve  our  king  and  country,  and  to  our  utmost  approve  our  selves,  your 
Excelcy's 

Obedient  Humble  Serv'ts 

Eph.  Williams 

Phinehas  Stephens. 
Gov?  Shirley. 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  297 

The  same  day  on  which  this  joint  letter  was  penned  by  Williams, 
he  wrote  to  Shirley  another  letter  strictly  personal,  which  we  are 
happy  to  quote  here  in  full,  because  it  does  great  credit  at  once  to 
the  modesty  and  to  the  penetration  of  the  writer.  In  no  other 
extant  letter  of  the  founder  so  much  as  in  this,  perhaps,  do  the 
man's  personal  and  radical  qualities  become  so  transparent.  Every 
line  in  it  is  precious,  because  it  emphasizes  some  line  in  the  charac- 
ter of  a  man  all  too  little  known  under  the  closest  scrutiny  of  tlie 
far  too  scant  records  of  the  times. 

Hatfield,  March  7,  1705. 

Sir,  I  received  a  letter  from  Colo.  Partridge  at  Fort  Massachusetts  by  express, 
in  which  he  assur'd  me  that  your  Excel,cy  was  pleased  to  signify  to  him  it  was 
your  desire  I  should  inlist  some  good  Effective  men  to  go  in  your  regiment,  with 
a  prospect  of  having  ye  firet  Lieu,cy  in  your  Exce,lcy's  own  Company  with  some 
other  advantages  —  of  all  which  I  took  a  very  gratefull  notice  and  now  return 
your  Excel.cy  my  sincerest  thanks  —  having  maturely  consider'd  the  proposal,  I 
determined  to  quit  my  com'and  &  engage  in  the  affair,  yet  with  apprehensions  of 
those  difficulties,  which  Capt.  Stephens  with  myself  in  our's  to  your  Excel,cy 
of  this  date  have  mentioned  —  I  have  inlisted  a  few,  but  not  with  out  engage- 
ments, and  if  the  obstacles,  we  have  suggested  can't  in  some  considerable  meas- 
ure be  removed  I  shall  not  be  able  to  raise  any  great  number  of  such  men 
as  your  Excel, cy  expects  —  which  if  taken  out  of  the  way  I  have  the  vanity  to 
think  I  could  do,  and  of  such  with  whom  I  shou'd  not  be  affraid  to  venture  my 
life.  Some  may  probably  drop  in  without  conditions.  By  Colo.  Partridge  I  am 
further  informed,  that  your  Excel, cy  has  some  expectation  of  ye  first  Lieut's 
coming  over,  which  may  prevent  my  obtaining  ye  proposed  commission  —  which 
has  put  me  very  much  to  a  stand.  I  desire  to  be  excused  engaging  in  any  shape 
inferiour,  to  what  was  propos'd,  and  am  not  over  anxious  abodt  that,  yet  if  it  is 
your  Excel,cy's  pleasure  I  should  engage  in  that  form  I  will  do  what  I  can.  The 
men  I  have  engaged  expect  to  go  to  the  northward,  and  that  I  go  with  them, 
otherwise  they  declared  they  would  not  inlist.  And  if  there  be  any  difficulty 
like  to  arrise,  whereby  your  Excel'y  will  meet  with  trouble,  1  chuse  now  to  desist, 
upon  that  acco't,  and  also  because  of  ye  unea-siness  I  foresee  will  arise  in  the 
minds  of  the  men  that  will  inlist.  I  have  no  disposition  to  deceive  or  disapoint 
them  or  others,  and  shall  not  be  forgiven  by  them  or  their  friends  if  I  shou'd, 
which  nothing  will  tempt  me  to  do.  If  your  Excel, cy  pleases  to  direct  me  to 
enlist  men  to  go  to  the  northward  without  any  regard  to  my  going  with  them 
(as  was  the  case  when  I  joined  with  Mr.  Ingersol)  I  will  endeavor  it  to  my 
utmost,  but  without  they  are  assured  of  that  service,  or  to  be  discharged  in  case 
they  are  not  destined  that  way,  it  will  be  I  fear  spending  time  to  little  purpose 
to  attempt  the  inlisting  likely  men  for  3  years.  I"  shall  wait  your  Excel, cy's 
answer  &  further  orders,  and  if  it  be  your  Excel, cy's  pleasure,  I  desist  & 
return  to  the  com'and  of  Fort  Ma.ssachusetts,  shall  cheerfully  obey,  and  am 
Y'r  Excel,cy8  Most  Obe,dt  Oblig'd  Humble  Serv.t, 

E.  Williams. 
GoY^B  SHiHLar. 


298  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Both  the  last  two  quoted  letters,  dated  March  7,  were  despatched 
from  Hatfield  to  Boston  by  express,  as  urgent;  and  on  the  third 
dixj  thereafter,  Governor  Shirley  replied  to  them  both,  sending  his 
answer  also  by  express,  which  answer  serves  to  show  up  Shirley  also 
as  an  open  and  honorable  dealer,  even  in  the  matter  of  offices.  Shir- 
ley has  been  much  maligned  in  New  England  for  a  century  and  a 
half.  All  the  later  and  fuller  researches,  however,  tend  to  exonerate 
and  uplift  him.     This  letter  speaks  well  for  him. 

Boston,  March  10'^,  1755. 

Sir,  I  am  sorry  you  meet  with  the  difficulties  in  raising  men  for  my  Regiment, 
w5li  you  mention  in  your  letter  of  the  7'^  instant  by  express.  I  am  persuaded 
that  my  Regiment  will  be  continually  employed  to  the  Northward  and  Eastward 
of  Philadelphia.  But  such  conditional  inlistments,  as  you  mention  in  your 
letter,  are  not  allowed  in  his  Majesty's  Service. 

As  there  is  this  obstacle  in  the  way  of  your  coming  into  my  Regiment,  I  shall 
think  no  more  of  it.  But  you  may  depend  upon  my  providing  for  you  in  the 
other  service  to  the  northward,  w£!i  you  hint  at  in  your  letter  (if  it  goes  on  as  I 
hope  it  will)  in  the  best  manner  I  can. 

I  was  very  much  disposed  to  have  given  you  the  Lieutenancy  in  my  Regiment, 
as  I  told  Colonel  Partridge,  I  designed  to  do.  But  a  letter,  I  have  receiv'd  since 
that  from  England,  hath  put  it  out  of  my  power.  It  would  have  given  me  pleas- 
ure to  have  done  you  that  piece  of  service,  if  it  would  have  been  very  agreeable 
to  you,  and  as  things  have  happen'd,  I  am  glad  you  are  not  over  anxious  about  it. 

You  will  greatly  oblige  me,  if  you  can  raise  me  some  men  for  my  own  Regi- 
ment, and  to  make  it  more  practicable  I  will  allow  fifteen  pounds,  old  tenor,  per 
man,  for  three  years,  twenty  for  five,  thirty  for  seven,  and  thirty  five  for  such, 
as  shall  enlist  at  large. 

The  more  you  shall  enlist  the  better.  But  I  desire  there  may  be  none,  but 
right  good  men  enlisted,  and  not  under  five  feet  five  inches  without  their  shoes, 
unless  they  are  young  enough  to  grow  to  that  height,  and  none  above  forty 
years  old. 

I  desire,  you  would  pay  the  express  and  charge  it  to  me. 
I  am,  Sir,  Your  most  assur'd 
Friend  and  Servant, 

Major  Ephraim  Williams.  W.  Shirley. 

When  he  received  the  above  letter,  Ephraim  Williams  was  just 
turned  of  forty-one  years.  At  this  distance  of  time,  and  in  the 
present  ignorance  of  persons  and  circumstances  then,  one  cannot  see 
how  Shirley  could  have  written  differently  from  what  he  did  in  this 
letter.  He  had  been  receiving  constant  instructions  from  England. 
He  was  a  man  under  authority,  as  well  as  having  soldiers  under  /w*m, 
though  Commander-in-Chief  of  His  Majesty's  forces  in  America,  until 
superseded  by  Braddock,  who  arrived  in  Virginia  only  a  few  days 
before  this  letter  to  Williams  was  penned.     What  the  British  War 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  299 

Office  thought*  of  colonial  officers  in  the  pending  war  against  the 
French,  may  be  seen  in  Braddock's  own  constantly  expressed  con- 
tempt for  them.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  Williams  felt  himself 
wronged  by  the  present  action  of  Shirley.  Both  were  very  ambi- 
tious men.  Up  to  the  present  time,  both  had  had  remarkably  suc- 
cessful careers,  though  that  of  Williams  had  been  relatively  obscure. 
As  always  happens  under  such  circumstances,  each  had  cliques  of 
enemies,  and  also  emphatically  friends  in  cliques.  The  W^illiams 
family  up  and  down  the  Connecticut,  reinforced  by  the  Chesters  of 
Weathersfield,  with  whom  they  had  intermarried,  formed  a  clique  of 
their  own  of  strong  consistency  and  great  influence ;  and  they  had, 
consequently,  what  is  called  in  modern  corrupt  parlance  a  "pull"  on 
the  General  Court  in  both  these  colonies.  Colonel  William  Williams, 
alluded  to  in  the  following  letter,  had  already  come  to  be  by  much 
the  most  important  person  in  Pittsfield;  and  he  never  failed  to 
strike  in  upon  occasion  in  behalf  of  his  relations  to  the  eastward,  as 
they,  too,  for  him,  when  anything  was  to  be  gained  in  the  way  of 
profit  or  preferment.  Under  all  these  circumstances  this  letter  from 
Major  Ephraim  to  Colonel  James  Otis,  the  elder,  then  a  very  influ- 
ential man  in  Boston,  becomes  unusually  significant.  It  runs  as 
follows :  — 

Hatfield,  March  28,  1755. 
Sr,  In  my  letter  of  yesterday's  date,  I  forgot  to  inform  you  that  Colo.  Wol  Wil- 
liams has  wrote  to  Sr  W!?l  Pepperrel  by  Colo.  Partridge  to  give  me  his  Capt 
Lieut,cy.  It  was  what  he  did  without  my  desire  or  knowledge.  I  knew  nothing 
of  it  untill  I  heard  him  read  his  letter.  I  told  him  it  was  now  too  late  for  me  to 
do  any  great  feats  in  raising  recruits,  that  I  had  not  above  30  men  engaged,  the 
County  now  being  full  of  recruiting  officers,  to  raise  men  into  his  Majesty''s  ser- 
vice for  the  term  of  one  year,  and  as  the  recruits  for  his  Regiment  must  be 
raised  for  the  term  of  three  years,  it  would  be  imposable  to  raise  many  effective 
men  for  that  term.  I  further  told  him  that  had  I  engaged  to  have  gone  in  the 
Gov'rs  Regiment  when  at  Boston,  and  had  then  gone  upon  the  business,  had  it 
been  in  my  power  to  have  made  promises  to  the  men,  I  could  with  ease  have 
raised  200  good,  effective  men  by  this  time,  but  as  that  was  over  I  should  not 
think  any  more  about  it.  I  further  told  him  when  I  spent  some  time  in  Sheffield, 
and  in  the  uper  parts  of  Connecticut  in  raising  recruits  for  the  Gov'rs  Regiment, 
in  company  with  Mr.  Ingersoll,  that  in  the  time  I  spent  with  him  in  raising  26 
men,  if  I  should  have  told  them  I  would  have  gone  with  them  I  could  have 
raised  70.  I  conclude  Sr  the  Government  will  raise  a  number  of  men  to  join  the 
King's  troops  to  go  to  Crownpoint,  &  I  believe  the  gov'r  means  by  the  service  to 
the  northward  that  he  will  serve  me  in  that  service,  which  if  it  should  I  beg 
he  will  give  his  commissions  to  his  friends,  for  I  sha'n't  thank  him,  nor  will  I 
take  one  in  that  service.  If  the  Army  should  proceed  for  Crownpoint,  &  should 
meet  with  opposition  &  stand  in  need  of  more  men,  I  will  go  with  the  greatest 
cheerfulness,  with  a  number  of  men,  but  then  it  shall  be  without  pay  from  the 


300  OKIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN.' 

govern't.  But  if  the  Govr  shall  raise  some  more  Regiments  at 'the  charge  of  the 
Crown,  &  should  give  Brigr  Dwight  a  Lt.  Colo,  commission,  I  shall  look  upon 
myself  under  oblagations  if  his  Excel,cy  wou'd  give  me  a  Majority  in  that 
Regiment.  I  have  a  great  desire  Canada  should  be  demolished,  and  am  willing 
to  go  personally,  provided  I  could  have  had  an  equal  chance  in  raising  men,  in 
order  to  entitle  me  to  a  commission.  But  when  you  with  some  other  friends 
offer'd  a  handsom  sum,  &  promist  I  should  over  and  above  raise  a  good  number 

of  men  for  a  C cy,  which  if  I  had  obtained  would  have  set  me  above  some  of 

mine  &  his  enemies  &  have  put  me  into  a  condition  to  have  served  him  &  myself, 
both  at  Court  and  in  the  Regiment,  I  say  when  this  could  not  be  obtained,  & 
that  a  Lieut, cy  shou'd  be  promised  me  one  day  &  the  next  be  out  of  his  power 
to  give,  I  assure  you  S?  sinks  my  spirits.  The  conciquence  of  this  conduct  is  I 
am  insulted  by  his  and  my  enimies.  You  are  sensible  Sr  I  look  to  you  as  a 
Father,  therefore  intreet  you  would  inquire  into  the  affair  I  mentioned  in  my 
last  letter,  &  let  me  know  by  a  line,  and  if  anything  should  open  to  the  north- 
ward I  have  mentioned,  you  wou'd  take  some  care  of  me.  I  further  beg  no 
person  may  know  the  contents  of  this  or  my  other  letter. 

I  am  Sr  with  great  Respect  your  Hon?  most 

obliged  &  most  obe'<i'  Hum^  Serv't, 

Eph.  Williams. 
Colo.  James  Otis. 

The  very  next  day  after  Williams  had  penned  the  not  unnatural, 
but  yet  ill-natured,  epistle  just  quoted,  Shirley  wrote  the  appended 
courteous  and  kindly  letter  to  Colonel  Israel  Williams ;  which  shows 
him  disposed  to  do  what  was  fair  and  right  in  the  premises,  and 
which  brings  in  again  Major  Joseph  Hawley,  of  Northampton,  who 
was  one  of  the  ablest  and  best  of  the  "  river-gods," Into  the  circle 
of  the  well-wishers  of  the  Williams  family.  We  have  already  seen 
that  he  was  at  times  more  or  less  alienated. 

Boston,  29*^  March,  1755. 
Sir,  I  am  now  setting  out  on  my  journey  to  meet  with  General  Braddock  [at 
Alexandria].  Must  entreat  your  favour  and  assistance  in  setling  the  Officers 
for  a  Regiment  to  go  ag'st  Crownpoint,  the  Regiment  to  consist  of  500  men  with 
ten  Captains  ten  Lieutenants  &  ten  Ensigns,  including  field  Officers :  it  will  be  a 
great  pleasure  to  me  to  have  Maj'r  Ephraim  Williams  engage  as  one.  I  can't  be 
content  without  having  the  Officers  of  one  Regiment  from  your  parts.  Major 
Hawley  is  coming  up  to  settle  the  affair  with  you,  who  will  bring  all  necessary 
papers  with  him. 

I  am  with  Truth  &  Esteem,  Sir, 

Your  Most  assur'd  Friend  and  Servant, 

W.  Shirley. 
Col.  Israel  Williams,  Hatfield. 

Within  less  than  ten  days  from  the  date  of  this  letter,  Ephraim 
Williams  was  commissioned  Colonel  of  the  new  regiment  referred  to 
in  the  letter  itself.     Shirley,  by  inference,  fairly  justifies  this  action, 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  301 

though  he  does  not  expressly  authorize  it  in  the  letter.  "  It  will  be 
a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  have  Maj'r  Ephraim  Williams  engage  "  (as 
one  of  the  field  officers).  He  may  have  been  more  explicit  with 
"  Major  Hawley  [who]  is  coming  up  to  settle  the  affair  with  you 
[and  Colonel  Partridge],  who  will  bring  all  necessary  papers  with 
him."  The  whole  matter  was  thus  left  in  hands  very  friendly  to 
AVilliams.  Colonel  Oliver  Partridge,  next  to  Colonel  Israel  Wil- 
liams, was  the  most  influential  man  in  Hatfield.  He  was  a  Yale 
graduate  of  1730.  Traditions  concerning  him,  who  became  more 
loyal  to  the  colonies  as  the  Revolution  drew  on  than  Israel  Williams 
did,  are  only  less  lively  in  Hatfield  to  this  day  than  those  relating 
to  Williams  himself.  At  this  time,  and  previously,  Partridge  har- 
monized fairly  well  with  the  Williams  family,  and  is  often  reckoned 
in  among  the  "  river-gods,"  though  never  coming  into  rank  with  the 
*'  first  three."  That  Joseph  Hawley  had  been  in  some  way  per- 
sonally efficient  in  the  bringing  about  the  colonelcy  of  Ephraim 
Williams,  becomes  plain  enough  in  the  tone  of  his  letter  written  a 
few  days  after  to  the  Hatfield  parties,  strongly  commending  Major 
Seth  Pomeroy  for  the  lieutenant-colonelcy  of  the  same  regiment.  He 
was  at  once  commissioned.  He  succeeded  Williams  in  the  colonelcy 
on  the  death  of  the  latter  at  Lake  George,  the  8th  of  September, 
and  buried  him  the  next  day  under  the  pine  tree.  It  is  believed 
the  reader  will  like  to  run  over  Hawley's  letter  entire,  and  it  is 
consequently  here  quoted  verbatim. 

Col.  Israel  Williams  ^  Nobthampton,  Ap'l  9'^,  1755. 

CoL.  Partridge  C  Gentlemen: 

Col.  EpL'  Williams        ) 

^yitlI  great  Submission  I  am  still  of  the  opinion  as  when  at  South  Hadley 
y**  on  all  things  considered  Maj't  Pomroy  is  ye  best  man  to  go  second  in  ye  reg- 
iment. It  is  ye  general  vogue  &  opinion  of  our  people  yM  he  not  only  has  meritted 
it,  but  y'?  he  will  in  most  respects  perform  ye  service  and  duty  of  that  place 
well.  He  is  much  disposed  to  go  as  is  pretty  easily  perceived  by  his  conversa- 
tion, and  is  very  well  satisfied  with  ye  field  officers  already  appointed,  as  he  has 
fully  declared  to  me,  so  that  it  will  not  probably  be  his  fault  if  there  should  not 
be  harmony  among  ye  field  officers  in  case  of  his  appointing  There  is  not  one 
man  among  us  who  will  probably  go  in  officers  whom  I  have  heard  converse 
on  ye  affair  but  think  that  he  ought  to  have  ye  above!!^  birth.  And  I  am  sure 
that  if  he  is  neglected,  it  will  give  uneasiness  among  us,  and  will  very  much 
prejudice  ye  service  here,  for  it  is  generally  thought  by  our  people  that  he 
is  free  to  go  and  has  by  his  former  services  merited  it.  And  it  is  said  by 
sensible  persons  among  us  that  altho'  he  was  strait  handed  to  his  company  in  ye 
Canada  service,  yet  he  was  just  and  honest  to  his  soldiers,  particularly  my 
brother  says  y'?  he  is  knowing  to  it  yM  he  never  took  any  furlow  money,  which 
he  says  was  generally  by  other  officers  taken  to  themselves.    And  it  appears  to 


302  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

me  y't  it  is  of  as  much  importance  to  promote  and  encourage  ye  service  here 
as  at  Deerfield  where  Maj'r  Elij'b  said  it  would  discourage  it,  and  even  in  that 
I  believe  he  was  mistaken,  I  don't  doubt  at  all  but  L'^  Hawks  woud  be  well 
pleased  with  him  if  others  should  not  disaffect  him. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  this  day  heard  y'-'  it  is  very  probable  y'^  Capt.  Nathl]  Dwight 
would  accept  a  Captaincy  if  he  could  have  it  seasonably,  and  it  is  thought  there 
would  be  no  difficulty  in  his  raising  a  company  spedily  in  his  own  parts,  and  for 
my  own  part  I  don't  think  there  will  be  a  better  Cap*,  in  ye  regiment  y'n  he 
would  make. 

Please  to  pardon  me  if  I  am  too  oflQcious.  I  think  it  of  a  good  deal  of  im- 
portance be  sure  with  us  y'*  the  enlistment  begins  forthwith,  for  people  are  now 
full  of  ye  affair.  Ye  spring  business  is  now  coming  on,  which  will  determine  ye 
business  of  ye  year,  and  if  ye  men  are  not  taken  before  they  engage  in 
y'F  Spring  business  it  will  be  vastly  more  difficult  to  obtain  them.  I  think  ye 
aff'r  ought  not  to  suffer  a  moment's  delay  —  and  I  am  also  sensible  that  with  us 
the  suspension  of  ye  appointm'-'  of  ye  L'*.  Col.  injure  ye  aff'? 
I  am,  Gent'D,  with  humble  respects, 

Y'r  Most  Ob'?  Humble  Ser'*, 

Joseph  Hawley. 

At  the  time  when  Williams  received  his  long-coveted  commission 
of  Colonel,  which  may  have  been,  say,  the  4th  of  April,  1755,  there 
was  not,  probably,  a  single  one  of  the  ten  companies  of  which  the 
regiment  was  to  consist  completely  enlisted  for  the  Crown  Point 
expedition.  That  work  was  still  largely  to  be  done  by  the  various 
captains,  under  the  difficulty  that  the  spring's  work  was  now  open- 
ing on  the  farms,  from  which  alone  the  men  were  to  be  drawn.  In 
accordance  with  a  custom  of  that  time,  the  Colonel  of  each  regiment 
was  also  Captain  of  one  of  its  companies,  and  had  the  emoluments  of 
that  position,  so  that  we  shall  read  pretty  soon  of  Williams's  com- 
pany as  well  as  of  Williams's  regiment.  Undoubtedly,  the  "30  or 
40  men,"  which  he  had  just  previously  enlisted  under  other  consid- 
erations, formed  the  body  of  his  new  "  company,"  of  which,  as  of  all 
the  companies,  the  normal  number  was  fifty.  The  interesting  refer- 
ence in  Haw  ley's  letter,  just  quoted,  to  Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight,  of 
Belchertown,  as  being  probably  able,  in  case  he  received  a  captaincy 
"  seasonably  "  in  the  new  regiment,  "  to  raise  a  company  spedily  in 
his  own  parts,"  illustrates  the  way  in  which  regiments  were  raised 
in  those  days.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Captain  Dwight  did  not  go  with 
Colonel  Williams,  but  on  the  first  news  of  the  battle  of  Lake  George, 
in  September,  he  took  a  commission  dated  two  days  after  the  battle, 
and  went  to  reinforce  the  army  there,  keeping  a  valuable  diary,  still 
extant,  of  the  events  of  the  autumn,  from  which  we  shall  quote 
hereafter ;  and  Colonel  Williams  and  his  captains,  for  the  next  two 
months  after  his  commission  was  received,  were  busy  in  recruiting 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  303 

men  and  in  getting  ready  generally  for  the  "Marching  Orders," 

which  he  received  as  follows,  from  Governor  Shirley,  on  the  last 

day  of  May :  — 

Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay. 

By  his  excellency  the  Governour. 

To  Ephraim  Williams,  Esqi,  greeting: 

You  are  hereby  required  and  directed  to  issue  your  Orders  to  the  several  Cap- 
tains in  the  Regiment  under  your  Command,  requiring  and  directing  them  to 
march  their  several  Companies,  as  they  are  able  to  compleat  the  same,  without 
delay,  to  the  General  Rendezvous  at  Albany,  and  on  their  arrival  there  to  follow 
such  orders  and  directions  as  they  shall  receive  from  Major  General  William 
Johnson,  Commander  in  Cliief  of  the  Forces  raised  within  the  several  Provinces 
and  Colonies,  for  the  intended  expedition  to  erect  a  Fort  or  Forts  on  his  Majesty's 
lands  near  Crown  point,  and  for  the  removal  of  such  encroachments  as  have 
already  been  made  there  by  the  French. 

Given  under  my  hand  at  Boston,  the  thirty  first  day  of  May  1765,  in  the 
twenty  eighth  year  of  his  Majesty's  Reign.  i^  c„t„,„^ 

The  road  by  which  Colonel  Williams  was  thus  ordered  to  take  his 
companies  to  Albany,  and  did  take  them,  was  a  rude  road  laid  out 
as  such  by  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  in  1735,  from  Westheld 
through  Blandford  and  Otis  and  SancUstield  and  Monterey  and  Bar- 
rington  to  the  New  York  line  in  North  Egremont.  This  came  very 
shortly  to  be  commonly  called  the  "Albany  road."  Like  all  the 
other  oldest  roads  in  New  England  of  any  considerable  stretch, 
this  was  undoubtedly  an  Indian  trail  from  immemorial  time.  It 
was  the  probable  route  of  Major  John  Talcot,  of  Hartford,  to  his 
successful  battle  with  the  Indians  on  the  Housatonic  River  in  1676; 
for  Hubbard  says  in  his  "Indian  Wars,"  that  about  200  fugitive 
Indians  were  observed  to  pass  by  Westfield,  going  on  westward ;  and 
"news  thereof  being  brought  to  Major  Talcot,  he  with  the  soldiers 
of  Connecticut  colony  under  his  command,  both  Indians  and  English, 
pursued  after  them  as  far  as  Housatonic  river  (in  the  middle  way 
betwixt  Westfield  and  the  Dutch  river  and  Fort  Albany),  where  he 
overtook  them  and  fought  with  them,  killing  and  taking  45  prisoners, 
25  of  whom  were  fighting  men,  without  the  loss  of  any  one  of  his 
company  save  a  Mohegan  Indian." 

In  connection  with  the  laying  out  of  this  road,  and  during  the 
same  year,  a  committee  of  the  General  Court  reported,  that  they  were 
"of  opinion  that  there  be  four  new  townships  opened  upon  the  road 
between  Westfield  and  Sheffield,  and  that  they  be  contiguous  to  one 
another,  and  either  joined  to  Sheffield  or  to  the  township  lately 
granted  to  the  proprietors  of  Suffield,"  which  was  the  present  Bland- 
ford,  at  first  called  New  Glasgow  by  its  Scotch-Irish  settlers.     These 


304  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

townships  were,  at  first,  numbered,  and  afterwards  named  in  order, 
Tyringham,  New  Marlborough,  Sandisfield,  Becket.  The  new  road 
led  to  the  settlement  of  these  townships,  and  especially  of  the  more 
important  townships  on  the  Housatonic,  Stockbridge  and  Barrington, 
in  one  or  the  other  of  which  occurred  Talcot's  fight  in  King  Philip's 
War.  For  some  years  the  new  road  was  passable  only  on  horseback ; 
but  in  the  winter  of  1738-39,  ten  of  the  principal  dwellers  on  the 
Housatonic,  two  of  them,  John  Sargeant  and  Timothy  Woodbridge, 
missionaries  to  the  Stockbridge  Indians,  — 

did  undertake  and  with  great  fatigue  and  difficulty  upon  our  own  cost  and  charge 
make  a  good  and  feasible  sleigh-road  from  New  Glasgow,  being  according  to 
common  estimation  thirty  five  miles,  by  which  means  a  much  more  safe  and 
convenient  way  of  transportation  is  now  oppened  from  said  Sheffield  and  the 
several  settlements  upon  the  Housatonic  river  to  Westfield  and  the  neighboring 
towns,  and  whereas,  before  it  was  very  difficult  for  anybody,  and  for  strangers 
almost  impossible,  in  a  snow  of  any  considerable  depth,  without  a  track,  which 
often  happens  in  the  winter  season,  to  find  the  way,  now  by  our  having  marked 
a  sufficient  number  of  trees  on  each  hand,  an  entire  stranger  cannot  easily  miss 
it,  and  the  people  living  in  these  parts  are  now  able,  and  in  the  winter  past  actu- 
ally did  pass  and  repass  to  and  from  Westfield,  with  more  than  twenty  sleighs, 
well  laden,  through  a  wilderness  which  before  that  was  almost  impassable  on 
horseback,  which  by  reason  of  the  badness  and  length  of  the  way,  it  was  almost 
if  not  utterly  impossible,  for  his  Majesties'  subjects  living  in  these  parts  of  the 
Province,  to  supply  themselves  with  foreign  commodities,  the  never  so  necessary 
in  life  from  any  town  within  this  section. 

If  the  reader  be  interested  in  early  roads  through  this  region  of 
country,  he  will  find  in  "  Berkshire  Book,"  Vol.  1,  a  paper  on  this 
topic  of  good  interest  and  authority  by  H.  F.  Keith,  from  which 
the  following  excerpt  relating  to  the  old  Albany  road  is  taken. 

After  passing  through  Blandford,  the  road  entered  Berkshire  County  at  East 
Otis,  and  formerly  made  a  detour  to  the  north  of  the  East  Otis  hotel,  thence  in 
or  near  the  present  travelled  way  for  a  short  distance  ;  thence  by  a  direct  west- 
terly  course  it  crossed  the  Farmington  River  a  little  over  a  mile  south  of  Otis 
Centre,  thence  continuing  westerly  over  a  steep  hill,  through  the  northerly  part 
of  Sandisfield,  between  the  two  Spectacle  Ponds,  to  a  junction  with  the  present 
road  from  Cold  Spring  to  West  Otis,  about  one  mile  south-east  of  West  Otis. 
Within  the  distance  just  described  of  about  six  miles,  and  which  is  now  almost 
entirely  abandoned,  there  were  in  the  time  of  the  Revolution  four  hotels,  at  one 
or  more  of  which  Burgoyne  and  portions  of  his  troupe  and  captors,  en  route  for 
Boston,  were  fed  and  lodged.  From  West  Otis  the  road  followed  in  or  near  the 
present  travelled  way  through  Monterey,  past  Three  Mile  Hill,  through  the  vil- 
lage of  Great  Barrington,  across  Green  River,  through  North  Egremont,  and 
thence  into  New  York  State.  With  the  exception  of  about  a  mile  and  a  half  of 
new  road  in  the  westerly  part  of  Monterey,  laid  north  of  the  old  road,  it  can  be 
readily  traced  as  one  drives  over  the  present  road. 


EPHRAIM   WILLIA^IS.  305 

It  is  almost  certain,  when  Williams's  ten  companies,  one  after 
another,  averaging  perhaps  forty  men  each,  made  their  way  over  it  as 
best  they  could  in  obedience  to  his  marching  orders  received,  that  no 
organized  military  companies  had  ever  before  straggled  and  struggled 
over  this  Albany  road ;  but  four  years  later,  and  earlier  in  the  season, 
Major-General  Amherst  took  a  large  army  of  British  regulars  and 
American  militia  over  this  road  to  the  Hudson,  and  from  the  Hud- 
son to  Tieonderoga  and  Crown  Point;  and  in  less  than  twenty  years 
after  Amherst's  final  overthrow  of  French  America,  Major-General 
Burgoyne,  with  a  part  of  his  captured  army,  traversed  the  same  in 
the  reverse  direction ;  while  many  a  regiment  of  New  England 
soldiers,  in  tlie  War  of  1812,  passed  and  repassed  that  way  in  both 
directions.  After  a  full  century's  use  as  the  main  thoroughfare 
between  Xew  England  and  Albany,  it  was  still  a  doubt  and  a  debate 
whether  the  Boston  and  Albany  Kailroad,  which  was  laid  out  along- 
side the  eastern  end  of  the  old  road  from  Westfield  west,  should 
continue  to  the  Housatonic  in  Barrington,  or  should  turn  to  the 
right  up  the  west  branch  of  the  Westtield  River  over  the  watershed 
in  Washington  to  the  main  Housatonic  in  Pittsfield.  The  latter 
course  was  preferred;  as  was  also  a  more  northern  route  through 
Worcester,  and  the  Brookfields  to  the  Connecticut  at  Springfield 
preferred  to  the  old  "  Bay  Path  "  through  Grafton,  and  Sutton,  and 
Oxford  to  Hartford. 

It  is  evident  in  many  ways,  that  Colonel  Williams's  enlistments 
for  his  new  regiment  drew  heavily  from  the  garrison  at  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts, and  from  the  men  who  had  formerly  served  as  soldiers  in 
the  line  of  forts  under  his  command.  He  was  always  personally 
popular  with  the  men  under  him.  He  joined  in  their  recreations, 
whenever  it  was  proper  for  him  to  do  so.  The  discipline  was  doubt- 
less lax  as  compared  with  that  in  all  regular  services  then  and  now ; 
for  the  volunteer  was  in  most  cases  an  independent  farmer  or 
artisan,  who  felt  himself  the  equal  in  nearly  all  respects  with  his 
superior  officer.  The  following  resolve,  passed  at  this  time,  shows 
the  difficulty  of  keeping  men  in  garrison,  when  active  and  offensive 
service  under  an  officer  known  and  liked  was  optionable. 

In  the  Hous  of  Rept?,  June  12,  1765. 

Resolved  that  in  order  to  prevent  an  impress  of  men  there  be  a  bounty  of 
three  dollars  per  man  allowed  to  fifteen  men  who  shall  Inlist  for  Fort  Massachu- 
sets  and  find  their  own  gun,  the  s'^  fifteen  men  being  part  of  the  forces  allredy 
allowed  on  the  Western  Frontiers,  the  money  to  be  put  into  the  hands  of  Israel 
Williams,  Esq'r  for  that  servis,  he  to  be  accountable. 

Sent  up  Concurrance,  T.  Hubbard,  Sp'^ 


306  ORIGINS   IN    WILLtAMSTOWN. 

Rev.  Stephen  Williams,  of  Longmeadow,  was  appointed  Chaplain 
to  his  cousin's  regiment,  as  he  had  been  Chaplain  also  ten  years 
before,  under  Pepperell,  at  Louisburg.  He  was  son  of  Rev.  John 
Williams,  of  Deertield,  the  famous  "Redeemed  Captive,"  and  shared 
the  captivity  of  his  family  in  Canada  during  his  twelfth  year,  and 
wrote  at  the  time  a  full  diary  of  its  incidents,  which  was  published 
a  century  and  a  third  afterward  by  Dr.  S.  W.  Williams,  of  Deerfield. 
These  two  chaplaincies  scarcely  interrupted  a  continuous  ministry 
at  Longmeadow  from  1716  to  1782,  —  sixty-six  years.  His  receipt 
for  his  first  month's  salary  as  Chaplain  in  the  Crown  Point  expedi- 
tion is  annexed :  — 

June  24,  1755. 

Rec'cl  of  Col.  Ephraim  Williams  by  hands  of  John  Worthijigton,  Esq?i  six 
pounds  eight  shillings,  being  in  full  for  one  month's  advance  pay  from  the  Prov- 
ince as  Chaplain  in  his  Majesty's  service  for  the  Expedition  to  Crown  Point  &c. 

Stephen  Williams. 

The  following  letter  from  Captain  Isaac  Wyman,  now  command- 
ing at  Fort  Massachusetts,  to  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams,  illustrates 
at  once  the  eagerness  to  get  men  to  enlist  for  Crown  Point,  the 
looseness  of  military  discipline  on  the  western  frontiers  at- that 
time,  and,  more  obscurely  (at  the  end),  some  difficulties  that  had 
arisen  between  Fort  Massachusetts  and  the  West  Hoosac  in  Williams- 
town,  which  will  be  illuminated  in  the  course  of  our  next  chapter :  — 

Fort  Massachusetts,  June  28,  1755. 
Hono**  Sir,  I  have  one  man  deserted  from  the  Fort,  Joseph  Bigelow,  and  Capt. 
Joseph  Whitcome  hath  inlisted  and  taken  him  to  Albany,  and  I  was  acquainted 
of  it  before  they  got  verry  far  from  the  Eort  and  sent  Serj^  Taylor  with  5  men 
with  orders  to  bring  him  back  to  the  Fort.  The  Serj*  overtook  them  and  got  the 
man,  and  bringin  him  of  Capt.  Whitcome  ordered  two  Serj'-«.  with  two  files  of 
men  to  take  him  from  them,  which  they  did  and  are  gone  of  with  him.  I  weight 
your  Honours  pleasure  to  know  what  to  doe  in  the  afair.  My  scouts  are  constant 
east  or  west,  and  have  not  maid  any  late  descovery  of  an  enemy. 

From  Sr  Your  Most  Humble  Serv.t,  j^^^^  ^^^^^^_ 

Sir  there  is  a  famoley  of  the  Duch  that  have  maid  there  escape  to  the  Fort 
when  the  Indians  fell  upon  them  at  Hoosuck.  Serj*  Taylor  and  Silas  Pratt  will 
moove  there  wives  out  of  the  Fort  as  soon  as  the  Duch  can  git  away  with  safty. 

I.  W. 

Here  should  come  in  a  precious  bit  of  officialism  in  a  letter  from 
Governor  Shirley  to  Colonel  Williams,  in  relation  to  the  oaths  to  be 
exacted  from  all  the  officers  in  the  latter's  regiment.     The  history  of 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  807 

all  these  oaths  would  involve  pretty  much  the  whole  political  history 
of  England  after  the  great  revolution  of  1688.  It  is  pleasant  to 
reflect  that  the  then  present  war  against  the  French,  in  America, 
was  the  last  one  in  which  such  ponderous  and  multifarious  swearing 
could  be  demanded  of  American  officers  of  any  sort. 


Province  of  tub 


} 

By  His  Excellency  the  Governour, 


Whereas  Commissions  are  issued  to  the  several  officers  of  a  Regiment  of  Foot, 
whereof  Ephraim  Williams  is  Colonel,  being  part  of  the  Forces  raised  within 
this  province  for  the  expedition  against  Crown  point,  of  which  Forces  William 
Johnson,  Esq?:,  is  Commander  in  Chief. 

These  are  to  authorize  and  impower  Ephraim  Williams,  Seth  Pomroy,  and 
Noah  Ashley,  Esq'r!,  or  either  of  them,  to  administer  to  the  said  officers  respec- 
tively the  Oaths  appointed  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  be  taken  instead  of  the  (Jaths 
of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy  ;  and  to  cause  him  to  repeat  and  subscribe  the  test 
or  declaration  in  said  Act  contained  together  with  the  Oath  of  Abjuration,  and 
also  the  Oath  appointed  by  Law  to  be  taken  respecting  the  Bills  of  Credit  of  the 
neighboring  Governments  ;  Return  to  be  made  of  this  Warrant  with  the  Doings 
thereon  into  the  Secretary's  Office  in  Boston. 

Given  under  my  Hand  and  Seal  at  Boston  the  twelfth  Day  of  June,  1755, 

In  the  twenty  eighth  year  of  His  Majesty's  Reign. 

W.  Shirley. 

Posterity  is  fortunate  in  possessing  an  all  too  brief,  but  sufficiently 
ill-spelled,  letter  from  Ephraim  to  Israel  AVilliams,  relating  to  his 
journey  from  Stockbridge  to  Albany,  and  also  to  what  he  found  at 
that  rendezvous  at  first.  Stockbridge  was  all  the  home  he  had  had 
for  some  years,  and  the  chief  seat  of  his  landed  property,  which  was 
not  considerable  in  amount.  He  seems  to  have  had  a  sort  of  premo- 
nition of  coming  death  before  he  started,  which  showed  itself  in  a 
desire  to  put  into  manageable  shape  his  private  affairs  of  all  kinds, 
and  which  was  further  illustrated  in  the  making  of  his  will  almost 
as  soon  as  he  reached  Albany.  Two  or  three  sentences  of  this  letter 
are  quite  obscure  in  meaning,  but  the  general  drift  is  plain  enough. 
To  share  "  bed  and  board  "  with  a  trained  engineer  of  the  British 
regulars,  was  no  small  privilege  for  a  colonial  Colonel,  whose  active 
military  life  had  been  confined  to  the  routine  of  Fort  Massachusetts. 

Albany,  July  8«»»,  1765. 
Sir,  I  wrote  St  Williams  of  my  disapointment  in  not  gitting  to  Blanford  on 
Wednesday,  which  was  no  small  damage  to  my  private  affairs,  as  I  was  obliged 
to  go  of  from  Stockbridge  and  setde  ym  in  part.     We  got  to  Stockbridge  a  Thurs- 
day night,  altho  we  had  30  horse  in  company,  Friday  to  Kenderhook,  Satterday 


308  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

about  2  of  the  clock  we  arrived  safe  at  the  Green  Bush,  where  I  found  the  biger 
part  of  my  Regiment,  in  as  good  health  as  cou'd  be  expected.  I  hear  nothing  of 
Govt  Shirley,  nor  Gen'i  Johnson  is  not  come  to  the  city,  tho'  expected  every 
hour.  I  hope  some  of  the  troops  will  march  for  the  carying  place  [Fort  Edward] 
this  week.  I  look  upon  it  necessary  ye  men  should  march  very  soon,  or  else 
they  will  be  sickly.  The  battoes  are  in  a  good  way,  tho'  very  little  care  has  been 
taken  about  them  untill  about  15  days  ago,  and  by  a  genu  one  Capt.  Smith  Ayrs 
whom  Geni-'I  Braddock  has  sent  for  our  engineer.  He  is  a  geno  of  smart  powers, 
understands  his  business  well  it's  said  by  those  y*  know  what  belongs  to  it.  In 
a  word  we  bed  and  bord  together.  Appears  a  good  companion.  As  yet  I  feel 
bravely.  Should  have  felt  much  better,  had  it  not  been  for  some  imprudences 
which  happin'd  among  us  a  little  before  our  coming,  of,  which  I  fear  has  laid  a 
foundation  for  a  grait  deal  of  trouble  this  campaign,  tho'  at  present  nothing 
appears. 

I  am  S?i  yi  Honi?  most  ob*  Humble  Serv't, 

Eph.  Williams. 

P.S.  I  return  thanks  for  ye  two  bottles  of  wine.  Send  proper  salutations  to 
your  family  and  all  inquiring  friends.  I  desire  you  wou'd  allow  Capt.  Sheldon 
what  is  proper,  for  bringing  back  my  horses  from  Stockbridge,  and  desire  Colo. 
Partridge  to  pay  it  out  of  the  money  he  stopt  of  Daggit's  (or  Doggit's)  wagis. 

E.  W. 

I  hear  Si  Wm.  Pepperall  is  sick  at  New  York. 

What  is  fairly  suggested  by  the  letter  of  Captain  Isaac  Wyman, 
now  commander  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  to  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams, 
quoted  in  full  a  little  way  back,  is  pretty  certainly  made  out  by  a 
second  letter  from  same  to  same,  dated  July  11,  and  sent  to  Albany ; 
namely,  that  Colonel  Williams  still  retained  a  nominal  superior 
command  over  that  fort ;  for  Wyman  virtually  writes  to  him  in  both 
letters  for  instructions  and  orders ;  and  although  in  the  second  letter, 
Wyman  refers  to  Colonel  Israel  Williams  as  his  undoubted  military 
superior  in  the  matter  of  the  Indian  shoes,  he  also  in  the  same  makes 
a  full  return  of  his  men,  as  well  as  asks  for  orders,  to  Colonel 
Ephraim.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  Colonel  Ephraim  held  on  to 
his  nominal  command  at  the  fort,  and  perhaps  also  to  its  current 
emoluments,  w^ith  reference  to  returning  to  them  both  when  the 
Crown  Point  expedition  was  over.  All  this  would  be  in  accordance 
with  the  usual  precedents  of  the  British  army,  and  especially  with 
the  prevailing  methods  of  the  unusually  consolidated  Williams 
family. 

Hono^  Sir,  I  rece'd  your  letter  by  Serj''  Town,  and  according  to  your  orders 
and  instruction  I  shall  improve  the  first  opportunity  of  persuing  the  Enemy  that 
is  likely  for  success.  Ensin  Barnard  with  the  men  are  ret^  with  the  scalp  which 
they  found  the  Indian  about  one  mile  distance  from  where  he  was  shot  down. 
I  hope  your  Honour  will  direct  them  what  to  do  with  the  scalp  so  that  they  may 


EPHRAIM  WILLIAMS.  309 

return  as  soon  as  posable  they  can.  I  should  be  glad  of  some  Indian  shues  for 
these  marches,  if  the  Col?  could  send  me  them.  The  old  ones  are  allmost  all 
woar  out,     T  s^nd  you  the  names  of  the  men. 

From  Sir  your  Humble  Serv*, 

Isaac  Wtman. 

Ensin  Barnard  Clerk  Chapin 

Serj»  Taylor  John  Crawfourd 

Serj?  Town  John  [illegible] 

Eben'zr  Graves  Jabiz  Warren 

John  Wells  Derick  Webb 

Tyras  Pratt  Benjn  Simonds 

Thom?  Train  Seth  Hudson 

Gad  Cors  [Corse]  Gidan  Worren 

John  Vanornum  Joseph  Brush 

Elijah  Sheldin  John  Holdbroock 

Benjo  King  Daniel  Miller 

George  Willson  Joseph  Richards 

Noah  Pratt  Saml^  Hudson 

Abra*?  Bass  Isaac  Saris  [Searle] 

Enoch  Chapin  Willi!?  Barron 

Silas  Pratt  Simon  Morgan 

Adington  Gardner  Ezeki  Day 

Isaac  Bond  Isaac  Morgan 

Joseph  Lovell  Levi  Eley 

Josiah  Sodwick  Joseph  Bigelow  —  deserted. 

Pall  Rice 

Of  these  forty  names  (skipping  the  deserter),  almost  exactly  one- 
half  will  meet  us  again  in  the  next  chapter,  among  the  earliest  pro- 
prietors and  landowners  of  Williamstown.  Of  several  of  them,  we 
have  made  partial  acquaintance  already;  particularly,  of  Benjamin 
Simonds,  Seth  Hudson, ''  Clerk  Chapin,"  and  Captain  Wyman  him- 
self. At  the  time  this  return  was  made,  about  a  dozen  of  these 
men  were  clearing  up  and  cultivating  in  the  summer  their  little 
homesteads  in  "West  Hoosac,  where  they  had  troubles  enough,  as  we 
shall  see,  both  as  among  themselves  relating  to  their  two  rival  forts, 
and  as  from  their  constant  enemies,  the  French  and  Indians.  Two 
of  them,  Simonds  and  Wyman,  lived  to  distinguish  themselves,  the 
former  especially,  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

The  troops  that  had  been  straggling  into  Albany  as  a  rendezvous, 
preparatory  to  marching  up  the  North  River  to  "ye  great  carrying- 
place,"  later  named  by  Johnson  "  Fort  Edward,"  and  the  town  there 
still  so  named,  were  mostly  New  Englanders,  some  of  them  led  by 
officers  who  knew  better  what  French  and  Indian  war  was,  than 
did  Johnson  himself,  who  was  a  young  Irishman  of  no  military 
experience,  sent   over   in   1738  by  his   uncle.    Admiral   Sir   Peter 


310  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Warren,  to  care  for  some  lands  of  his  in  the  Mohawk  valley.  He 
was  then  twenty-three  years  old.  About  seven  years  later  he  built  a 
massive  stone  house  on  some  land  purchased  for  himself,  which  he 
called  Mount  Johnson,  which  became  the  seat  of  numerous  confer- 
ences with  the  Indians,  the  Six  Nations,  and  others,  over  whom 
Johnson  gradually  acquired  a  great  influence  and  even  ascendency, 
which  he  continually  turned  to  the  advantage  of  the  English ;  and 
on  this  account  Shirley  had  early  named  him  as  a  proper  person  to 
command  the  Crown  Point  expedition,  and  he  had  been  confirmed 
for  this  post  by  the  council  at  Alexandria.  But  he  was  unfit  for 
the  place.  He  gained  no  military  reputation  that  was  permanent, 
either  then  or  afterwards,  although  the  Parliament  voted  him 
£5000  in  money  and  made  him  Sir  William  Johnson,  Baronet,  on 
account  of  a  partial  victory  at  Lake  George  gained  wholly  by  the 
brave  conduct  of  the  New  Englanders. 

Among  those  Yankee  officers  gathered  at  Albany  to  be  under  his 
command,  who  surpassed  him  in  knowledge  and  experience  of  war, 
were  General  Phineas  Lyman,  a  Connecticut  man,  a  graduate  of 
Yale  College  in  1738,  and  thereafter  a  tutor  there  for  three  years,  a 
lawyer  in  Suffield,  a  conspicuous  civil  magistrate,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Connecticut  militia,  placed  now  second  in  command  to 
Johnson;  Colonel  Moses  Titcomb,  of  eastern  Massachusetts,  who 
had  been  a  Major  in  Hale's  Essex  Regiment  at  the  siege  of 
Louisburg  in  1745,  and  had  rendered  distinguished  services  for  its 
reduction,  who  came  now  to  Albany  at  the  head  of  a  Massachusetts 
regiment ;  Lieutenant  Colonel  Seth  Pomeroy,  of  Northampton,  who 
had  been  engaged  in  militia  matters  from  a  boy,  became  Captain  of 
his  company  in  1744,  was  an  efficient  Major  in  his  regiment  at  the 
capture  of  Louisburg  the  next  year,  and  now  for  ten  years  had 
been  an  interested  student  and  counsellor  of  every  phase  of  mili- 
tary affairs  in  western  Massachusetts ;  and  even  Colonel  Williams 
himself,  for  whom  military  eminence  cannot  justly  be  claimed  on 
any  ground,  though  now  superior  in  rank  to  Pomeroy,  may  fairly  be 
said  to  have  seen  more  and  known  more  of  war,  as  well  as  to  have 
more  stomach  for  it,  than  Johnson.  Another  Massachusetts  Colonel 
was  at  Albany  with  his  regiment,  Timothy  Ruggles,  of  Hardwick, 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1732,  a  lawyer  and  an  inn-keeper,  who, 
though  he  was  scarcely  more  used  to  arms  than  Johnson,  was  in 
several  respects  the  most  remarkable  man  in  the  camp,  rude  in 
speech  and  manner  though  a  scholar  and  a  wit,  destined  to  become 
president  of  the  Stamp-Act  Congress  ten  years  later,  and  destined 
thirty  years  later  than  that  to  end  his  days  as  a  self-exiled  Tory  in 


EPHRAOI  WILLIAMS.  811 

Nova  Scotia.     The  later  famous  John  Stark  was  a  Lieutenant  in  the 

New  Hampshire  forces  present,  as  was  also  present  the  afterwards 

not  less  famous  Israel  Putnam,  born  in  Massachusetts,  though  now 

a  Connecticut  private. 

While    New    England   energetically   and   patriotically   sent   her 

oflicers  and  men  to  fight  the  French,  in  the  loose  organization  of 

the  colonial  governments,  and  over  the  wretched  roads  between  the 

Connecticut  and  the  Hudson,  it  was  difficult  or  impossible  to  supply 

them   at   Albany   with    prompt  and   sufficient   commissary   stores. 

The  following  letter  from  Ephraim  to  Israel  Williams  discloses  the 

pitiable   situation  of  the  men   under   the   deplorable  weakness  of 

their  commissariat. 

Albany,  July  IG'**,  1755. 

Sir,  I  received  your's  per  Smith.  Have  sent  you  2  since  my  arrival  at  this 
place,  but  as  they  were  wrote  in  such  hurry  &  confusion,  I  bleave  you  could  not 
read  them.  I  have  yet  to  inform  you  that  our  kittles  are  not  arriv'd,  nor  any 
necessarys  for  the  sick,  nor  is  the  doct's  chest,  nor  do  I  hear  of  any  fresh  pro- 
vitions  upon  the  road.  Our  men  begin  to  be  sickly.  Some  Company's  are  a 
great  part  of  them  ailing,  &  had  not  the  people  been  kind  in  lending  their  kittles, 
I  make  no  doubt  }4  of  the  men  would  have  been  sick,  but  then.  Sir,  you  can 
easily  perceive  y't  they  are  not  able  to  supply  them  with  half  kittles  enough,  so 
that  great  part  of  ye  men  are  oblig'd  to  eat  the  victuals  almost  as  salt  as  brine. 
The  Doct.  tells  me  by  the  best  observation  he  can  make  that  in  a  very  little  time 
(except  fresh  provitions  can  be  had)  the  men  will  be  so  sickly  y*  the  expedition 
will  be  at  an  end.  You  must  know,  Sr,  our  being  long  in  camp  must  be  fatal, 
and  can't  but  know  it's  impossable  to  march  the  whole,  untill  the  above  men- 
tioned diflacultys  with  the  addition  of  one  more  is  removed,  which  is  that  the 
ordenence  stores  are  not  yet  arrived.  Now,  Sr,  how  must  you  feel,  and  every 
honest  man,  when  he  sees  a  number  of  brave  [men]  who  have  engaged  cheer- 
fully in  a  most  glorious  cause,  where  everything  sacred  is  [at  stake]  should  be 
murdered  by  those  persons  from  whome  they  might  justly  expect  to  be  supply'd 
with  eveiything  necessary  for  their  comfort.  This  minute  Colo.  Ruggles  is 
ordered  to  march  &  join  Gen'li  Lyman,  with  his  Regiment,  1400  troops  in  the 
whole.  Is  to  march  for  the  carying  place  [Fort  Edward].  I  hope  to  have  orders 
to  march  part  of  my  own  Regiment  with  them.  I  have  deliver'd  your  letters  to 
ye  Govr,  but  can't  get  an  opportunity  to  say  a  word  to  him  in  private.  Have 
dined  with  him  today  as  all  the  rest  of  the  field  oflBcers  from  this  Gover't.  He 
appears  cheerfull  but  something  lies  heavy  on  his  mind  may  be  easily  discovered 
by  those  of  his  acquaintance.  Yesterday  we  passed  ye  2  Revew,  which  was 
pleasing  to  him,  to  see  so  many  of  his  children  as  he  was  pleased  to  call  them. 
The  Review  was  at  2  places.  Conn.*,  Road  Island  &  New  York,  with  2  of  my 
Company's  was  at  the  Green  Bush  —  the  province  troops  of  Colo.  Scyler's  at  the 
Flats.  I  beg  you  would  take  care  to  send  us  fresh  provitions,  it  being  the  life  of 
the  army.  I  pray  God  bless  you  &  your's  with  all  friends  in  ye  county,  &  send 
proper  salutations  to  all  y*  inquire  after  me. 

I  am  your  Hon'r's  most  oblig'd  Humble  Serv't, 

CoLO.  Israel  Williams.  Eph,   Williams. 


312  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Leaving  for  a  moment  only  the  destitutions  and  distresses  of  the 
soldiers  in  the  camps  near  Albany,  the  jealousies  and  counterwork- 
ings  usual  in  such  circumstances  among  the  officers  of  all  grades  in 
the  town  itself,  and  the  forebodings  produced  by  the  news  that  now 
began  to  trickle  in  of  a  great  disaster  to  Braddock  and  his  troops  on 
the  Monongahela,  let  us  give  our  attention  to  a  letter  written  six 
days  after  the  preceding  one,  and  between  the  same  parties,  relating 
to  a  matter  that  will  engage  us  with  some  deviations  increasingly 
from  now  on  to  the  end  of  our  self-imposed  task,  —  relating,  in  short, 
to  Colonel  Ephraim's  will.  His  premonitions  of  approaching  death, 
of  which  mention  was  made  a  little  way  back,  were  not  likely  to  be 
weakened  by  the  confusions  and  sicknesses  of  the  camp,  and  espe- 
cially by  the  rumors  of  Braddock's  defeat  and  mortal  wound  on  the 
9th  of  July  instant.  At  any  rate,  he  had  his  last  will  and  testar 
ment  drawn  in  Albany,  signed  and  sealed  it  on  the  22d  of  July,  and 
sent  it  with  the  accompanying  letter  to  the  two  executors  in  order 
named  within  it.  The  writer  has  studied  carefully  the  original  of 
this  letter,  —  now^  in  the  possession  of  Captain  Ephraim  Williams, 
U.  S.  A.,  a  descendant  and  heir  of  Dr.  Thomas  Williams,  the 
Colonel's  only  own  brother,  —  and  has  satisfied  himself  that  the 
erasures  near  the  middle  of  it  were  made  after  the  writer's  death 
by  the  recipient  or  his  representatives,  on  account  of  one  or  two 
expressions  deemed  disrespectful  to  the  memory  of  Ephraim  Wil- 
liams, Senior,  the  writer's  father,  probably  on  the  principle  that  no 
evil  should  be  spoken  of  the  dead.  It  may  be  added,  that  the 
alleged  copy  of  this  letter,  printed  in  the  appendix  of  Durfee's  "His- 
tory of  Williams  College,"  is  a  mere  mangling  and  caricature  of  the 
letter  itself.  The  contents  of  the  will  will  not  be  studied  in  this 
place,  but  considerably  further  on  ;  but  it  is  relevant  to  remark  here, 
as  perhaps  partially  explanatory  of  the  letter,  that  a  tradition  came 
down  in  the  Williams  family  and  was  more  than  once  mentioned  to 
the  writer  by  the  late  Mark  Hopkins,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
elder  Ephraim  Williams,  that  Ephraim  Williams  had  contemplated 
jnarriage  at  one  time  (it  may  be  guessed  to  a  daughter  of  Israel 
Williams),  and  that  the  money  donated  in  the  will  to  found  a  free 
school  in  Williamstown  might  readily  have  taken  another  direc- 
tion. "The  lady  Colonel  Williams  didn't  marry!"  was  toasted 
with  applause  under  Mark  Hopkins's  auspices  and  impulse  at  the 
"Jackson  Festival"  of  1859. 

Albany  July  21,  1755 

Sir  Inclosed  I  send  you  my  last  will  and  Testament,  &  desire  you  together  to 
consult  with  Mr.  Worthington  whether  it  be  legal  —  if  it  is  not  plese  to  write  one 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  313 

that  is  —  send  it  up  and  I  will  execute  it  —  I  have  altered  my  mind  since  I  left 
your  house  for  reasons  as  to  what  I  designed  to  give  (which  should  have  been 
handsome)  to  one  being  near  to  you  —  have  given  a  small  matter  to  others,  as 
near  to  you  —  whose  conduct  to  me  has  [proved]  themselves  most  amiable. 
Also  since  I  left  your  house  for  reasons  I  have  altered  my  mind  as  to  what  I 
designed  to  give  to  ye  children  of  my  great  Benefactor ;  have  given  but  a  small 
matter  to  two  of  y™  only  —  you  will  perceive  I  have  given  something  for  the 
benefit  of  those  unborn  —  and  for  the  sake  of  those  poor  creatures  I  am  mostly 
concerned  for  fear  my  will  should  be  broke.  I  believe,  Sir,  it  would  have  been 
more  agreeable  to  you  if  I  had  gave  it  for  an  Accadamme  at  Hadley.  I  turned 
the  affair  over  and  over  in  my  mind,  found  some  difficulties,  &  thought  it  was 
best  to  give  it  in  another  shape.  I  desire  that  you  and  Mr.  Worthington  would 
inquire  into  the  affair  of  Stockbridge  Indians,  which  my  Hon*'  [Father]  left  in 
charge  by  no  means  [satisfactory  to  me  ?]  I  desire  you  to  pay  at  a  venture 
[£20  to  the  ?]  widow  of  Jonathan.  [I  do  not  know  as  we  owe  ?]  1  quarter  of 
it,  but  for  fear,  you  do,  I  will  put  enough  in.  Also  plese  to  pay  the  following 
persons  whose  names  are  hereafter  mentioned,  if  they  are  to  be  found,  being 
soldiers  under  my  command.  I  received  the  money  out  of  the  Treasury,  but 
never  could  find  the  men.  Have  paid  all  but  these  —  Dan'  Wood  £4,  10«  Sd. 
Jonatlian  Conolly  £1,  13s.  6d.  Nathi  Ranger  £2,  lOs  Od.  W^  Williston  £1, 
16s  —  lives  near  Rehoboth.  These  things  above  mentioned  are  most  material.  I 
shall  conclude  by  recommending  myself  to  your  prayers  &  you  &  your  dear 
family  to  the  Divine  Protection, 

I  am,  Sir,  with  great  esteem 

Yr  honored  &  most  humble  &  most  obliged  servant 

£pH.  Williams. 
To  IsBAEL  Williams  Esq. 

P.S.  In  my  will  you  find  provided  some  money  for  the  benefit  of  ye  East 
town,  I  dont  know  there  will  be  enough  for  the  west,  but  so  far  as  it  goes,  very 
well,  and  then  some  good  will  come  of  it. 

E.  W. 

P.S.  Let  no  one  but  your  whole  self  and  John  Worthington  know  what  my 
will  contains. 

The  next  day  after  the  letter  transmitting  his  will,  Colonel 
Williams  wrote  again  to  the  same  correspondent,  announcing  the 
important  news  that  had  now  reached  Albany  in  two  or  three  differ- 
ent ways,  —  the  entire  defeat  of  General  Braddock  before  Fort 
Du  Quesne,  with  all  that  that  involved  to  the  prospects  of  the  two 
remaining  expeditions  that  were  to  act  simultaneously  with  Brad- 
dock's,  and  that  still  lay  almost  helplessly  at  Albany.  The  good 
plan,  devised  at  Alexandria,  was,  that  Braddock,  the  Commander-in- 
Chief,  should  strike  the  French  line  at  the  head  of  the  Ohio  River ; 
Shirley,  the  next  in  command,  the  central  point  in  that  line  at 
Niagara;  and  Johnson,  the  vital  outpost  of  Canada  at  Crown  Point. 
The  first  was  intended  to  be  the  main  expedition,  composed  mostly 


314  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

of  British  regulars,  though  Washington  was  there  as  Braddock's 
aide-de-camp,  and  many  backwoodsmen  of  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
whom  Braddock  despised  as  militia.  Now,  word  comes  to  Albany 
that  makes,  indeed,  Shirley  Commander-in-Chief  of  His  Majesty's 
forces  in  America,  by  reason  of  General  Braddock's  death,  but 
greatly  discourages  the  officers  of  both  expeditions  still  lying  there, 
which  ill  news  the  officers  strive  in  vain  to  keep  from  their  own 
rank  and  file.  There  was  an  increasing  jealousy  between  Shirley 
and  Johnson,  although  the  latter  owed  his  undeserved  appointment 
to  the  former.  Shirley,  doubtless,  heard  of  Braddock's  death  before 
anybody  else  did  at  Albany.  The  news  brought  him  promotion 
indeed,  but  also  vastly  augmented  responsibilities.  In  the  letter 
appended,  Williams  could  not  understand  why  Shirley  still  tarried 
at  Albany.  He  tarried  because  he  was  now  responsible  for  John- 
son's expedition  to  the  northward,  as  well  as  for  his  own  to  the 
westward.  Johnson  intrigued  against  Shirley,  and  the  latter's  heart 
was  heavy.  There  were  direful  premonitions  of  disaster  in  both 
directions,  which  actually  followed  in  due  course  of  time.  Neither 
Niagara  nor  Crown  Point  was  reached  in  this  campaign.  All  the 
papers  of  General  Braddock  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French  at 
the  Monongahela,  and  these  unfolded  to  them  the  entire  plan  of 
the  campaign,  and  halved  the  chances  of  any  English  success  at  the 
northward.  Williams's  letter  that  follows  does  credit  to  his  mind 
and  heart.  It  is  sad  reading,  but  it  lets  us  into  the  man  more  than 
any  other  document  he  left  behind  him,  except  his  will :  — 

Albany,  July  22th,  1755. 
Sir,  In  my  last  I  let  you  know  that  Gen'^'B  Lyman  had  orders  to  march  for  ye 
Carrying  place,  with  a  Detachment  of  1000  men,  &c.  He  marcht  last  Wednesday 
with  his  own  Regiment.  Colo.  Ruggles  was  to  join  him  with  his  &  4  Companys 
out  of  mine.  But  insted  of  joining  we  are  not  marcht  from  the  Flats  yet. 
What  with  the  quarrel  about  Com,gs  [Comissaries?  Companies?],  and  what  for 
want  of  stores  from  Boston,  we  have  been  retarded  ever  since.  Gov"  Shirley 
has  given  orders  y't  Mr.  Emerson  should  not  give  out  but  10  weeks'  allowance. 
Emerson  in  obedience  to  ye  Gov""s  orders  will  in  his  computation  allow  nothing 
for  wastige  nor  leakige.     So  y't  as  to  ye  Rum  it  will  not  hold  out  nine  weeks. 

I  am  suppris'd  to  see  how  things  are  conducted.     Hear  Gov'r  S y  lies  [yet], 

for  what  no  person  knows,  except  its  said  to  pus — e  [puzzle?]  the  Ex — n  to 
C— n  P— t.  Things  appear  most  melloncolly  to  me.  Their  is  no  provition  to  pay 
the  waggoners,  I  am  told.  How  the  stores  will  be  got  along  leave  you  to  judge. 
Last  evening  an  express  arrived  from  Meriland  with  advice  y't  Gen'''^  Braddock 
has  been  attaced,  &  has  lost  many  men,  with  part  of  the  artilery.  Is  himself 
wounded.  It's  to  be  feared  he  is  cut  to  pieces  and  great  part  of  the  army,  if  not 
the  whole.  I  have  seen  Capt.  Shirley  he  tells  me  he  can't  let  me  know  what  he 
knows.     He  is  under  oath.     Expect  to  hear  the  next  news  of  a  total  over  through. 


EPHRAIM  WILLIA3IS.  315 

I  have  this  minute  something  more  pellicular  — the  acco't  comes  from  Fort 
Cumberland  —  Colo.  Eanas  (?)  —  he  received  it  from  one  who  made  his  escape, 
who  says  they  had  got  within  20  or  25  mile  of  the  Fort.  The  General  had  sent 
600  some  small  distance  before.  He  then  marcht  himself  with  the  baggige  and 
artillery.  The  French  and  Indians  let  the  600  pass  them,  and  fell  upon  the 
General,  cut  him  to  pieces,  and  the  party  with  him,  before  those  in  the  rear  got 
up  —  that  they  took  all  the  artillery.  He  farther  says  the  whole  army  is  lost. 
'Tis  certain  this  is  the  acco't  y't  is  come,  for  I  have  had  from  two  y't  heard  the 
letters  read.  Now  L»  all  the  hope  y't  we  have  left  is,  y't  a  man  coming  of  in 
that  manner,  is  such  a  supprise,  may  in  many  things  be  mistakein.  We  expect 
a  post  very  soon,  which  will  give  us  a  more  perticular  acco't.  I  have  not  to  ad, 
save  this,  The  Lord  have  mercy  upon  poor  New  England. 
I  am  your  Hon'"  Most  Humble  Serv't, 

Eph.  Williams. 
Colo.  Israel  Williams. 

P.S.     I  salute  all  your  famely  with  all  friends. 

E.  W. 

CoL.  IsBAEL  Williams. 

The  forces  destined  for  the  reduction  of  Crown  Point  had  mostly, 
if  not  wholly,  assembled  at  Albany  by  the  1st  of  July.  They  were 
in  camp  at  two  places:  partly  at  Green  Bush,  on  the  east  of  the 
Hudson,  and  partly  at  "  The  Flats,"  so-called,  on  the  Mohawk  near 
its  mouth,  a  few  miles  above  Albany  to  the  west  of  the  main  river. 
They  were  composed  chiefly  of  provincial  militia  from  the  colonies 
of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  New  Hampshire  sent  500  men, 
largely  Scotch-Irishmen,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Joshua 
Blanchard,  John  Stark  being  one  of  Blanchard's  lieutenants.  Both 
of  these  officers,  as  well  as  many  of  their  men,  were  out  of  the  immi- 
gration to  Londonderry  of  1719.  Governor  AVentworth  sent  Blan- 
chard first  to  build  a  fort  on  the  Coos  meadows  of  the  upper 
Connecticut,  being  under  the  impression  that  that  was  the  true 
route  to  Crown  Point.  Shirley,  however,  sent  Blanchard  advices 
to  hasten  to  Albany;  and  he  retraced  his  steps  to  "No.  4,"  and 
marched  through  the  woods,  it  is  likely,  by  substantially  the  same 
route  Stark  took  twenty-two  years  later  from  No.  4  to  Bennington. 
New  York  contributed  one  regiment  to  the  expedition.  Hendrik, 
the  Mohawk  chieftain,  who  had  been  much  in  Stockbridge,  bringing 
the  youth  of  his  tribe  to  the  Indian  school  there,  who  was  well 
acquainted  with  Colonel  Williams  and  always  faithful  to  the  Eng- 
lish, brought  250  braves  of  the  Six  Nations  to  the  camp  on  the 
Mohawk.  Johnson  had  expected  many  more,  and  referred  the 
failure  of  his  Indians  to  rally  at  his  call,  to  mischief  wrought  among 
them  by  Shirley  and  his  agents. 


316  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Shirley,  as  was  natural  and  proper,  had  become  fully  conscious  on 
Braddock's  death,  that  he  was  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  the  English 
forces  in  North  America.  Johnson,  apparently,  never  recognized 
the  difference  between  those  broad  functions,  and  those  of  a  royal 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  second  in  general  command. 
This  was  the  fountain  and  origin  of  all  the  quarrel  between  the 
two  men ;  which  became  bitter  at  the  time,  and  lasted  long  after- 
wards; which,  in  its  results,  wrecked,  as  Shirley  believed,  his  own, 
the  central  expedition  to  the  Niagara  frontier ;  which  prevented,  as 
Johnson  thought,  the  coming  of  as  many  more  Iroquois  to  his  stand- 
ard as  those  that  actually  followed  Hendrik  to  Lake  George ;  and 
which  made  Johnson  regardless  of  Shirley's  orders  to  push  on  the 
offensive  to  Crown  Point  after  the  battle  there,  with  the  men  who 
had  not  been  in  that  fight,  on  the  boats  which  were  already  launched 
on  the  lake.  We  have  no  call  to  enter  into  these  disputed,  and  no 
longer  important  matters ;  but  as  Hendrik's  name  will  be  forever 
strongly  associated  with  that  of  Colonel  Williams,  since  they  fell  in 
the  same  ambush,  if  not  by  the  same  volley,  it  is  proper  that  we 
should  place  here  one  of  Hendrik's  speeches,  the  last  formal  one  he 
ever  uttered,  made  in  council  at  the  lake  only  four  days  before  his 
death,  explaining  to  Johnson  and  the  other  officers  why  so  few 
warriors  had  joined  their  standard :  — 

Some  time  ago,  we  of  the  two  Mohawk  castles  were  greatly  alarmed,  and 
much  concerned,  and  we  take  this  opportunity  of  speaking  our  minds  in  the 
presence  of  many  gentlemen  concerning  our  brother,  Governor  Shirley,  who  is 
gone  to  Oswego  ;  he  told  us,  that  though  we  thought  you,  our  brother  War- 
raghiyahgey  [Johnson],  had  the  sole  management  of  Indian  affairs,  yet  that  he 
was  over  all ;  that  he  could  pull  down  and  set  up.  He  further  told  us,  that  he 
had  always  been  this  great  man,  and  that  you,  our  brother,  was  but  an  upstart 
of  yesterday.  These  kind  of  discourses  from  him  caused  a  great  uneasiness  and 
confusion  amongst  us,  and  he  confirmed  these  things  by  a  large  belt  of  wampum. 

I  just  now  said,  these  matters  made  our  hearts  ache  and  caused  a  great  deal 
of  confusion  in  our  castles.  Governor  Shirley  further  told  us  ;  "  You  think  your 
brother  Warraghiyaghey  has  his  commission  for  managing  your  affairs  from  the 
King  our  father,  but  you  are  mistaken,  he  has  his  commission  and  all  the  moneys 
for  carrying  on  your  affairs  from  me,  and  when  I  please  I  can  take  all  his  powers 
from  him;  it  was  I  gave  him  all  the  presents  and  goods  to  fit  out  the  Indians  with." 

He  further  told  us  when  he  came  to  our  fort :  "  This  is  my  fort ;  it  was  built 
by  my  order  and  directions  ;  I  am  ruler  and  master  here,  and  now  brethren,  I 
desire  twenty  of  your  young  vp'arriors  from  this  castle  to  join  me  as  your  brother 
Warraghiyaghey  promised  me  you  would  do,  and  be  ready  at  a  whistle.  Brethren, 
you  may  see  I  have  the  chief  command  ;  here  is  money  for  you,  my  pockets  are 
full ;  you  shan't  want ;  besides  I  have  goods  and  arms  for  all  that  will  go  with 
me."  He  said  a  great  more  of  the  like  kind,  which  time  will  not  permit  us  to 
repeat  at  present. 


EPHRAOI   WILLIAMS.  317 

He  was  two  days  pressing  and  working  upon  my  brother  Abraham  to  go  with 
him  as  a  minister  for  the  Indians,  he  said  to  him  :  "  Warraghiyaghey  gives  you 
no  wages,  why  should  you  go  to  Crown  Point,  you  can  do  notliing  there  ;  but 
with  me  there  will  be  something  to  do  worth  while."  Those  speeclies  made  us 
quite  ashamed,  and  the  Six  Nations  hung  down  their  heads  and  would  make 
no  answer. 

But  brother,  notwithstanding  all  these  temptations  and  speeches,  we  that  are 
come  and  now  here,  were  determined  to  remain  steadfast  to  you,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  Governor  Shirley's  money  and  speeches  you  would  have  seen  all  the 
Six  Nations  here.  Brother,  we  have  taken  this  opportunity  to  give  you  this  rela- 
tion, that  the  gentlemen  here  present  may  know  and  testify  what  we  have  said, 
and  hear  the  reasons  why  no  more  Indians  have  joined  the  army. 

Ill  the  meantime,  on  the  2d  of  August,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next 
following  letter  of  Colonel  Williams,  orders  came  to  march  all  the 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  troops  from  their  camps  near  Albany 
to  the  "  Great  Carrying-Place,"  whither  General  Lymau  had  gone 
a  short  time  before  with  a  considerable  detachment  in  order  to  build 
a  fort,  on  or  near  the  site  of  the  old  Fort  Nicholson ;  that  is,  the 
point  where  the  North  River  turns  pretty  sharply  to  the  south  from 
its  previously  southeast  course  out  of  the  Adirondacks  ;  a  ix)int  mid- 
way between  the  head  of  Lake  George  to  the  left,  and  the  navigable 
part  of  Wood  Creek  flowing  north  to  Lake  Champlain  on  the  right. 
In  Queen  Anne's  War,  well-nigh  forgotten  in  1755,  Fort  Nicholson 
had  been  built  on  the  Hudson,  and  Fort  Anne  on  Wood  Creek,  the 
one  to  command  the  old  Indian  Carrying-place  to  Lake  George,  and 
the  other  the  equally  old  (both  immemorial)  route  to  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  Over  these  portages  the  Indians  had  carried  their  canoes, 
and  the  French  their  bateaux,  along  Indian  trails  from  water  to 
water,  nobody  knows  for  how  long  a  time.  It  was  fourteen  miles 
from  river  to  lake  on  the  left  hand,  and  more  or  less  than  that  on 
the  right  hand,  according  to  the  place  of  embarking  on  Wood  Creek. 
Geneml  Johnson  had  not  made  up  his  mind  by  which  of  these  routes 
he  would  strive  to  reach  Crown  Point;  and  General  Lyman  worked 
away  at  his  fort  on  the  east  bank  of  the  upper  Hudson,  for  a  year  or 
two  justly  named  Fort  Lyman,  until  Johnson,  after  directly  compli- 
menting his  king  by  naming  what  had  hitherto  been  a  French  lake, 
"  Lake  George,"  indirectly  complimented  him  further  by  christening 
his  own  fort  at  the  head  of  the  lake  "William  Henry,"  and  rechris- 
tening  Lyman's  fort  "  Edward,"  in  memory  of  the  king's  grandsons. 

Camp  at  the  Flats,  August  2'',  1755, 
Sir  Enclosed  is  a  list  of  the  oflBcers  killed  and  wounded  on  the  Banks  of 
Monongahela  —  if  this  should  arrive  before  you  have  it  in  the  public  prints  I 
shall  be  glad.  —  I  received  it  of  the  Gen"  with  a  charge  not  to  let  any  one  see  it 


318  ORIGINS    IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

in  the  camp.  Notwithstanding  I  have  suffered  Lt.  Col.  Whiting  &  Doctor  Marsh 
to  take  a  coppys  of  it  for  his  friends  in  New  England.  Gen''  Shirley  &  Johnson 
both  keep  it  as  private  as  they  possibly  can,  for  fear  it  should  intimadate  the  men 
—  and  as  we  have  had  various  accounts  —  and  know  not  what  to  depend  upon, 
it  has  in  a  very  great  measure  answered  their  intention.  It  appears  at  present 
the  Genii  was  not  so  much  to  blame  as  was  expected  by  the  first  accounts.  It 
seems  when  he  had  got  within  about  10  miles  of  the  Fort  with  the  first  Devition, 
He  sent  S""  John  S'  Clear  with  a  detachment  of  300  men  to  Keconnoytoire  the 
country  &  cross  the  revir  ;  to  support  him  he  sent  200  at  a  small  distance  and 
brought  up  the  rear  with  100  men,  being  at  about  five  miles  distance  from  Col^  Dun- 
bar, who  brought  up  the  rear  of  ye  whole  body,  and  who  had  with  him  ye  heavy 
artillery.  S'"  John  crostthe  river  without  any  opposition,  but  had  not  march  far 
before  their  rise  up  a  number  of  Indians,  about  (as  it  is  said)  300,  with  some 
few  French,  and  fired  upon  him,  &  gave  a  horrible  shout.  It  being  a  large 
medow  and  the  breacks  [brakes]  being  high,  they  all  fell  flat,  so  that  the  men 
could  not  see  their  enemy,  if  they  had  had  a  mind  to  fight.  It  seems  the  shout 
set  them  into  a  pannick  (and  they  in  spite  of  all  their  oificers  could  do)  turnd  & 
run  back  to  the  200  yt  was  to  support  them  which  put  them  into  disorder,  so  that 
the  whole  run  back  to  the  main  body,  which  put  them  into  such  a  disorder  yt 
they  could  not  be  prevailed,  upon  to  make  the  least  stand.  The  Gen^i  did  all  in 
his  power  to  make  them  face  about,  but  to  no  purpose.  During  the  engagement 
he  had  four  horses  shot  under  him,  at  last  was  shot  through  his  arm,  &  the 
bullet  lodgd  in  his  vitals.  In  this  confused  manner,  he  retreated  back  to  Dun- 
bar, and  notwithstanding  they  had  when  they  were  joined,  1500  men,  they  could 
not  prevail  upon  them  to  make  a  stand,  but  were  obliged  to  blow  up  Maggazien 
and  leave  all  the  artillery  and  baggige  to  fall  into  the  enemy's  hands.  The 
Gen"  died  of  his  wound  on  the  forth  day  after  the  battle.  It  appers  the  officers 
behaved  exceeding  well,  for  after  their  men  left  them,  they  fought  untill  almost 
all  of  them  were  killed  and  wounded.  This  acco't  was  wrote  by  order  of  Mr. 
Orn?  aid  de  camp  to  the  Gen^',  but  was  not  able  to  sign  it  by  reason  of  his 
wounds. 

No  doubt  we  shall  have  a  more  particular  acco't  very  soon  in  the  prints. 
S'  we  have  orders  to  march  this  day  for  the  great  Carrying  Place  with  part  of 
the  artillery.  The  whole  of  the  troops  belonging  to  the  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  — the  Gen"  with  the  rest  will  march  next  week  !  We  are  as  heathy 
here  as  can  be  expected  —  much  better  for  having  bran  kittles.  How  they  be 
above  us  can't  tell.  Ensign  Barnerd  informs  me  you  will  send  a  scout  to  the 
Carrying  place,  which  I  like  much.  I  send  proper  salutations  to  your  family  & 
Enquiring  friends. 

I  am  your  Hon'^  most  obed*  Humble  Servt. 

Eph.  Williams. 

To  CoL«  Israel  Williams. 

Inadequate  as  was  Williams's  conception  of  the  true  character  of 
Braddock's  defeat  in  a  French  and  Indian  ambush,  as  appears  at 
length  in  the  above  letter,  it  was  still  correct  enough  to  have  put 
him  thoroughly  on  his  own  guard  against  anything  similar  as  likely 
to  occur  in  his  career  as  a  commanding  officer.     Before  this  letter 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  319 

was  commonly  known,  the  excuse  was  often  raised  in  Williams's 
behalf  in  view  of  a  like  disaster  happening  to  himself  and  his  com- 
mand just  a  month  after,  that  he  did  not  know  of  the  details  of  the 
rout  and  ruin  of  Braddock.  But  he  did  know  them.  He  knew  also 
in  general,  from  his  long  experience  of  French  and  Indian  warfare, 
its  wiles  and  stratagems,  as  commander  at  Fort  IMassachusetts 
what  should  be  the  caution  and  prevision  of  one  taking  the  offen- 
sive against  them,  exposing  his  own  and  the  lives  of  other  brave 
men  in  such  circumstances.  Ephraim  Williams  had  many  amiable, 
and  some  great,  qualities;  but  a  high  military  capacity  was  not 
among  them.  His  good  name  and  never-to-be-forgotten  memory 
rest  on  other  foundations. 

His  regiment,  when  reunited  at  Fort  Lyman,  appears  to  have  con- 
sisted of  about  420  privates,  and  about  thirty  officers  of  all  grades. 
There  were  ten  companies.  The  Colonel,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and 
Major  had  each  a  company;  and  Captain  Burt,  Captain  Hawley, 
Captain  House,  Captain  Porter,  Captain  Ingersoll,  Captain  Hitch- 
cock, Captain  Doolittle,  were  each  at  the  head  of  the  other  seven 
companies.  There  were  many  old  soldiers  of  Fort  Massachusetts 
among  the  rank  and  file.  Better  and  braver  men  never  marched 
along  a  river's  brink,  or  plunged  into  the  stream  to  haul  boats  up 
over  its  falls,  or  in  camp  gathered  more  reverently  to  daily  prayers 
and  sermons  twice  a  week,  and  joined  in  frequent  Psalm-singing 
that  alternated  with  the  military  drill,  than  the  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts  men  who  marched  up  the  Hudson  to  a  temporary 
camp  at  old  Fort  Nicholson.  *^  Prayers,"  wrote  Johnson  at  the  time, 
"have  a  good  effect,  especially  among  the  New  England  men." 
"Not  a  chicken  has  been  stolen,"  wrote  William  Smith,  of  New 
York.  "  Prayers  among  us  night  and  morning,"  wrote  Jonathan 
Caswell,  a  private  of  Massachusetts,  to  his  father:  "Here  we  lie, 
knowing  not  when  we  shall  march  for  Crown  Point;  but  I  hope  not 
long  to  tarry.  Desiring  your  prayers  for  me  as  I  am  agoing  to  war, 
I  am  your  ever  dutiful  Son."  On  the  other  hand.  Colonel  Williams 
wrote  in  the  letter  about  to  be  copied  in  full :  "  We  are  a  wicked, 
profane  army,  especially  the  New  York  and  Rhode  Island  troops : 
nothing  to  be  heard  among  a  great  part  of  them  but  the  language  of 
hell.  If  Crown  Point  is  taken  it  will  not  be  for  our  sakes,  but  for 
those  good  people  left  behind." 

The  army,  marching  up  the  west  side  of  the  Hudson,  crossed  the 
river  where  it  had  been  crossed  also  in  both  the  two  preceding  wars ; 
namely,  at  the  point  where  Fish  Creek  drops  rapidly  into  the  main 
river  on  the  west  side,  and  where  the  village  of  Schuylerville  now 


320  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

lies.  Old  Fort  Saratoga,  built  by  the  English  and  burned  down  by 
them  in  1747,  stood  on  the  opposite  bank.  The  present  writer  has 
traced  the  old  road  up  this  bank  (now  much  depressed  and  over- 
grown with  trees)  from  the  brink  of  the  river  to  the  site  of  the 
fort.  From  this  point  one  old  trail,  already  in  1755  developed  into 
a  road,  ran  up  the  river  due  north  to  old  Fort  Nicholson;  and 
another  ran  southeast,  crossing  the  Batten  Kill  twice,  through  what 
is  now  Union  Village  and  Cambridge,  to  North  Hoosac  on  the 
Walloomsac  River.  Over  the  latter  trail,  since  become  a  highway, 
passed  both  detachments  from  Burgoyne's  army  to  the  battle  of 
Bennington,  while  at  the  crossing-place  at  Schuylerville  Burgoyne 
himself  surrendered  his  army  the  16th  of  October,  1777.  Colonel 
Williams's  letter  from  the  "Great  Carrying-Place "  will  be  found 
illuminating. 

Camp  at  the  Fort  Nicolson, 
August  16,  1755. 

Sir,  I  received  your  favour  yesterday  per  Colo.  Willard.  Have  to  inform  y't 
we  arriv'd  here  on  the  14  instant,  with  the  remaining  part  of  Connectic't  troops. 
Road  Island  and  New  York  we  expect  will  join  us  tomorrow.  Expect  to  pro- 
ceed as  far  as  Wood  Crick,  if  we  should  go  that  way,  also  expect  the  several 
Governments  reinforce  us  as  soon  as  possable.  I  don't  expect  at  pressent  we 
shall  succeed  without  greater  numbers.  Colo.  Gilbord  is  sent  Express.  Beg  if 
you  have  any  regard  for  your  friends,  you  send  us  fresh  provitions,  which  will 
be  much  the  cheapest.  It's  not  in  our  power  to  purchase  y^  here.  The  men 
have  been  extremely  beat  out  in  haling  the  battoes  over  the  several  falls,  being 
obliged  to  waid  up  to  their  middles  near  )4  day  at  a  time.  Our  heavy  artillery 
&  magazine  are  arrived  safe.  The  rest  comes  in  the  last  Divition.  Ye  Gen'ili 
arrived  the  same  day  we  did,  with  about  20  Indians  fit  for  war.  We  expect  a 
large  number  soon,  but  the  defeat  of  Braddock  has  shaggrined  them  very  much, 
&  Gov.  Shirley  has  took  too  many  indirect  methods  to  git  them  with  him,  has 
offered  them  large  sums  of  money,  has  done  everything  in  his  power  to  disaffect 
them  to  the  General,  and  its  said  has  counterfitted  Letters,  too  many  things  to 
mention  at  this  time,  the  consequence  of  which  no  doubt  will  be  y't  they  won't  go 
to  war  at  all,  I  mean  not  }4  the  number  which  otherwise  might  have  been  expected. 
I  am  sorry  we  did  not  go  by  the  way  of  your  town  &  so  Fort  Massachu,ts,  & 
carried  our  18  &  32  pounder.  I  am  sure  it  would  not  have  cost  the  Gov'r'nt 
}^  it  has  now  done,  &  would  have  been  terrible  to  the  Enemy.  Our  great  diffi- 
culty now  is  to  know  which  way  to  go.  It's  agreed  on  all  hands  yt  Wood  Crick 
is  best,  if  there  was  water,  but  by  several  scouts  it  seems  yr  is  not.  But  we 
shall  be  able  I  hope  with  the  help  of  the  Indians  to  go  forward  in  a  few  days. 
What  you  propose  in  your's  as  to  the  Mohawks,  I  will  lay  before  the  Gen,*"'". 
I  believe  we  have  not  one  man  of  any  consideration  at  all  but  is  determined  at 
all  adventures  to  conquer  or  die,  but  then  if  it  should  appear  y"  numbers  vastly 
exceed  our's,  you  must  expect  we  shall  not  proceed  to  lose  the  whole.  There- 
fore I  hope  the  people  in  gen'"  as  one  man  will  be  ready  at  a  minute's  warning, 
(if  the  reinforcements  are  not  sufficient)  to  come  for  our  relief,  &  their  security. 


THE  OLD    "CARRYING  PLACE,"    FROM    THE    HUDSON    TO    LAKE   GEORGE. 

Th«  Locality  of  th«  "  Bloody  Morning  Scout  "  and  of  tha  "  Battia  of  Lake  Gaorga," 
Sept.  8,  1755. 


321 


322  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

I  don't  know  what  Admiral  Boscawen  is  about.  If  he  would  proceed  up  the 
River  of  St.  Larence,  it  would  be  of  infinite  service  to  us.  Whether  their  has 
been  proper  care  taken,  or  not,  I  can't  say.  I  had  the  misforten  to  have  one  of 
my  men  (big)  Winchell  have  one  of  the  waggon  wheels  of  a  32  pounder  run 
over  him,  which  however  only  broke  his  thigh.  Another  man  in  a  Coiinectic't 
regiment  shot  his  arm  to  pieces  and  has  had  it  cut  of.  You  mention  in  y'r  letter 
sent  by  Ashley,  you  would  look  into  my  will,  and  give  your  opinion.  I  should 
be  glad  that  you  would,  &  that  Colo.  Worthington  does  also,  &  let  it  be  drawn 
over  again,  if  it  won't  answer,  by  you  both,  as  near  as  you  can  to  what  it  is 
now,  &  send  it  up  by  an  express.  I  will  be  at  ye  charge  of  it.  I  assure  you, 
Sir,  y't  affair  lies  much  on  my  mind.  Am  sorry  you  did  not  give  me  your  advise 
at  least,  in  your  last  but  one,  although  you  then  had  not  seen  Colo.  Worthing- 
ton. I  hertily  mourn  with  you,  in  the  loss  of  y'r  Brother.  Pray  God  to  sanctify 
it  to  all  of  us,  &  fit  us  for  our  own  turns  which  will  soon  arrive  —  how  soon  God 
only  knows.  I  beg  your  prayers  for  us  all,  &  me  in  perticular.  We  are  a  wicked 
profane  army,  more  especially  New  York  troops  &  Road  Island,  nothing  to  be 
heard  among  a  great  part  of  them  but  the  language  of  hell.  I  assure  you,  Sr,  if 
ever  the  place  is  taken,  it  will  not  be  for  our  sakes,  but  for  those  good  people 
left  behind.  I  salute  your  family,  with  Mr.  Woodbridge's,  &  all  inquiring 
friends. 

Colo.  Ruggles  sends  his  compliments  to  you.  We  have  a  very  good  under- 
standing —  line  in  harmony.  I  understand  by  Capt.  Porter,  y't  he  expected  to 
have  his  part  with  all  ye  rest  of  the  Com'n  officers  of  what  ye  Gov't  allowed  for 
our  table,  y*  he  had  his  acco't  from  Colo.  Porter  &  Capt.  Marsh.  I  told  him 
I  should  make  no  divition  [with  him]  nor  no  one  else.  It  seems  there  has  a 
number  sent  down  a  petition  to  the  Court,  which  I  am  not  sorry  for.  You  won't 
forgit  to  send  your  scout. 

I  am,  Sr,  with  great  Respect,  your  Hon'r's  Most  Obed't  Humble  Serv't, 

Eph.  Williams. 
Colo.  Israel  Williams,  Esq. 

The  above  letter  was  "written  on  August  16,  and  it  is  a  pleasant 
coincidence  that  we  happen  to  possess  the  military  "  orders  "  for  that 
day,  given  out  by  Peter  Wraxall,  aide-de-camp,  to  the  army  at  old 
Fort  Nicholson,  then  called  Eort  Lyman,  and  a  little  later  christened 
by  General  Johnson  Fort  Edward.  Owing  in  part  to  this  super- 
abundance of  names,  the  place  continued  to  be  called  for  some  time 
the  "Great  Carrying-Place,"  it  being  nearly  equidistant  from  the 
head  of  Lake  George  to  the  northwest,  and  from  the  navigable  point 
on  Wood  Creek  to  the  northeast,  over  both  which  intervals  boats 
and  luggage  had  to  be  borne  by  hand.  Wood  Creek  drops  into  Lake 
Champlain  at  what  is  now  Whitehall.  Doubt  as  to  which  of  these 
routes  it  were  best  to  take  for  Crown  Point  delayed  the  army  a 
long  time  at  this  Carrying-place,  and  so  jeopardized  the  success  of 
the  expedition.  The  Orders  of  the  Day  throw  some  light  on  the 
situation. 


EPHRAI3I  WILLIAMS.  323 

Head  Qcabtebs  at  the  Camp  at  the  Great  Cabbyino  place, 
Fkyday  the  16th  August,  1755. 

Pabole  Ltman  —  Obdebs. 

Colo'l  Titcomb  Field  Officer  of  the  Day  for  tomorrow. 

That  Colo''  Ruggles  and  such  other  officers  as  he  shall  pitch  on  do  imediately 
look  out  for  proper  places  to  erect  a  sufficient  maggazine  for  powder,  and  also  a 
proper  place  to  build  an  Hospital  on,  and  make  a  reports  of  tlie  same  at  Head 
Quarters. 

That  publick  proclamation  be  forthwith  made  by  the  Maj'r  of  each  Regim* 
that  whosoever  presumes  to  fire  off  his  piece  without  leave  first  obtained  from 
the  field  officer  of  the  Day  be  immediately  put  in  confinem?  to  be  trj'ed  by 
a  Court  Martial  for  the  same. 

That  publick  proclamation  be  also  made  by  the  Maj'r  of  each  Regim't  that  no 
person  whatsoever  does  presume  to  sell  or  give  to  any  Indian  either  rum  or  any 
other  strong  liquor,  and  that  no  soldiers  come  over  to  the  Ilsland  where  the 
General  is  encampt,  without  being  sent  or  ordered  by  their  proper  officers,  when 
they  are  first  to  come  to  Head  Quarters. 

That  these  two  foregoing  orders  be  wrote  out  in  a  large,  legible  hand,  and 
fixed  up  at  the  Head  of  each  Regim'.'. 

That  a  Serjt  from  each  Regiment  be  appointed  weekly,  to  take  care  that  their 
respective  encampm'??  be  kept  clean,  &  all  filth  removed  as  soon  as  discovered. 

Peteb  Wraxall 

A.  D.  Camp. 
August  y?  16,  1755. 

These  was  the  within  orders  publickly  read  unto  the  Ridgment  under  the 
command  of  Colo'^  Ephraim  Williams,  Esq,  per  me 

Noah  Ashley, 

Major  of  si  Regiment. 

It  may  weU  have  been  that  very  day  also,  when  Ephraim  WiUiams 
received  at  the  Carrying-place  the  subjoined  letter  from  Solomon 
Williams,  a  distant  cousin,  which  emphasizes  a  point  we  have  already 
learned;  namely,  that  the  Colonel  was  desirous  to  settle  up  his 
pecuniary  affairs  and  to  collect  his  debts,  before  exposing  his  life 
to  the  French.  His  will  indicates  directly  the  same  anxiety  that  is 
implied  indirectly  through  this  letter  of  his  lawyer :  — 

Salisbuby,  [Conn.],  August  4th,  1756. 
Sir,  Tls  a  common  observation  that  let  men  care  never  so  little  about  their 
agents,  they  have  always  a  special  regard  for  their  actSt  as  they  sensibly  affect 
their  constituents.  Taking  this  for  truth,  I  make  bold  to  trouble  you  by  acquaint- 
ing you  that  ye  Execut's  vs.  Kent  is  paid  up  —  that  against  Fitch  is  put  into  ye 
officer's  hand,  tho'  nothing  as  yet  done  upon  it.  Am  at  a  loss  within  myself 
what  directions  to  give  ye  off'r  which  will  be  most  expeditious  in  procuring  ye 
money  tho'  have  told  ye  aff'?  that  provided  F — h  could  not  turn  out  estate,  that 
would  speedOy  command  ye  cash  to  commit  him^  for  their  is  no  other  way 


324  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

as  yet  opens  whereby  I  can  come  at  it,  unless  ye  execut'B  is  extended  upon  his 
land,  &  that  dare  not  do  without  first  having  y'r  approbation.  There  is  so  much 
of  his  estate  already  parted  by  means  of  other  execut'-^s  that  half  enough  per- 
sonal estate  is  not,  now,  left  him,  to  satisfie  your's,  so  that  Neck  or  land  seem 
to  be  ye  case,  &  which  impatiently  wait  your  resolve.  Have  nothing  worthey 
notice  to  communicate,  saving  that  this  Colony,  understand,  have  resolved  to 
raise  a  body  of  reserve  to  ye  town  of  500  men,  to  be  in  half  pay  till  by  ye  Gen- 
eral call'd  for.  Should  be  glad  to  know  ye  true  reason  of  General  PepperelPs 
return  home,  for  see  one  in  a  news  print  a  few  days  since  which  I  take  to  be  a 
very  salim  sarcasm,  viz* :  that  he  was  to  take  ye  Command  of  5000  men,  pro- 
vided with  a  fine  train  of  artillery,  to  rendezvous  at  Fort  Hallifax,  &  thence  to 
proceed  immediately  towards  Quebuck,  &c.  Should  be  glad  to  hear  of  y'^  wel- 
fare, as  well  as  of  ye  whole  army  —  how  far  you  have  proceeded  on  y'r  march, 
&  of  any  remarkable  occurrent  during  ye  same. 

With  proper  compliments  to  all  Friends,  wishing  you  in  constant  readiness 
every  heroic  virtue  that  can  render  man  illustrious,  is  all  at  present  from  y'?  poor 
tho'  sincere  Friend  &  very  humble  Servant, 

SoL'ii  Williams. 

Col2.  Eph :  Williams  —  marching  to  Crown  point. 

The  New  England  men,  whose  hearts  were  thoroughly  in  this 
expedition  against  Crown  Point,  some  more  on  one  account  and  some 
on  another,  but  nearly  all  in  dead  earnest,  were  restive  enough  under 
this  long  delay  through  August  at  the  Carrying-place.  Protestant 
zeal  in  a  war  against  Catholics  influenced  some  of  the  men.  To 
them  it  seemed  as  if  they  were  engaged  in  a  crusade  against  the 
myrmidons  of  Eome.  Seth  Pomeroy,  of  Northampton,  second  in 
command  of  Williams's  regiment,  wrote  to  his  friend,  Israel  Wil- 
liams:  "As  you  have  at  heart  the  Protestant  cause,  so  I  ask  an 
interest  in  your  prayers  that  the  Lord  of  Hosts  would  go  forth  with 
us,  and  give  us  victory  over  our  unreasonable,  encroaching,  barbar- 
ous, murdering  enemies."  Others  were  more  touched  by  a  remem- 
brance of  the  sufferings  of  New  England  under  former  inroads  of 
the  French  and  Indians,  —  of  the  sack  of  Deerfield  in  1704,  for  ex- 
ample,—  and  there  was  at  least  one  man  in  the  army.  Captain  Joseph 
Kellogg,  who  was  a  child-captive  to  Canada  on  that  occasion ;  and 
Colonel  Williams  could  not  but  be  reminded  of  the  burning  of  Fort 
Massachusetts  in  1746,  and  the  massacre  on  Deerfield  meadow  fol- 
lowing upon  that,  and  he  wrote  from  the  camp,  "  The  Lord  have 
mercy  on  poor  New  England  !  " 

Dr.  Thomas  Williams,  only  own  brother  of  the  Colonel  and  Sur- 
geon of  his  regiment,  was  chafed  at  the  incessant  delays,  and 
especially  at  the  unaccountable  slowness  in  determining  by  which 
of  the  two  possible  routes  to  proceed  from  the  present  camp  north- 
wards.    Letters  are  preserved  from  the   Surgeon  to  his  wife,  and 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  325 

from  the  Colonel  to  his  cousin  Israel,  both  written  on  the  17th  of 
August,  and  both  breathing  a  spirit  of  impatience.  The  Surgeon 
writes:  — 

It  seems  if  we  drive  on  (not  Alexander  like)  we  may  possibly  see  Crown 
Point  this  time  twelve  months.  It  is  a  fortnight  this  day  since  I  came  to  this 
place,  and  was  in  hopes  tliat  ere  this  time  we  should  have  advanced  to  the  other 
side  of  the  Carrying  Place,  but  the  old  proverb  is,  great  "wheels  move  slow." 
I  wish  it  may  be  sure  ;  am  pretty  certain  of  a  long  expedition,  and  I  can't  say 
I  dont  fear  a  fruitless  one.  We  know  not  yet  which  way  we  are  like  to  proceed, 
as  the  country  has  not  yet  been  sufficiently  recconnoitred,  at  least  so  as  to  give 
us  satisfactory  intelligence,  notwitlistandiug  we  had  about  eij^ht  days  ago  300 
men  at  work  cutting  the  road  to  Fort  Ann,  supposing  we  should  go  by  Wood 
Creek,  and  in  two  days  they  cleared  a  road  thirty  feet  wide,  about  eight  miles, 
or  two  thirds  of  the  way  to  Wood  Creek,  but  now  that  is  stopped,  and  forty 
picked  white  men,  with  three  of  the  General's  Indians  are  gone  to  view  that 
whole  country,  in  order  to  find  out  the  best  way  for  us  to  proceed.  Captain 
Taylor  of  Hartford,  a  vigilant,  active,  good  officer,  goes  ahead.  Captain  IJurke 
is  also  this  day  going  with  ten  picked  men,  and  three  of  the  General's  Indians 
to  Lake  St.  Sacrament  to  view  that  road.  With  submission  to  the  General  offi- 
cers, I  must  think  it  a  very  grand  mistake  that  the  business  was  not  done  two 
months  agone,  but  so  it  is,  and  impatience  will  only  add  to  difficulty.  I  en- 
deavor to  keep  myself  calm  and  quiet  under  our  slow  progress,  and  wait  God's 
time  who  orders  all  events,  trusting  he  will  yet  appear  for  our  help,  and  his  own 
time  favor  this  our  cause  which  I  believe  to  be  just  and  good. 

Colonel  Ephraim^s  letter,  written  the  same  day,  must  now  be 
quoted  in  full,  as  it  is  the  last  but  one  that  we  have  from  him. 
The  things  concerning  him  have  an  end.  This  letter  is  significant, 
in  that  it  proves,  that  he  had  at  length  the  full  particulars  of  Brad- 
dock's  defeat  and  death;  that  he  was  coming  to  have,  in  common 
with  most  of  the  New  England  officers,  a  high  opinion  of  General 
Johnson ;  that  his  feelings  ran  strongly  against  Governor  Shirley, 
Commander-in-Chief,  then  on  his  military  way  to  Oswego ;  and  that, 
like  his  brother,  he  was  full  of  forebodings  over  the  issue  of  their 

own  expedition. 

Camp  at  the  great  Carry-Place, 

Aug'st  17,  1755. 

Sf,  My  other  letter  I  was  sending  by  the  way  of  Springfield,  but  that  minute 
I  finished  it,  the  scout  arrived  from  y!i  Fort.  This  day  we  have  sent  off  the 
Capt's  person  [Capt.  Taylor  of  Hartford]  with  40  whites  and  3  Indians,  in  order 
to  find  out  a  road  to  Broad  Bay  [commonly  called  "South  Bay"].  My  Capt. 
Lt.  [Capt  John  Burke]  is  ordered  to  go  to  Lake  St.  Sacrement,  with  12  whites  & 
3  Indians.  We  are  sensible  what  is  like  to  be  the  consequence  of  Braddock's 
defeat.  Begin  to  feel  it  in  the  Five  Nations,  as  the  Gen''*"  has  let  us  know  at 
Council. 

No  doubt  St  you  are  quite  wright  when  you  say  you  canH  think  our  men, 
upon  hearing  of  Braddock's  defeate,  will  be  intimidated,  but  on  the  contrary 


326  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

will  be  inspired  with  more  courrage  &  resolution,  but  I  assure  you  I  wont  be 
bound  for  many  who  have  the  most  true  account  of  that  defeat.  Must  think  it 
will  [be]  for  the  best  to  have  it  remain  at  uncertainties. 

As  for  Gov'r  Shirley,  I  wish  him  well.  Don't  think  but  he  will  return  again, 
however  the  battle  goes  with  the  rest.  Must  think  if  Braddock  was  alive  he 
soon  wood  feel  the  resentment  of  his  sovereign,  for  being  so  slow  in  his  march. 
The  old  fellow  went  of  with  a  heavy  heart.  Was  hertily  sorry  it  was  not  in  his 
power  to  order  the  whole  y't  way.  I  long  to  see  the  worst  of  it.  Don't  find  but 
ye  Gen.r'i  considering  he  has  not  had  experience,  behaves  extremely  well  —  longs 
to  be  upon  action.  I  doubt  not  but  he  will  turn  out  a  man  of  courage  &  pru- 
dence. I  take  it  for  granted  you  will  continue  your  scout  to  Wood  Crick,  or 
where  ever  we  may  make  the  next  place  for  our  retreat.  I  heartily  wish  you  & 
your's  the  Divine  protection. 

I  am.  Si  your  Hon.^'s  Most  Humble  Serv't, 

Eph.  Williams. 

Colo.  Israel  Williams. 

While  the  Crown  Point  army  lay  at  Fort  Edward,  and  afterwards, 
while  Fort  William  Henry  was  abuilding  and  garrisoned  at  the  head 
of  Lake  George,  Fort  Massachusetts  was  the  chief  half-way  house 
between  the  army  and  the  Connecticut  River  and  Boston,  —  a  sort  of 
rest  and  rendezvous  for  soldiers  going  both  ways,  and  the  principal 
point  of  communication,  bdth  west  and  east,  for  letters  and  expresses 
and  scouts.  The  only  other  way  was  by  Albany  and  the  old  road 
thence  through  Blandford  to  Springfield.  Captain  Wyman  kept 
faithful  and  efficient  watch  and  ward  at  the  old  fort.  The  first  sen- 
tence of  Colonel  Williams's  letter,  just  quoted,  shows  how  the  way 
homewards  looked  to  the  Massachusetts  officers  at  the  Carrying- 
place  :  "  My  other  lett3r  I  was  sending  by  the  way  of  Springfield, 
but  that  minute  I  finished  it,  the  scout  arrived  from  your  fort'' 
(that  is,  the  fort  under  your  military  authority).  The  letters  of 
Surgeon  Williams  to  his  wife  show  the  same  thing:  "I  having  an 
opportunity  to  send  to  Fort  Massachusetts,  improve  it  to  let  you 
hear  from  me,  as  also  the  rest  of  my  friends  there,  if  I  have  any, 
which  I  might  rationally  suspect  I -have  not,  by  not  receiving  any 
tokens  thereof  for  above  a  month  past,  excepting  a  line  from  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Ashley,  which  favor  I  have  a  few  days  since  returned  him 
my  thanks."  And  again,  later:  "I  wrote  a  line  by  Dr.  Mattoon  to 
Dr.  Field,  desiring  him  to  send  two  horses  by  the  first  opportunity 
to  Fort  Massachusetts,  in  order  to  Capt.  Wyman' s  sending  them  to 
Albany."  Surgeon  AVilliams's  letters,  of  which  a  large  number  are 
extant,  indicate  that  he  had  a  much  better  education  than  his 
uterine  brother,  the  Colonel.  He  acquired  a  high  professional  repu- 
tation both  in  the  army  in  several  campaigns,  and  in  Deerfield  and 
vicinity,  where  he  practised  till  his  death,  in  1775 ;  and,  unlike  his 


EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS.  327 

brother,  who  died  unmarried,  he  has  had,  in  successive  generations, 
a  very  large  posterity,  both  direct  (bearing  his  name)  and  in  collat- 
eral branches,  many  of  whom  have  been  distinguished  physicians. 
Dr.  Edward  Jenner  Williams,  who  died  at  Charles  City,  Iowa,  about 
1880,  born  in  Deerheld  in  1823;  his  father.  Dr.  Stephen  W.  Williams, 
born  in  1790,  and  living  his  whole  life  in  Deertield  (1790-1855) ; 
and  his  father,  Dr.  William  Stoddard  Williams  (1762-1828),  son  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Williams,  and  practising  in  Deerfield  till  his  death, 
illustrate  the  heredity  in  the  direct  line.  Dr.  Stephen  W.  is  re- 
ported to  have  said :  "  My  father  was  a  doctor,  my  grandfather  was 
a  doctor,  I  am  a  doctor,  and,  I  swow,  Jenner  shall  be  a  doctor ! " 
Three  of  Dr.  Thomas's  daughters  married  physicians;  and  Dr. 
Timothy  Cliilds,  of  Pittsfield,  and  his  more  distinguished  son,  Dr. 
Henry  W.  Childs,  long  head  of  the  Berkshire  Medical  Institution, 
were  physicians  in  collateral  lines. 

Excepting  that  we  shall  quote  in  full,  a  little  later.  Dr.  Thomas 
Williams's  account  of  the  battle  of  Lake  George,  as  an  eye-witness 
and  participant,  we  here  take  final  leave  of  him  with  the  remark, 
and  the  proof  of  it,  that  he  seems  to  have  been  much  too  favorably 
impressed  with  the  military  abilities  and  resolution  of  his  General, 
the  later  Sir  William  Johnson.  This  impression  was  indeed  shared, 
more  or  less,  by  most  of  the  New  England  officers  in  this  exi)edi- 
tion.  His  brother  had  it,  and  tough  old  Seth  Pomeroy  had  it,  and 
others ;  but  the  verdict  of  history,  which  has  the  marked  advantage 
of  hindsight,  does  not  corroborate  it.  The  Surgeon  writes  to  his 
wife,  just  one  month  after  the  battle,  in  reference  to  General 
Johnson :  — 

I  must  say  he  is  a  complete  gentleman,  &  willing  to  oblige  &  please  all  men, 
familiar  &  free  of  access  to  the  lowest  Centinel,  a  gentleman  of  unconnuon 
smart  sense  &  even  temper  ;  never  yet  saw  him  in  a  ruflBe,  or  use  any  bad  lan- 
guage,—  in  short  I  never  was  so  disappointed  in  a  person  in  the  idea  of  him  I 
had  before  I  came  from  home,  in  my  life ;  to  sum  up  he  is  almost  universally 
beloved  &  esteemed  by  officers  &  soldiers  as  a  second  Marlborough  for  coolness 
of  head  &  warmness  of  heart.  We  are  now  building  a  strong  fortress,  expecting 
to  go  no  further  considering  the  advanced  season  [Oct.  8]  &  difficulty  of  pro- 
visions being  brought  us,  which  is  extremly  great. 

On  August  22  a  serious  and  extended  council  of  war  was  holden 
at  Fort  Edward.  Johnson  had  sent  four  Mohawk  scouts  to  Canada, 
and  they  had  returned  on  the  21st  with  the  report  that  the  French 
were  alive  to  the  situation,  and  that  8000  men  (French  and  Indians) 
were  coming  to  defend  Crown  Point.  The  council  came  to  two  main 
conclusions:   (1)  To  send  back  to  tlie  colonies  for  strong  reinforce- 


328  OKIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

ments ;  and  (2)  to  advance  by  way  of  Lake  George,  and  not  by  way 
of  Wood  Creek.  The  vigor  of  the  call  for  reinforcements  appears 
best  in  the  letter  of  Governor  Phips,  of  Massachusetts,  in  response, 
Governor  Shirley  being  now  in  the  field  as  General-in-Chief.  The 
letter  was  written  to  Colonel  Israel  Williams  at  Hatfield,  who  was 
and  had  been  doing  his  duty  manfully  as  the  general  commander  in 
the  western  part  of  the  province.  We  will  furnish  the  reader  this 
letter  in  full :  — 

Boston,  Aug.  30,  1755. 

Sir,  Last  night  I  received  by  express  a  letter  from  General  Jolinson,  and  a 
result  of  a  Council  of  War  begun  &.  held  at  the  Great  Canying  place  the 
22'!  instant,  by  all  which  it  appears  absolutely  necessary  there  should  be  a  strong 
and  speedy  reinforcement  of  our  Army  against  Crown  Point ;  and  as  your  County 
is  so  much  concerned  in  the  event  of  that  expedition,  &  so  well  spirited  in  pro- 
moting the  same,  I  have  enclosed  you  beating  Orders  and  blank  Commissions 
for  you  to  fill  up,  confiding  in  your  wisdom  and  great  fidelity,  not  doubting  but 
that  you  will  exert  yourself  in  so  critical  a  conjuncture.  The  bounty  money  shall 
be  paid  with  punctuality,  &  the  officers  and  soldiers  be  put  upon  the  same  foot- 
ing with  the  rest  of  our  Forces. 

I  shall  depend  upon  hearing  from  you  touching  the  premises,  as  often  as  the 
importance  of  these  affairs  shall  demand. 

I  am  extreamly  pleased  with  the  Scouting  Party  you  have  destined  for  the 

recovery  of  intelligence  from  the  army  by  w'£li  I  hope  to  hear  from  them  much 

oftener  than  I  could  have  done  any  other  way. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  Humble  Servant,  e    x) 

'  S.  Phips. 

The  decision  of  the  council  as  to  the  route  of  advance  was  no  less 
definite.  They  would  turn  to  the  left  and  go  by  Lake  George, 
although  a  military  road  had  already  been  cut  two-thirds  of  the  way 
to  Wood  Creek,  for  this  best  of  all  reasons,  that  a  boat-journey  down 
the  southern  end  of  Lake  Champlain  through  what  were  then,  and 
are  still,  called  the  "  drowned  lands,"  would  expose  both  their  flanks 
without  the  possibility  of  resistance  to  the  cannon  of  the  French 
army  at  this  moment  advancing  up  the  lake.  Gangs  of  axemen  were 
sent  at  once  to  hew  out  the  new  road ;  four  days  after  the  council 
2000  soldiers  were  ordered  to  the  lake  ;  while  Colonel  Blanchard  of 
New  Hampshire  with  500  men  remained  to  finish  and  defend  the 
new  fort  at  the  Carrying-place.  The  fanners  of  the  province  of  New 
York  had  furnished  a  train  of  Dutch  wagons  to  bear  the  stores  and 
artillery ;  and  while  these  jogged  slowly  over  the  stumps  and  roots 
of  the  new  road,  guarded  by  small  bands  of  soldiers,  the  regiments 
followed  on  at  their  convenience.  Although  there  are  two  small 
islands  in  the  Hudson  directly  west  of  Fort  Edward,  on  the  larger 


EPHRAIM  WILLIA3IS.  329 

of  which  Johnson  had  his  headquarters  while  at  the  Carrying-place, 
and  over  which  the  Saratoga  and  Whitehall  Railroad  now  crosses 
the  river,  the  army  did  not  cross  there,  which  would  involve  another 
crossing  further  up  at  Glen's  Falls,  but  preferred  to  go  straight 
north  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  to  its  great  bend  where  the  village 
of  Sandy  Hill  now  lies,  and  then  to  turn  sharp  west  to  Glen's  Falls, 
thus  avoiding  any  crossing  at  all.  From  Glen's  Falls  to  the  head  of 
the  lake  the  route  was  a  straight  line  bending  a  little  west  of  due 
north.  This  road,  tlien  opened,  has  never  been  abandoned.  A  plank 
road  followed  it  with  scarcely  any  variations  during  the  last  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

Seth  Pomeroy,  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  Williams's  regiment,  in  his 
ill-spelled  journal,  gives  a  pleasing  picture  of  the  way  the  chief 
officers  jogged  along  from  the  fort  to  the  lake.  "  We  went  on  about 
four  or  five  miles  [to  the  sharp  bend  of  the  Hudson  south],  then 
stopped,  ate  pieces  of  broken  bread  and  cheese,  and  drank  some 
fresh  lemon-punch  and  the  best  of  wine  with  General  Johnson  and 
some  of  the  field-officers."  Also  the  next  day:  "Stopped  about 
noon  and  dined  with  General  Johnson  by  a  small  brook  under  a 
tree ;  ate  a  good  dinner  of  cold  boiled  and  roast  venison  ;  drank  good 
lemon-punch  and  wine."  That  afternoon  they  reached  the  head  of 
Lake  George,  fourteen  miles  distant  from  Fort  Edward.  The  axemen 
had  preceded  the  little  army,  and  had  cut  down  the  pine  trees  on  a 
strip  of  rough  ground  reaching  down  to  the  water's  edge,  considerably 
longer  north  and  south,  —  that  is,  alongside  the  new  road,  —  than 
east  and  west,  that  is,  at  right  angles  to  it.  The  tents  were  pitched, 
and  a  considerable  number  of  wooden  storehouses  were  built  among 
the  stumps  of  the  newly  felled  trees.  The  camp  fronted  south, 
towards  ground  gently  rising  up  from  the  lake,  and  covered  with 
a  pitch-pine  forest ;  on  their  right  was  a  marsh,  choked  with  alders 
and  swamjvmaples  ;  on  their  left  lay  the  low,  rocky  hill,  on  which 
Fort  George  was  afterwards  constructed ;  and  in  their  rear  was  the 
peaceful  lake. 

We  will  now  leave  the  army  in  this  their  well-chosen  position  for 
a  little,  in  order  to  bring  up  some  subsidiary  matters  needful  to  the 
comprehension  of  our  story  as  a  whole.  The  Xew  England  men 
were  far  from  home.  Supplies  were  forwarded  from  Albany  with 
great  difficulty.  If  the  army  were  to  reach  Crown  Point  by  the 
lake,  vast  numbers  of  boats  must  be  brought  up  the  river  from 
Albany  to  Fort  Edward,  and  then  carted  across  the  Carrying-place  to 
the  camp.  Boats  began  to  arrive  in  this  way  almost  as  soon  as  the 
camp  was  laid  ont.     Some  were  thrust  out  into  the  edge  of  the  lake 


330  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

and  fastened  to  the  shore,  and  some  were  dumped  down  almost  at 
random,  to  be  used  a  little  afterwards  in  strengthening  the  breast- 
works. Strong  words  had  gone  back  to  New  England  for  reinforce- 
ments, and  a  deep  interest  was  felt  in  the  situation  throughout  the 
towns  of  the  four  provinces.  The  interest  in  the  expedition  had 
been  large  throughout  the  summer ;  but  the  last  Sunday  in  August, 
and  the  first  Sunday  in  September  (the  day  before  the  battle  at  Lake 
George),  had  been  rallying  days  at  home,  as  well  as  solemn  days  in 
camp.  Rev.  Stephen  Williams,  of  Longmeadow,  himself  one  of  the 
"  redeemed  captives  "  of  1704,  now  a  gray-haired  veteran.  Chaplain 
of  his  cousin  Ephraim's  regiment,  preached  in  camp  on  both  these 
Sundays  to  the  gathered  Mohawks  the  first  day,  —  but  how  New 
England  Calvinism  lent  itself  through  an  interpreter  to  Mohawk 
terms  hath  not  come  down  to  us,  — and  on  the  second  day  (September 
7),  to  the  white  soldiers  from  a  text  in  the  prophet  Isaiah.  On  the 
first  of  these  Sundays,  young  Chaplain  Newell  of  the  Ehode  Island 
troops  expounded  in  the  afternoon,  to  the  New  England  men,  a  text 
apparently  untimely,  —  "  Love  your  enemies." 

No  one  can  fairly  estimate  what  a  significant  day  in  the  history 
of  New  England  the  8th  of  September,  1755,  proved  in  the  sequel 
to  be,  who  does  not  glance  at  some  of  the  contemporary  proofs  of 
interest  in  the  expedition  extending  through  the  later  summer 
months.  There  is  a  letter,  for  instance,  from  Dr.  Perez  Marsh,  sur- 
geon's mate  to  Dr.  Thomas  Williams,  the  Surgeon  of  his  brother's 
regiment,  who  married  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  —  a 
letter  written  to  William  Williams,  of  Hatfield,  destined  a  little 
later  to  become,  with  Dr.  Marsh  himself,  the  two  foremost  founders 
and  settlers  of  Dalton  in  this  county. 

Albany,  July  7,  1755. 

Honest  Friend,  You  remember  I  set  out  on  Wednesday.  I  lodged  at  West- 
field  that  night.  Joyn'd  in  Company  about  30.  A  Thursday  to  Stockbridge. 
A  Eryday  after  dinner  to  Canterhook.  A  Saturday  about  noon  to  Albany.  All 
the  Connect*  &  Rhode  Island  Forces  are  arrived,  and  the  most  of  the  Companys 
under  Col'?  Williams,  Ruggles,  &  Titcomb.  The  Govenour  [Shirley]  is  not 
arrived,  nor  any  of  our  stores,  medicines  &c.  The  Commissary's  obliged  to 
borrow  all  the  provisions.  Connecticut  Forces  are  allready  to  march,  and 
Generall  Lyman  is  determin'd  they  shall  set  out  this  weak  at  all  adventures. 
About  five  hundred  of  the  Six  Nations  have  taken  up  the  hatchet  under  General 
Johnson,  the  most  of  them  determined  for  Crown  Point.  The  Catnowagoes 
they  appear  to  be  very  friendly,  and  the  Generall  is  confident  we  shall  meet  with 
no  oppositions  from  them.  By  reason  of  the  tents  not  being  come,  the  soldiers 
lodge  in  barns  at  all  corners  of  the  city.  They  at  present  are  healthy,  but  I  fear 
they  will  not  continue  so,  for  I  see  no  prospect  of  our  marching  this  month. 
No  Governour,  no  stores,  no  medicines,  no  battoes,  at  least  there  is  not  one 


EPHRAIM  "WILLIAMS.  331 

ready  —  there  are  a  number  made  but  not  corked  nor  tared.  They  tell  me  the 
reason  of  their  being  so  slow  in  their  motion  is  because  nobody  hurrys  them. 
There  are  men  enough  in  the  city  understand  the  business,  and  one  of  the  car- 
penters told  me  this  morning  he  was  certain  he  could  have  them  allready  in  five 
days  if  they  could  say  the  word.  I  very  much  fear  the  consequences  of  thus 
delaying  Doct'r  Williams  and  myself.  Lodge  at  the  house  of  one  Mrs.  Wen- 
dell, a  widow  woman  whose  husband  wjvs  brother  to  Col.  Wendell  of  Boston. 
They  are  quite  friendly  &  obliging  old  &  yong.  I  like  the  city  &  the  people  in 
generall  much  better  than  I  expected,  and  believe  them  to  be  as  hearty  in  the 
present  Expedition  as  any  of  us.  They  seem  all  engaged  to  expedite  matters  as 
much  as  possible.  This  is  contrary  to  common  fame,  but  I  must  at  present 
believe  it  (excepting  two  or  three  Gentlemen)  General  Johnson  is  to  be  here 
this  day.  What  determinations  will  he  come  into  after  his  arrival  I  know  not. 
Would  delay  wrighting,  but  the  bearer  sets  out  immediately.  Thus,  S'r,  without 
form  or  connection,  in  a  hurry,  I  have  given  you  an  imperfect  sketch  of  my 
journey,  safe  arrival,  and  the  most  material  things  worthy  of  notice. 

I  am,  S'r,  in  good  health  and  spirits,  after  proper  salutations  to  your  Hon'^ 
Father  and  Mother,  To  the  Rev'^  Mr.  Woodbridge,  Mrs.  Sally  &c.  Your  Sincere 
Friend  &  Most  Obliged  Hum'l  Serv't,  p^^^^  ^^^^^ 

To  Mr.  Will'??  Williams. 

Then  there  is  a  letter  written  about  the  same  time  by  Colonel 
John  Worthington,  of  Springfield,  to  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams, 
which  presents  both  of  them  in  a  pleasing  light,  and  which  serves 
in  part  to  unfold  the  reason  why  Williams,  in  drawing  his  will  in 
Albany  at  just  about  this  time,  made  Worthington  one  of  his  two 
executors.  The  other  was  his  cousin,  Israel  Williams.  These  two 
were  his  most  intimate  friends  ;  and  they  were  also,  in  secular  mat- 
ters, the  two  most  influential  dwellers  in  the  valley  of  the  Connec- 
ticut within  the  limits  of  Massachusetts  at  the  middle  of  the  last 
century.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  founder  of  the  College,  as  it 
was  of  tlie  individuals  of  his  tribe  generally,  to  select  "  the  best " 
that  offered  as  friends  and  companions :  they  came  under  the  sWeep 
of  the  saying,  then  and  still  current  up  and  down  the  Connecticut, 
"  Tell  me  who  your  company  are  and  I  will  tell  you  who  you 
are  " ;  and  there  was  something  good  personally  and  socially,  as  well 
as  something  evil  socially  and  politically,  in  the  general  habits  thus 
engendered.  The  Williamses  and  their  special  confederates  became 
what  were  termed  at  t;he  time  "aristocrats";  and,  lacking  a  true 
fellowship  with  the  masses,  when  the  struggle  with  the  mother 
country  broke  out,  they  took  the  side  of  the  crown  almost  without 
exception.     John  Worthington  writes :  — 

Sir,  I  rec'd  yours  by  L'u't  Taylor.  Am  very  much  oblig'd  to  you  for  your 
care  in  the  favours  I  ask'd  of  you. 

Leut  Taylor  informs  the  officers  here  that  the  present  design  respecting  the 


332  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

soldiers  is  that  they  march  to  Westfield  on  their  tour  to  Albany  &  be  muster' d 
&  receive  the  residue  of  bounty,  wages,  &c  there  at  Westtield.  This  S'l  gives 
them  uneasiness,  very  considerable,  &  if  orders  peremptory  are  given  for  it 
I  am  very  sorry,  &  I  may  S't  say  it  to  you  tho  not  to  them  that  tho  I  am  all 
submission  to  the  wisdom  of  our  Fathers  (if  their  Wisdom  is  in  it)  yet  that  this 
must  needs  be  misjudged.  The  soldiers  ought  in  all  reason  to  have  been  mus- 
ter'd  ten  days  ago,  &  to  have  known  certainly  who  would  be  accepted  &  who 
not,  that  such  as  were  accepted  might  have  had  their  money  to  have  furnished 
themselves  w^  necessary  cloathing  &c  for  their  march,  &  to  have  provided  to 
have  left  their  families  (such  as  have  them)  provided  for  at  home,  for  many 
such  there  are  who  depended  on  their  money  to  do  those  things,  &  will  be 
reduced  to  great  difficulties  without  they  receive  it  in  season,  &  where  they 
can  dispose  of  it  to  these  purposes.  This  sh'^  have  been  done  also  that  such  as 
are  so  unhappy  as  not  to  be  admitted  to  risque  their  lives  for  us,  may  be  saved 
as  much  trouble  as  might  be,  &  be  denied  the  favour  on  the  cheapest  terms. 
It  would  have  been  easy  I  conceive  for  the  Gent'°  commission'd  to  muster 
the  men  to  have  muster'd  them  near  home  seasonably  for  their  being  allowed 
to  return  home  after  muster  for  the  purposes  I  have  mention' d,  &  for  others 
y'-t  might  be  suggested.  I  am  sure  it  could  make  them  but  little  trouble,  nor 
the  Province  but  a  trifling  expense.  The  contrary  I  am  as  sure  will  subject  the 
soldiers  to  difficulties  very  great  and  very  needless,  &  I  am  very  sorry  to  find  that 
any  of  the  men  of  this  respectable  character  (I  mean  soldiers  S'l)  who  deserve 
esteem  &  acknowledgn?ls  from  everybody  where  they  have  out  of  regard  to 
the  public  good  voluntarily  offered  themselves  to  risque  their  lives  &  encounter 
fatigues  &  hardship  in  a  thousand  various  shapes,  that  we  might  some  of  us 
rest  in  ease  &  quiet  at  home,  should  in  any  instance  imagine  they  have  the 
least  colour  to  suspect  they  are  subjected  to  any  one  additional  inconvenience 
that  is  not  necessary  for  the  publick  service. 

If  this  matter  can  be  otherwise  I  am  certain  it  will  be  a  great  favour  to  the 
men,  but  if  it  cannot  they  must  bear  it  as  it  comes,  &  we  will  endeavor  to  relieve 
&  quiet  them  under  it  as  well  as  may  be, 

I  am,  Sir,  with  great  respect  for  you  in  every  charact'r,  but  especially  now 
in  that  of  a  soldier, 

Your  very  humble  Servant  and  Sincere  Friend, 

J.  WORTHINGTON. 

CoL.  Eph?  Williams. 
Springf'P-,  June  15,  1755. 

It  is  no  inconvenience  to  the  men  to  have  their  blankets  &  knapsacks  [kept 
back],  but  the  contrary,  but  as  to  their  money  it  is  much  otherwise. 

There  is  also  an  illuminating  letter,  that  belongs  here,  from  Israel 
Williams,  co-executor  with  John  Worthington  of  Ephraim's  will,  a 
will  not  yet  a  month  old,  but  already  hastening  towards  its  probate, 
a  letter  that  lets  us  more  deeply  into  the  personal  and  patriotic 
affections  of  "  ye  monarch  of  Hampshire  "  than  perhaps  any  other 
one  of  a  long  series.  The  details  of  Braddock's  defeat,  and  its 
points  of  application  to  the  Crown  Point  expedition,  had  not  then 


EPHRAIM  WILLIAMS.  333 

been  ascertained  on  the  Connecticut,  as  they  were  by  this  time  thor- 
oughly known  at  the  Great  Carrying-place;  and  yet  the  present  reader 
will  observe  how  prompt  Colonel  Israel  was  to  draw  the  lesson  of  the 
Monongahela,  and  to  exhort  the  parties  immediately  concerned  on  the 
upper  Hudson  to  apply  to  themselves  the  fore-thrusting  precautions. 
''  I  am  extremely  concerned  for  you  and  the  forces  with  you,  and 
beg  you  to  take  all  necessary  precautions,  and  if  you  want  help  let  us 
know  it.  If  Braddock  is  lost,  it  will  be  ye  greatest  folly  for  iSIaj'r 
Gen-  Shirley  to  proceed,  and  hope  you  will  join  and  be  joined  with  a 
gr^^ater  number  of  troops  and  proceed  directly  for  Canada."  The  fol- 
lowing letter,  taken  as  a  whole,  presents  the  Hatfield  Colonel  to  us 
in  such  a  natural  and  favorable  light,  that  we  are  glad  to  take  formal 
leave  of  him  while  dwelling  on  the  traits  presented  here,  as  a  vigilant 
commander  of  men,  a  wise  military  counsellor,  a  warm  personal 
friend,  and  a  loving  father  of  a  family.  Five  years  before  this  we 
have  seen  him  intriguing  persistently,  almost  malignantly,  against 
his  great  cousin,  Jonathan  Edwards,  his  neighbor  in  Northampton ; 
fifteen  years  after  this,  we  might  find  him  taking  strong  sides  for 
King  and  Parliament  against  another  great  cousin,  Joseph  Hawley, 
who  was  slowly  organizing  the  patriotic  forces  of  the  valley  to  co-op- 
erate with  similar  forces  on  the  seaboard  under  the  lead  of  Samuel 
Adams ;  but  we  choose  to  take  historical  leave  of  him,  though  we 
shall  casually  cross  his  path  again,  penning  this  friendly  letter  of 
caution  and  counsel  to  still  another  cousin,  five  years  his  junior,  con- 
stantly cared  for  by  him  as  a  son. 

Hatfield,  Aug'l  7,  1755. 

Sir,  The  enemy  are  still  very  thick  in  y«  frontiers,  destroying  our  people  and 
their  substance.  A  particular  acc'^  you  will  have  by  Col.  Willard  or  others. 
And  if  Gen'l  Braddock  is  disappointed  I  expect  ye  French  will  take  courage,  and 
by  their  Indians  press  us  much  harder,  as  ye  forces  belonging  to  New  Hampshire 
are  come  away  from  their  Frontiers.  The  Inhabitants  above  y«  line  will  be 
imprison'd  in  their  fjjarrisons,  and  y?  Indians  will  come  lower  for  game  I  expect 
very  soon.  I  should  be  {?lad  to  hear  you  are  mov'd  from  Albany  and  like  to  do 
business.  I  am  extreemly  concerned  for  you  &  the  Forces  with  you,  &  begg  you 
to  take  all  necessary  precautions,  and  if  you  want  help  let  us  know  it.  If  Brad- 
dock is  lost  it  will  be  ye  greatest  folly  for  MajT  Genl  Shirley  to  proceed,  and 
hope  you  will  join  and  be  joined  with  a  greater  number  of  troops  &  proceed 
directly  for  Canada.  We  hear  the  Regency  upon  ye  rec't  of  Admiral  Boscawen's 
Express  imediately  ordered  20  more  ships  of  ye  line  to  Nova  Scotia.  What  is 
doing  or  what  orders  may  be  sent  I  dont  know.  Hope  for  ye  best,  and  if  possi- 
ble some  past  mistakes  will  be  rectified. 

Our  Gen'l  Court  sits  this  week  —  for  what,  I  dont  know.  I  tho't  it  was  more 
duty  for  me  to  take  care  of  y«  Frontiers.  Give  my  service  to  Gen'l  Johnson, 
and  tell  him  that  if  he  woud  send  out  some  of  his  Mohawks  with  directions  to 
speak  with  ye  French  Indians,  &  tell  'em  our  designs,  and  that  unless  they 


334  OEIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

return'd,  &  left  off  harassing  us,  they  might  possibly  be  oblig'd  to  pay  part  of  ye 

reckoning,  they  might  bethink  themselves  &  not  pursue  us  so  violently,  and 

much  bloodshed  be  prevented  —  this  way  they  might  do  much  good  for  New 

England.     The  French  doubtless  secrete  things  from  'em.     We  at  home  are  thro 

mercy  well.    Biller  &  Sister  gone  to  Boston. 

I  am  your  Afft£  Hum3  Ser'*, 

/-(       T7I     A17-  ,,^  IsR.  Williams. 

Col.  Ep.  Williams. 

"  Posterity  delights  in  details/'  said  John  Quincy  Adams,  presuma- 
bly in  relation  to  his  own  minute  diary,  kept  throughout  an  exceed- 
ingly busy  life,  and  since  published  as  if  to  test  and  verify  the 
dictum.  A  firm  persuasion  that  there  will  always  be  those  in  every 
generation  who  will  be  glad  to  see  all  accessible  data  throwing  light 
upon  the  life  and  service  of  the  founder  of  this  town  and  College, 
has  colored  the  construction  of  the  present  chapter  throughout ; 
authentic  details  have  been  given  wherever  they  have  been  found, 
and  illustrative  documents  have  been  copied  at  length  and  arranged 
in  historic  order;  and  the  same  considerations  now  determine  the 
quotation  in  full  of  the  last  pecuniary  account  passing  between 
Ephraim  Williams  and  his  native  province  of  Massachusetts,  which 
he  served  in  a  public  capacity  almost  uninterruptedly  from  1744  to 
1755.  The  final  account,  as  here  presented,  relates  solely  to  the 
raising  and  equipping  and  marching  and  paying  his  new  regiment, 
recruited  expressly  for  the  Crown  Point  expedition,  and  led  by  him 
to  Albany,  there  to  unite  with  other  forces  from  New  England  and 
New  York,  all  under  the  immediate  command  of  General  William 
Johnson,  soon  to  be  knighted;  himself,  however,  subordinate  after 
Braddock's  death  to  Governor  and  General  William  Shirley. 

It  is  plain  by  all  the  papers  left  behind  him  by  Colonel  Williams, 
and  especially  from  the  details  of  his  last  will  and  testament,  that 
he  '^  was  fond  of  money,"  as  that  phrase  has  long  been  current  in 
New  England,  to  express  at  once  power  and  zeal  in  acquisition,  and 
some  ostentation  in  expenditure.  In  these  and  nearly  all  other 
traits  of  character,  he  belonged  emphatically  to  the  Williams  family. 
There  was  no  such  other  family  in  New  England  during  the  eighteenth 
century  as  that  constituted  by  the  descendants  of  Robert  Williams, 
of  Eoxbury,  who  died  Sept.  1,  1693.  This  Eobert  left  a  very  con- 
siderable estate  by  will,  mainly  to  his  three  sons.  The  same  is  true 
of  one  of  these  sons,  Isaac,  who  died  in  1708.  The  elder  Ephraim 
Williams,  son  of  Isaac,  was  a  man  of  large  property  for  the  times, 
acquired  by  assiduity  and  enterprise.  Quite  a  number  of  associated 
lines  of  descent  under  the  Williams  name  exhibited  the  same  traits  : 
inheriting   and  acquiring  wealth,  they  displayed  it  freely  in  the 


EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS.  335 

fashions  of  the  times ;  they  were  quite  select  in  their  associations 
and  intermarriages  ;  they  were  fond,  as  a  rule,  of  public  office,  — 
of  its  emoluments  and  display  ;  they  esteemed  themselves  to  be  "  of 
the  best,"  and  were  regarded  by  their  neighbors  as  *'  aristocratical " 
in  their  tastes  and  tendencies ;  they  were  almost  all  of  them  pro- 
fessedly religious  men,  i^erhaps  as  prominent  in  church  as  in  state ; 
and  several  of  them,  for  whom  Elisha  Williams,  Kector  of  Yale 
College  (1726-39),  may  stand  sponsor,  were  remarkable  for  preach- 
ing power  and  for  long  pastorates  in  the  best  places.  As  a  family, 
though  widely  scattered  locally,  each  branch  and  individual  stood 
up  for  the  personal  and  political  preferment  of  other  branches  and 
individuals  in  a  manner  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  New  England. 
As  a  single  instance  of  this,  in  a  small  way,  let  us  see  how  Colonel 
Ephraim  Williams  organized  his  own  personal  staff  in  the  Crown 
Point  expedition.  He  had  raised  his  own  regiment  for  the  occasion, 
in  virtue  of  his  great  popularity  in  Hampshire,  and  by  an  appeal  to 
his  old  soldiers  in  the  line  of  forts,  who  had  served  under  him,  more 
or  less,  for  ten  years  past.  He  appointed  his  own  brother,  Thomas, 
just  three  years  younger.  Surgeon;  Perez  Marsh,  who  married  Sarah 
AVilliams,  Colonel  Israel's  eldest  daughter,  Surgeon's  Mate;  William 
Williams,  called  in  all  the  letters  of  the  time  "Billy,"  eldest  son  of 
Colonel  William  Williams,  of  Pittstield,  Surgeon's  Mate's  Assistant; 
Rev.  Stephen  Williams,  of  Longmeadow,  C/ia/^/a/>i ;  another  William 
Williams,  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  Solomon,  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut, — 
twenty-one  years  afterwards  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence,—  was  Colonel  Ephraim's  Adjutant,  or  Quartermaster ;  and 
his  half-brother,  Josiah,  was  Ensign  in  one  of  the  ten  companies, 
and  was  fearfully  wounded  in  the  battle. 

Dr.     The  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  to  Col?  Ephraim  Williams. 

To  raising  406  private  men  a  4  dollars  p'r  man £487    4 

To  cash  del^  Col?  Clapp  to  raise  a  Company  as  pr  his  receipt  will 

appear 163    4 

To  cash  deW  Col?  Partridge  Muster-Master  for  the  County  of 
Hampsh?  for  420  private  men  —  2  dollars  bounty  for  eacli 
man's  finding  his  gun  &  £1  6  8  pr  man  for  his  month's 
adv?«  pay 812    0 

To  marching  Capt.  Doolittle's,  Capt.  Ingersoll's  and  my  own 
Company  from  their  respective  homes  to  the  place  of  muster 
in  the  County  of  Hampsh?^ 30    0 

To  marching  Col?.  Pomeroy's,  Capt.  Hawley's,  Capt.  Porter's, 
Capt.  Doolittle's  &  my  own  Company  from  Northampton, 
Hatf^,  Deerf^  to  Albany  each  man  being  allowed  0  days  for 
his  march 85    0 


336 


ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


To  marching  Capt.  Hitchcock's  Comp?:  ad  6  days  allowance  — 

pard  pd  the  Capt.  and  part  pd  Lieutenant  Taylor     ....  £  17     0 
To  march'g  Capt.  Burt's  Comp.  to  Albany — part  pd  the  Capt. 

and  part  Lieut.  Taylor  a  7  days  allowance 20    0 

To  mustering  eight  men  &  paying  them  £1  18  8  pr  man  for  find- 
ing their  own  arms  and  for  their  advance  pay 15    9    4 

To  powder  for  their  march  to  Albany  8/4 8    4 

To  inlisting  406  men  a  1/6  p  man 30    9 

To  marching  Maj.  Ashley's  Company  a  3  days  allowance   ...  8  10 

To  supplying  with  blankets  in  ye  whole  fifteen 8    0 

To  a  Month's  advance  pay  to  ofl&cers 184    1     1 

Harrison  Gray,  Esqn,  Dr.  to  a  mistake  in  ye  money  sent  to  Col. 

Pomeroy 3    5 

To  two  Inlistments  more  a  62/8  p  1  a  50/8 5  12     4 

To  pd  Lieut.  Rolf  for  the  inlistment  of  one  man  1/6  and  for  his 

travel  to  Albany  after  ye  settlement  of  ye  above  accot  11/4,  12  10 

£1870    3     1 
To  pd.  EnsB  Pixley  for  his  march  to  Albany  3  days  3/5  and  also 

for  finding  his  own  blanket  12/  after  ye  settlem*  as  afores^,  15    5 

£1871  11  4 
Creds. 

By  Cash  to  inlist  500  men £600  0  0 

By  warrant  for  Bounty  &  adv^  pay 937  17  10 

By  a  warrant  to  march  my  men  and  advance  pay 200  0  0 

By  a  warrant  for  advance  pay  for  officers 184  1  1 

By  a  warrant  for  pay  for  23  Blankets 12  5  0 

£1934    3  11 
1870    3     1 

Ball??  due  to  the  Provin?? 64    0  10 

1     8    3 

[Some  errors  in  the  figures]     Due £62  12     7 

The  above  Ace?  I  Certifie  to  be  a  true  account  according  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge. 

Eph.  Williams. 
Albany,  July  16,  1755. 


It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  an  important  council  of  war, 
held  at  Fort  Edward  on  the  22d  of  August,  decided  on  the  future 
route  of  the  expedition,  and  also  to  request  instant  reinforcements 
of  the  several  governments  represented  in  the  army.  This  was  by 
much  the  most  important  council  of  war  ever  attended  by  Colonel 
Ephraim  Williams,  or  ever  held  at  any  stage  of  the  Crown  Point 
expedition.  The  proofs  are  strong  that  Williams  possessed  the 
complete  confidence  of  General  Johnson.  For  reasons  never  fully 
cleared  up,  there  was  some  lack  of  harmony  and  co-operation  between 


EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS.  337 

Johnson  and  Lyman  of  Connecticut,  who  was  the  second  in  com- 
mand :  the  renovated  fort  at  the  Carrying-place  was  named,  at  lirst, 
*'  Fort  Lyman,"  and  very  properly  so,  for  the  renovation  was  made 
under  his  own  direction ;  and  the  reason  for  the  continuance  of  the 
name  was  emphasized  by  Lyman's  great  skill  and  courage  at  the  battle 
of  Lake  George,  where  he  was  the  real  commander  on  the  English 
side,  Johnson  having  been  wounded  at  the  outset  of  the  fight,  and 
kept  thereafter  in  his  tent ;  but  in  Johnson's  official  and  extended 
account  of  the  battle  to  the  respective  provincial  governors,  Lyman's 
name  is  not  even  mentioned,  and  Johnson  soon  after  gave  to  the 
fort  the  name  which  the  locality  still  bears,  "  Fort  Edward,"  from 
one  of  the  boys  of  the  royal  family  of  England. 

We  are  now  to  quote  in  full  the  last  letter,  apparently,  that 
Ephraim  AVilliams  ever  wrote.  The  original  is  endorsed  to  this 
effect  by  its  recipient,  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  of  Hatfield.  It  was 
written  from  what  is  now  Fort  Edward,  on  the  23d  of  August,  1755, 
just  sixteen  days  before  the  death  of  the  writer.  It  carries  a  serious 
and  earnest  and  patriotic  and  comprehensive  and  disinterested  tone. 
The  letter  is  worthy  of  the  man,  the  cause,  the  environment.  There 
is  in  it  much  of  the  soldier,  something  of  the  statesman,  and  a  great 
deal  of  the  neighbor  and  counsellor  and  friend.  Let  us  read  the 
lines  and  between  them. 

From  the  Camp  at  ye  great  Carrying  place, 
Aug't  23,  1766. 

Sir,  By  the  information  Gen'"  Johnson  has  obtained  from  Canada,  the  whole 
body  of  the  Indians,  and  all  the  strength  that  [they]  can  raise,  will  undoubtedly 
meet  us.  I  suppose  that  the  Indians  in  the  French  interest,  as  well  as  the  Eng- 
lish, will  be  very  much  affected  by  the  success  of  this  army.  The  defeat  of 
Braddock  has  had  such  effect  on  them  that  their  has  not  yet  above  sixty  joined 
us,  tho'  more  are  expected,  &  all  tho'  they  say  they  are  our  Brothers  and  will 
live  and  die  with  us,  I  should  not  choose  to  venture  my  life  with  much  depend- 
ence on  them,  for  anything  but  intelligence,  unless  we  could  raise  in  them  some 
confidence  of  success.  I  can't  but  think  to  lie  still  will  have  a  bad  effect  on 
y™,  and  give  great  advantage  to  the  French.  We  have  therefore  resolved,  at  a 
council  of  all  the  field  officers,  to  march  by  the  way  of  Lake  St.  Saccrement,  and 
to  immediately  open  a  road  there,  and  build  a  very  strong  fort,  sufficient  to 
stand  a  regular  siege,  which  will  doubtless  be  done  soon  enough  to  take  Crown 
Point,  before  winter,  if  sufficient  reinforcements  should  join  us  without  loss  of 
time,  and  from  there  we  can  have  constant  intelligence  of  the  state  of  ye  French 
army,  and  shall  march  against  yn?  from  thence,  as  soon  as  we  shall  judge  it  safe, 
considering  the  vast  importance  of  success.  The  reason  of  chusing  that  road 
rather  than  Wood  Creek,  is  because  the  way  down  the  Drawned  Land  is  such 
y't  a  few  French,  with  a  battery  of  Cannon,  might  stave  us  to  pieces,  when  we 
could  not  get  to  shore  to  attack  them. 


338  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

By  the  Lake  it's  said  the  road  is  good  both  by  water  and  land,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Lake,  but  we  must  land  20  miles  on  this  side  the  Narrows  called 
Tenondorogo  [literal],  and  draw  the  cannon  by  land.  There  is  400  men  at 
work  to  open  the  road,  and  on  Sat, day  next  we  expect  to  set  out  with  2000  to 
finish  the  road  to  said  Lake,  and  shall  build  as  above,  and  also  shall  take  along 
half  the  artillery.  The  Council  of  War  are  fully  of  opinion  that  we  must  take 
them  winter  or  summer,  and  are  unanimously  willing  to  venter  on  and  continue, 
till  the  work  is  done,  viewing  our  all  to  be  at  stake.  And  we  think  there  is 
time  enough  if  the  recruits  are  sent  quick,  for  it  will  probably  take  but  a  short 
time,  when  we  march  from  the  next  stage.  We  are  all  willing  to  venture  our 
lines  as  far  as  the  good  of  our  country  calls  us,  and  have  no  fears  of  success,  if 
we  are  soon  joined  by  a  sufficient  number  of  men,  which  may  be  supported  here 
till  provition  may  be  sent  after  the  army.  We  have  agreed  to  support  the 
N.  Hamp'se  troops  untill  they  can  be  provided  for,  not  being  able  to  march 
without  y"i. 

The  several  Governments  are  to  be  at  their  proportionable  part.  Whether 
the  [Court]  Sets  or  not  am  not  able  to  say.  But  beg  when  it  does  set  y't  you 
have  Colo.  Partridge  to  take  care  of  the  Frontiers,  &  go  to  Boston.  I  refer 
you  to  Genrl  Johnson's  letter  to  Gov.r  Phips  for  a  more  perticular  information. 
As  ye  Council  did  not  think  it  proper  to  fix  upon  any  number  of  men,  yet  it  was. 
agreed  we  might  wright  to  our  friends  our  opinion,  which  is  y't  the  jobs  will  not 
be  done  short  of  10000  or  12000  men.  We  have  not  above  3000  effective  men  in 
the  whole,  including  New  Hampshire  troops.  You  must  remember  we  have 
often  said  it  would  take  as  many  men  to  take  Crown  point  as  Canada,  without 
their  strength  could  be  devided.  Had  Braddock,  Shirley  and  we  struck  at  same 
time,  it  might  have  answered  to  have  proceeded  with  our  number.  But  y't  is 
over,  and  if  we  should  be  beat,  our  country  is  lost.  Therefore  suffer  me  once 
for  all  to  beg  of  you  to  exert  you  self  for  your  country  —  it's  upon  the  brink  of 
ruin.  It's  who  shall  remember  Sr  what  King  William  said,  when  the  case  of  the 
Dutch  was  prity  much  the  same  with  our's  —  I  pray  God  unite  your  Councils, 
and  show  the  world  you  are  true  patriots  of  your  Country,  and  give  to  us  ta 
behave  as  becomes  Englishmen. 

I  am,  Sr,  your  Hon'r's  most  obed't  Humble  Serv't, 

Colo.  Israel  Williams.  Eph.  Williams. 

P.S.  I  should  of  wrote  to  my  good  friends  Worthington  and  Partridge,  but  as- 
you  are  all  together  at  Springfield,  this  would  answer.  Being  also  desired  by  the 
Gen'J  to  wright  to  several  members  of  the  House,  I  had  but  little  time  to  spare. 
E.  W.     I  send  my  best  compliments  to  all  inquiring  friends. 

The  same  day  this  letter  was  written  by  Colonel  Ephraim  Wil- 
liams, Dr.  Thomas  Williams,  his  owm  brother  and  Surgeon  of  the 
regiment,  wrote  a  letter  from  the  same  place  to  his  Avife  in  Deerfield, 
as  follows :  — 

From  the  Camp  at  the  Carrying  Place, 
Aug.  23,  1755. 

My  Dear :  I  having  an  opportunity  to  send  to  Fort  Massachusetts,  improve  it 
to  let  you  hear  from  me,  as  also  the  rest  of  my  friends  there,  if  I  have  any 


BPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  339 

which  I  might  rationally  expect  I  have  not,  by  not  receiving  any  tokens  thereof 
for  above  a  month  past,  excepting  a  line  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ashley,  which  favor 
I  have  a  few  days  since  returned  him  my  thanks.  I  am  now  at  the  same  place  I 
was  20  days  agone.  The  Expedition  goes  on  very  slowly,  in  some  expectation  of 
marching  two  days  hence  to  Lake  St.  Sacrament  [Lake  George],  as  they  have 
this  day  begun  to  open  a  road  that  way,  not  being  to  find  one  any  other.  I 
suppose  the  several  governments  are  sent  to,  to  reinforce  us  with  more  men, 
which  I  hope  will  be  cheerfully  complied  with,  if  they  desire  we  shall  be  suc- 
cessful against  Crownt  Point.  My  compliments  to  Major  Williams,  let  him 
know  I  expect  he  will,  agreeable  to  his  promise,  be  here  with  some  of  his  first 
recruits.  Saving  a  too  great  laxness  of  my  bowels,  which  is  common  in  the 
army,  I  am  in  considerable  health.  Want  very  much  to  hear  from  you  and  the 
dear  children,  who  are  often  in  my  mind.  Our  army  in  general  pretty  healthy, 
not  having  more  than  20  of  the  Province  forces  in  the  Hospital,  &  but  one  or  two 
dangerous,  have  lost  three  of  our  troops,  who  died  at  the  flats,  ere  they  [sic] 
reached  this  place.  Capt.  Kellogg  died  at  Schenectady  last  MoiniMv  ifti.r  an 
illness  of  15  days.     Fever  and  Dysentery. 

Your  affectionate  Husband 

Thqs  Williams. 

This  Captain  Joseph  Kellogg,  referred  to  here  by  the  surgeon,  was 
one  of  the  Deerfield  children  carried  captive  to  Canada  in  1704,  a 
sack  and  capture  made  doubly  famous  by  the  "  Redeemed  Captive," 
written  by  the  Rev.  John  Williams,  then  pastor  and  principal  man 
in  Deerfield,  and  another  account  written  by  his  son,  Stephen  AVil- 
liams,  a  boy  not  quite  eleven  years  old,  when  he  began  to  share  his 
father's  captivity,  Feb.  29,  1704.  In  this  Crown  Point  expedition, 
Stephen  Williams,  then  pastor  at  Longmeadow,  was  the  Chaplain  of 
Colonel  Ephraim  Williams's  regiment,  sixty-two  years  old.  Besides 
his  pastoral  labors  at  Longmeadow,  which  continued  from  1716  to 
1782,  he  was  mucli  in  the  public  service,  for  example,  Interpreter  for 
Governor  Belcher  in  the  Indian  treaty  at  Deerfield  in  1735  ;  Chaplain 
under  Pepperell  in  the  Louisburg  expedition  in  1746;  and  again 
Chaplain  under  General  Winslow  to  the  northward  in  1756. 

There  were  two  immemorial  Indian  trails  leading  from  what  is 
now  Fort  Edward  to  Ticonderoga:  the  first,  running  nearly  due 
north  soon  struck  Wood  Creek,  which  drops  into  the  head  of  Lake 
Champlain  at  Whitehall ;  the  second,  turning  sharp  west  at  what  is 
now  Sandy  Hill,  and  at  Glen's  Falls  (now  so-called),  leaving  the 
Hudson  for  a  straight  course  northward  to  the  head  of  Lake  George. 
It  is  thirteen  miles  from  Fort  Edward  to  the  head  of  this  lake ;  and 
just  about  the  same  distance  to  a  ix)int  on  Wood  Creek  navigable  for 
that  sort  of  boats  with  which  the  expedition  of  1755  was  provided. 
Johnson  and  his  officers  had  been  quite  too  slow  in  deciding  which 
of  these  routes  to  take.     A  road  was  first  begun  to  Wood  Creek ; 


340  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

then  it  was  countermanded  for  the  excellent  reason  that  both  shores 
that  way  were  low  and  marshy,  and  that  the  French,  known  to  be 
coming  up  the  lake  to  defend  Crown  Point,  and  who  might  well 
come  further  south  (as  actually  happened),  could  easily,  with  a  few 
cannon  placed  on  some  rising  ground,  blow  the  expedition  out  of  the 
stream,  and  they  be  helpless  to  land  and  defend  themselves  ;  and  so 
they  began  to  open  a  road  in  the  other  direction  on  the  23d  of  August, 
over  a  dry  and  sandy  country  covered  for  the  most  part  with  dwarf 
pines.  The  reason  why  the  locality  at  Fort  Edward  was  so  long 
called  the  "  Great  Carrying-Place,"  is,  that  boats  and  their  belong- 
ings had  to  be  carried  by  one  or  other  of  these  two  ways  over  the 
watershed  dividing  the  Hudson  and  its  tributaries  from  the  two 
narrow  lakes  and  their  tributaries,  flowing  northward  to  their  union 
at  Ticonderoga.  Gangs  of  axemen  were  sent  forward  to  cut  down 
the  pines  close  to  the  ground,  and  remove  such  other  obstructions 
as  they  could ;  and  the  road  thus  made  has  continued  for  the  most 
part  till  this  day  to  be  the  travelled  way  from  Glen's  Falls  to  Cald- 
well, at  the  head  of  the  lake.  When  the  plank  road  was  laid  over 
the  sand  not  far  from  1850,  it  was  found  better  to  abandon  that 
stretch  of  the  old  military  road  that  ran  through  the  rocky  ambush- 
ground  in  which  Colonel  Williams  and  his  comrades  were  killed,  for 
a  more  level  lay  of  land  a  little  to  the  eastward. 

Accordingly,  on  the  26th  of  August,  2000  men  were  ordered  over 
the  new  road  to  the  lake,  while  Colonel  Blanchard,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, was  left  with  500  to  complete  and  maintain  Fort  Lyman. 
Parts  of  two  days  were  occupied  to  reach  their  camp  on  the  lake- 
shore.  On  the  march  they  had  fronted  north ;  but  as  the  lake  was 
the  best  possible  defence  for  their  rear,  their  camp  was  laid  looking 
to  the  south,  and  the  tents  were  pitched  among  the  stumps  along 
the  edge  of  the  lake,  on  a  piece  of  rough  and  rising  and  partly 
swampy  ground.  In  their  front  were  the  pine  woods,  through 
which  they  had  just  come  over  their  newly  made  road;  on  their 
right  was  a  considerable  marsh,  making  a  good  defence  on  that 
flank ;  and  on  their  left  was  higher  and  better  ground,  over  much  of 
which  the  native  rock  comes  to  the  surface.  The  present  writer  has 
studied  carefully,  at  several  different  times,  the  lay  of  this  ground, 
the  location  of  the  original  and  later  roads  leading  to  it,  and 
especially  the  so-called  ''  bloody  pond "  and  the  seat  of  the  Indian 
ambush  of  1755,  about  three  miles  to  the  south  of  the  lake.  Noth- 
ing in  the  whole  region  has  been  changed  much  in  the  long  interval 
of  time  since  1755,  except  the  camp-ground  on  the  rim  of  the  lake. 
There  the  building  of  Fort  William  Henry  in  the  autumn  of  that 


EPHRAEM   WILLIAMS.  341 

year ;  still  more  the  building  of  Hotel  Fort  William  Henry,  more 
than  a  century  afterwards,  on  the  same  site ;  and,  most  of  all,  the 
building  of  a  railroad  and  its  appurtenances,  about  1880,  right  across 
the  old  cami>-ground  and  battle-field,  have  hopelessly  disfigured 
(except  to  one  skilled  to  pick  the  old  out  of  the  new)  this  most 
interesting  stretch  of  ground. 

Notwithstanding  the  Crown  Point  expedition  was  wholly  an  offen- 
sive one,  in  which  everything  depended  on  celerity  and  vigilance,  — 
designed  to  assault  and  capture  a  fort  on  the  Point  that  the  French 
first  built  in  1731,  —  everything  moved  forward  in  a  leisurely,  happy- 
go-lucky  manner,  because  General  Johnson  knew  nothing  of  civilized 
warfare,  and  had  received  his  command  solely  on  account  of  his 
great  influence  over  the  Six  Nations,  of  whom,  nevertheless,  fewer 
than  300  rallied  to  the  expedition ;  while  the  French,  under  Baron 
Dieskau,  who  had  learned  war  under  the  famous  Marshal  Saxe,  were 
alert  and  swift  and  brave  and  skilled.  Dieskau  reached  Crown 
Point  at  the  head  of  3573  men  —  regulars  and  Canadians  and 
Indians  —  about  the  time  that  Johnson's  camp  was  laid  at  the  lake; 
but  he  had  no  thought  of  waiting  there  to  be  attacked.  With  short 
delay  he  moved  on  with  nearly  all  his  force,  light-weighted,  to 
Ticonderoga,  a  promontory  at  the  junction  of  lakes  George  and 
Champlain,  commanding  perfectly  both  of  the  two  routes,  by  one  of 
which  Johnson  must  strike  at  Crown  Point,  if  at  all.  Dieskau  did 
not  know  precisely  where  Johnson's  army  was,  but  he  was  led  to 
believe  that  it  still  lay  (at  least  a  part  of  it,  which  was  true)  at 
Fort  Lyman.  At  noon  of  the  4th  of  September,  leaving  a  part  of 
his  force  at  Ticonderoga,  he  embarked  216  French  regulars,  684 
Canadians,  and  about  600  Indians,  in  canoes,  and,  taking  the  east- 
erly water,  he  pushed  up  the  narrow  prolongation  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  through  what  are  called  the  "drowned  lands,"  towards  the 
spot  where  Whitehall  now  stands.  Just  a  little  way  above  that 
point,  he  turned  to  his  right  into  deeper  water,  then,  as  now,  called 
South  Bay.  This  led  them  southwest,  in  an  almost  direct  line, 
towards  the  head  of  Lake  George.  They  landed  at  the  head  of 
South  Bay,  left  their  canoes  under  a  guard  in  a  brook  that  drops 
into  it,  and  started  their  march  southward  through  the  forest,  just 
about  midway  between  W^ood  Creek  and  Lake  George.  Two  days 
more  brought  them  athwart  the  new  road  leading  from  Fort  Lyman 
to  the  head  of  Lake  George,  only  three  miles  from  the  former  post. 
Here  Dieskau  learned  from  a  captured  wagoner  that  a  large  English 
force  lay  encamped  at  the  lake.  His  wish  and  will  was  still  to 
strike  and  capture  Fort  Lyman,  and  thus  put  himself  directly  in  the 


342  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

rear  of  the  entire  expedition,  trusting  to  his  force  left  at  Ticon- 
deroga  to  keep  the  English  between  two  fires,  to  their  military 
destruction.  But  his  Indians  now  held  a  council  after  their  man- 
ner, and  soon  announced,  as  the  result  of  it,  that  they  would  not 
attack  the  fort,  which  they  supposed  was  well  mounted  with  cannon, 
but  were  willing  to  help  attack  the  open  camp  at  the  lake.  Dieskau 
remonstrated  in  vain,  and  then  yielded  with  the  best  grace  he  could. 
This  was  Sunday,  the  7tli  of  September. 

That  Sunday  was  kept  at  the  lake  after  the  New  England  man- 
ner, except  that  200  wagons  came  up  from  Fort  Lyman  loaded 
with  boats.  The  already  venerable  Stephen  Williams,  Chaplain  of 
Colonel  Williams's  regiment,  preached  to  the  assembled  soldiers  from 
a  text  in  the  prophet  Isaiah.  The  Sunday  before,  he  had  preached 
to  the  Mohawks  in  camp  through  an  interpreter.  About  sunset  an 
Indian  scout  came  in,  and  reported  the  important  news,  that  he 
had  found  the  trail  of  a  body  of  soldiers  moving  from  South  Bay 
towards  Fort  Lyman.  General  Johnson  called  for  a  volunteer  to 
carry  a  Avarning  to  Colonel  Blanchard.  A  brave  wagoner  named 
Adams  galloped  off  with  the  letter,  but  he  never  reached  Fort  Ly- 
man.    Sentries  were  posted,  and  the  soldiers  went  quietly  to  sleep. 

A  good  idea  of  the  ground,  and  of  the  way  their  tents  were 
pitched  that  night  and  on  the  eventful  morrow,  may  be  gained  from 
the  annexed  woodcut,  taken  from  the  original  "  Prospective  Plan," 
made  at  the  time  by  Samuel  Blodget,  an  eye-witness  of  all  that  he 
carefully  describes  as  well  as  pictorially  illustrates.  If  the  reader 
will  imagine  himself  standing  at  the  lower  right-hand  corner  of  this 
picture,  all  will  be  easy  to  him.  He  fronts  the  west,  with  the  edge 
of  the  lake,  in  which  the  boats  are  represented  to  lie,  on  his  right 
towards  the  north ;  on  his  left,  towards  the  south  is  a  low  rise  of 
ground,  with  smooth  rock  coming  to  the  surface  for  the  most  part, 
and  so  nearly  destitute  of  trees ;  on  his  front  lies  the  camp,  irreg- 
ular and  inconvenient  on  account  of  gullies  and  swampy  ground 
near  the  rim  of  the  lake,  into  which  they  drain,  and  marked  ''  19  " 
on  the  plan;  the  collection  of  tents  nearest  to  him  in  front  marked 
''33,"  is  Colonel  Harris's  regiment,  and  directly  behind  his  tent 
stands  the  tent  of  General  Johnson,  marked  ''31,"  both  tents  sur- 
mounted by  the  British  flag;  the  next  collection  of  tents  beyond, 
marked  "32,"  were  those  of  General  Lyman  and  his  Connecticut 
men,  both  of  whom  did  extraordinary  service  in  the  battle  of  the 
morrow  ;  in  the  rear  of  these  towards  the  lake,  marked  "34,"  was 
the  regiment  of  Colonel  Cockroft,  and  behind  these  tents,  under 
numbers   "20,"  "21,"  "22,"  "23,"  "24,"  were   "cannon  pointed  all 


nt\^  ] 


^M'l 


^^"K1  ^ 


^>>v 


343 


344  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  ways  in  which  the  enemy  could  attack  us  with  a  number  of  men 
to  make  use  of  them,"  "  wagons  placed  so  as  to  be  a  kind  of  bat- 
tery to  the  G-uard/'  "our  Magazine  of  Powder,"  "our  Store  of  shot 
of  various  sizes,"  "  our  Shells  of  various  Sizes  " ;  the  next  regiment 
encamped  towards  the  west,  marked  "38,"  was  that  of  Colonel 
Gutridge,  occupying  nearly  the  centre  of  the  camp  east  and  west ; 
then  beyond  the  central  gully,  which  really  divided  the  camp  in  two, 
marked  "35"  on  the  cut,  were  the  tents  of  Colonel  Williams  and 
his  subordinate  officers  and  men;  behind  these,  and  marked  "36," 
lay  Colonel  Timothy  Buggies  and  his  men ;  and  still  further  on,  at 
the  extreme  right  of  the  camp,  designated  as  "37,"  were  the  tents 
of  the  brave  Colonel  Titcomb  and  his  no  less  brave  men.  Titcomb 
had  done  splendid  service  at  the  capture  of  Louisburg  ten  years 
before  this;  and  Euggles  was  one  of  the  great  men  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  was  president  of  the  Stamp  Act  Congress  ten  years  later 
than  this. 

Thus  things  stood  at  the  lake  during  Sunday  night,  the  7th  of 
September.  At  midnight,  however,  some  wagoners  came  into  the 
camp  and  reported  at  headquarters  that  a  war  party  of  French  and 
Indians  were  on  the  road,  not  far  from  Fort  Lyman.  Johnson 
called  a  council  of  war  in  the  morning.  Instead  of  sending  out 
scouts  (he  had  a  plenty  of  skilled  ones,  both  whites  and  Indians), 
and  finding  out  all  about  this  "  war  party,"  how  many  they  were  and 
whither  they  were  bound,  he  began  to  act  in  needless  ignorance, 
and,  therefore,  in  criminal  folly.  The  council  came  to  the  strange 
resolution  of  sending  out  immediately  two  detachments  of  500  men 
each,  in  order,  as  Johnson  explained  the  next  day  in  his  "  Letter  to 
the  Governors  of  the  several  Colonies,"  "  to  catch  the  enemy  in  their 
retreat."  But  Dieskau  had  not  the  least  thought  of  any  retreat. 
Baffled  by  his  Indians  in  his  original  plan  to  attack  Fort  Lyman,  he 
accepted  with  vehemence  and  enthusiasm  all  the  risks  of  an  attack 
on  the  main  army  at  the  lake.  He  knew  that  they  greatly  outnum- 
bered him.  But  did  not  Braddock,  also,  greatly  outnumber  the 
French  and  Indians  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  just  two  months 
before  ?  He  hoped  to  take  the  camp  unawares,  as  Braddock  was 
surprised  on  the  Monongahela.  He  was  already  on  the  march  while 
the  council  were  debating.  The  new  military  road,  just  cut  by  the 
English  a  few  days  before,  served  his  regulars  well  in  their  advance, 
while  his  Canadians  and  Indians  pushed  their  way  along  through 
the  trees  on  either  flank. 

When  the  decision  of  the  war  council  at  the  lake  —  to  send  out 
at  once  two  detachments,  one  towards  Fort  Lyman  and  the  other 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  345 

towards  the  head  of  South  Bay,  where  Dieskau  had  left  his  boats 
—  was  mterpreted  to  Hendrik,  king  of  the  Mohawks,  who  himself 
knew  a  little  English,  in  consequence  of  his  havmg  spent  considera- 
ble time  at  the  Indian  Mission  in  Stockbridge,  he  gave  his  opinion 
signiticantly  by  picking  up  a  stick,  which  he  broke  easily,  and  then 
by  putting  several  sticks  together,  which  he  could  not  break.  The 
officers  were  wise  enough  to  learn  from  a  better  strategist  than 
themselves,  though  a  savage,  and  the  two  detachments  were  joined 
in  one,  to  be  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams. 
But  the  Mohawk  chieftain  was  still  unsatistied.  He  shook  his 
head :  "  If  they  are  to  be  killed,  too  many ;  if  they  are  to  fight,  too 
few."  Nevertheless,  he  was  too  brave  and  faithful  not  to  share  in 
the  risks  he  disapproved  of.  He  had  known  the  Colonel  in  Stock- 
bridge,  and  the  Colonel's  father  very  well  there.  ^lounted  on  a 
gun-carriage,  he  eloquently  harangued  his  ^lohawks,  for  he  was  the 
greatest  Indian  orator  of  his  time ;  and  then,  bestriding  a  small 
horse  lent  him  by  General  Johnson,  he  trotted  to  the  head  of  the 
column,  followed  by  about  200  of  his  Mohawks. 

A  little  after  eight  o'clock.  Colonel  Williams  led  out  his  regiment 
a  short  distance  from  the  camp,  on  the  road  towards  Fort  Lyman, 
and  then  waited  a  little  while  for  the  rest  of  the  detachment,  under 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Whiting,  to  come  up.  Whiting  was  a  Connecti- 
cut officer,  and  led  Connecticut  men,  and  both  did  excellent  service 
on  this  memorable  day.  Going  on  about  two  miles  further,  there 
was  another  wait  to  allow  Hendrik's  Indians,  who  had  fallen  into  the 
rear,  to  come  up  and  take  the  head  of  the  column  again ;  and  the 
march  was  resumed  without  any  apprehension  that  the  enemy  were 
near,  and  without  the  precaution  of  throwing  out  flankers,  or  even  a 
vanguard,  in  Hendrik's  front.  Possibly  Colonel  Williams  entrusted 
this  service  to  the  Mohawks.  Certainly  his  commanding  General 
had  set  him  a  very  poor  example  in  respect  to  scouts  and  runners 
all  the  morning ;  but  nothing  can  ever  relieve  the  military  memory 
of  Colonel  Williams  of  culpable  negligence  at  this  most  essential 
point  of  vigilance,  considering  who  his  enemy  were.  He  com- 
manded this  detachment  of  1200  men.  He  knew  even  down  to  the 
details,  and  so  did  all  the  higher  officers,  of  Braddock's  terrible  defeat 
in  July,  in  rough  and  wooded  ground,  like  parts  of  that  through 
which  he  was  leading  some  of  the  best  men  in  New  England. 

On  the  other  hand,  Dieskau  knew  very  well  what  was  going  on 
above  him.  His  own  mind  worked  like  lightning,  and  he  had 
nimble  servitors  on  both  his  flanks  and  far  in  front,  reporting  to 
him  constantly  the  lay  of  the  land  and  the  posture  of  the  foe.     For- 


346  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

tune  favors  the  active  and  the  provident.  There  was  one  piece  of 
broken  and  rocky  ground,  full  of  bushes,  with  a  few  pines,  through 
which  the  old  road  ran  (not  the  present  plank  road),  forming  a  sort 
of  defile,  and  very  suitable  for  an  ambuscade  in  war.  On  the  west- 
ern side  of  the  road  the  ground  rises  considerably,  and  is  in  places 
quite  abrupt,  extending  about  half  a  mile  parallel  with  the  road; 
while  on  the  east  side,  for  about  half  that  distance,  there  is  a 
ravine,  through  which  ran  and  runs  a  small  brook.  This  narrow 
and  not  long  defile  was  entered  from  the  south  from  tolerably  open 
ground,  and  debouched  on  the  north  again  into  the  open.  Dieskau, 
commonly  called  the  "  Baron  "  by  the  New  Englanders,  who  reported 
these  events  as  eye-witnesses,  had  just  time  to  deposit  his  packs 
under  a  small  guard,  and  to  plant  his  regulars  (say  200)  across  the 
road  near  the  southern  debouche  of  the  defile,  and  to  post  his  Cana- 
dians and  Indians  (say  1200  in  all),  the  greater  part  on  the  higher 
ground  on  the  western  side  of  the  road,  behind  the  trees  and  rocks 
and  bushes,  and  the  rest  in  the  ravine  sloping  down  to  the  east 
from  the  road.  This  was  called  at  the  time  placing  troops  in  double 
potence ;  that  is,  throwing  forward  both  flanks  at  an  angle  from  the 
base,  thus  making  three  sides  of  a  rough  parallelogram.  It  is  like 
what  is  called  in  London  streets  a  "  close."  In  this  case  the  nature 
of  the  ground  did  not  allow  of  right  angles,  but  the  whole  position 
was  curved  like  a  sickle,  the  handle-flank  being  on  the  west  side  of 
the  road  and  about  twice  as  long  as  the  other,  and  the  soldiers 
pretty  equally  con(!ealed  around  the  whole  curve  by  rocks  and  trees 
and  bushes.  The  Baron's  orders  to  both  his  flanks  were  to  keep 
concealed  and  reserve  their  fire  till  the  head  of  the  English  column 
should  strike  his  regulars  in  front,  where  the  battle  should  begin. 

Continuing  their  march  till  about  half-past  ten  without  sus- 
picions, the  advanced  Mohawks  had  gotten  wholly  within  this 
ambush,  and  Williams's  regiment  partially  so,  when  Hendrik,  jog- 
ging along  by  Colonel  Williams's  side,  between  the  two  columns, 
said  to  him :  "  I  smell  Indians  ! "  and,  pressing  on  a  short  distance 
further,  he  was  suddenly  hailed  by  one  of  Dieskau's  Indians, — 
•^'  Whence  come  you  ?  "  —  "  From  the  Mohawks  !  "  —  "  Whence  came 
you  ?  "  rejoined  Hendrik,  who  was  dressed  after  the  English  man- 
ner. "  Montreal ! "  was  the  answer.  Just  then  a  gun  was  fired 
from  the  bushes,  whether  by  accident  or  design  will  never  be 
known.  It  has  been  said  that  some  of  Dieskau's  "  Six  Nations," 
who  were  kinsmen  of  the  Mohawks,  wished  to  give  them  warning 
before  it  was  too  late.  At  any  rate,  it  was  too  late.  After  a 
momentary  pause,  the  terrible  Indian  yell  rose  on  both  sides  of  the 


EPIIRAIM    WILLIAMS.  347 

road,  followed  by  iit-a>\  imiij^,  esp.H-ially  from  the  ravine  on  the 
left,  which  cut  down  the  ^lohawks  in  front  in  large  numbers,  and 
the  head  of  the  English  column  on  that  side.  King  Hendrik's  horse 
was  shot  down,  and  the  brave  chief  bayoneted  as  he  tried  to  rise. 
He  was  both  old  and  corpulent.  Colonel  Williams,  seeing  rising 
ground  upon  his  right,  ordered  his  men,  then  extended  in  files  along 
the  road,  to  mount  it,  and  gain  a  more  defensible  position.  They 
obeyed,  but  had  made  only  a  short  advance  when  they  came  within 
range  of  the  main  ambush  on  that  (western)  side,  and  a  deadly  fire 
showered  down  upon  them,  which  killed  the  commander,  threw  the 
whole  line  into  confusion,  and  strewed  the  ground  with  dead  and 
wounded. 

Then  naturally  enough  there  was  a  panic  among  the  raw  troops ; 
considerable  numbers  abandoned  the  field  in  headlong  flight ;  the 
vanguard  suddenly  became  the  rear;  the  Baron  quickly  brought  up 
his  regulars,  and  the  men  in  ambush  on  both  sides  crowded  after 
the  confused  retreat  of  English  and  Mohawks  intermixed,  and  both 
fell  in  large  numbers  at  this  point ;  some  of  both,  however,  falling 
back  fought  bravely  against  their  pursuers  from  tree  to  tree  and 
rock  to  rock ;  and  many  of  these  pursuers  never  saw  the  English 
camp  at  the  lake,  nor  their  own  men  in  the  rear  guarding  the  packs. 
Dieskau  himself  described  a  little  later  this  part  of  the  struggle,  by 
saying,  that  the  head  of  the  English  column  was  "  doubled  up  like 
a  pack  of  cards." 

The  annexed  woodcut,  also  taken  from  Blodget's  "Prospective 
Plan,"  though  Blodget  himself  was  not  an  eye-witness  here,  gives  a 
correct  outline  of  the  ambush-field,  and  of  the  beginning  of  the 
fight.  His  accompanying  descriptions,  however,  are  not  so  vivid  as 
those  of  the  scenes  at  the  lake  in  the  afternoon,  which  he  saw  him- 
self; nevertheless,  we  will  give  them  in  full  because  they  are 
contemporary  and  illustrated. 

1.  The  Koad  from  the  Camp  to  Lyman's  Fort,  in  which  Road  a  detachment 
of  1000  English  and  about  150  Indians,  with  Hendrik  the  Mohawk  Sachem 
among  them,  were  marching  in  order  to  annoy  the  enemy,  who  it  was  supposed 
were  attacking  the  Fort,  or  retreating  from  it. 

2.  The  Form  in  which  the  French  and  Indians  appeared,  being  like  that  of  a 
Hook  ;  for  so  they  had  placed  themselves,  extending  a  curve  line  from  their 
Front  on  each  side  of  the  Road,  near  half  a  mile  on  the  Right,  and  about  one 
half  that  space  on  the  Left.  They  had  Opportunity  to  do  this,  as  they  had 
received  intelligence  from  a  Scout  they  had  sent  out  that  a  considerable  Body  of 
our  Men  were  marching  in  order  to  oppose  them.  The  Rea.son  of  their  thus 
forming  themselves  was  this  ;  —  on  the  left  of  the  Road  all  along  the  Line  they 
had  placed  themselves  in,  they  had  the  advantage  of  being  covered  with  a  thick 


348  ORIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

growth  of  Brush  and  Trees,  such  as  is  common  to  Swampy  Land  as  this  was  ; 
On  the  right  they  were  all  along  defended,  as  with  a  Breastwork  by  a  continued 
Eminence  filled  with  Rocks,  and  Trees,  and  Shrubs  as  high  as  a  Man's  Breast. 
Our  Men  while  marching  in  the  Road,  were  within  150  yards  of  the  Enemy, 
who  lay  invisible  on  either  side.  They  had  posted  themselves  in  the  most 
advantageous  Place  there  was  between  the  Camp  and  the  Fort  for  an  Ambus- 
cade. And  considering  this,  together  with  their  great  Superiority  in  numbers, 
being  upwards  of  2000,  'tis  a  wonder  they  had  not  entirely  routed  and  destroyed 
this  Detachment.  Our  men  must  have  behaved  with  the  utmost  Bravery,  and 
Wisdom  too,  or  they  could  not  have  made  so  honorable  a  Retreat,  killing  even 
more  of  the  Enemy  than  they  lost  themselves ;  as  the  French  General  owned 
after  he  was  taken :  Tho'  in  this  Fight,  which  began  about  two  miles  and  a  half 
from  the  Camp,  our  loss  both  of  OfiBcers  and  private  Men,  was  much  greater 
than  in  the  other  Battle. 

3.  Hendrik,  the  Indian  Chief  or  King  of  the  Six  Nations,  who  was  dressed 
after  the  English  Manner.  He  only  was  on  horseback,  because  he  could  not 
well  travel  on  Foot,  being  somewhat  corpulent  as  well  as  old.  He  fell  in  this 
fight,  to  the  great  Enragement  of  the  Indians,  and  our  Loss,  as  he  was  a  verj^ 
good  Friend  to  the  English,  and  had  most  influence  to  keep  the  Mohawks  so. 

4.  Our  men  represented  as  breaking  their  order,  and  hastily  running.  Their 
Design  herein  was  to  gain  the  Advantage  of  the  Eminence  on  the  Right ;  but 
the  Enemy  having  unhappily  got  the  Possession  of  it,  rose  up  from  the  Rocks 
and  Shrubs,  and  from  behind  the  Trees,  when  our  Men  came  within  sure  Reach 
of  their  Guns,  and  made  a  considerable  Slaughter  among  them.  The  Trees 
were  thinly  scattered  where  our  Men  were  thus  fired  upon,  and  the  Shrubs  but 
low :  However  they  made  the  best  use  of  them  they  could,  and  continued  Fight- 
ing here  for  some  time  with  the  greatest  Resolution.  The  greater  part  that 
were  killed  in  this  Fight,  whether  of  the  Enemy,  or  of  our  People,  were  found 
the  next  day  at  this  Ambuscade,  or  not  far  distant  from  it ;  tho'  they  lay  scat- 
tered more  or  less  all  the  Way  to  the  Camp. 

6.  An  advanced  Party  of  Indians,  who  first  discovered  the  Enemy,  and  fired 
upon  them  ;  which  gave  the  Alarm  to  our  Men,  began  a  very  furious  and  desper- 
ate Fight  and  led  the  Enemy,  by  our  Retreating  from  them,  into  the  Engage- 
ment they  afterwards  had  with  the  Army  at  the  Camp. 

Several  eye-witnesses  or  participants  give  us  more  exactly  what 
happened  between  the  first  panic  and  retreat  of  the  Williams  men, 
and  the  arrival  of  the  broken  detachment  as  a  whole  at  the  camp. 
A  part  of  Williams's  regiment  rallied  under  the  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Whiting  at  a  small  pond  near  the  road,  since  called 
"  Bloody  Pond,"  and  some  degree  of  order  was  restored  there,  and 
good  fighting  done,  when  Lieutenant-Colonel  Cole  with  300  men  from 
the  camp,  arrived  at  a  point  a  little  north  of  the  pond,  ordered  by 
Johnson,  so  soon  as  he  heard  the  firing  below,  to  hurry  to  sustain 
Williams  or  to  cover  his  retreat.  Whiting  and  Cole  united  here, 
and  maintained  their  ground  for  some  little  time  with  resolution 
and  effect  J  for  the  tradition  has  been  strong  for  a  century  that 


THE   BLOODY    MORNING   SCOUT.' 

349 


350  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

many  dead  bodies  of  Frenclimen  and  Canadians  falling  near  by  were 
thrown  the  next  day  into  the  pond,  —  hence  called  "Bloody  Pond"; 
but  they  were  soon  compelled  to  retire  from  the  position,  overpowered 
by  superior  numbers,  while  that  retreat  was  bravely  made,  continu- 
ing to  fire  for  a  mile  or  more  from  behind  trees  and  logs  and  other 
covers,  which  checked  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy  and  allowed  the 
stragglers  to  get  into  the  camp,  and  also  many  of  the  English  who 
had  been  wounded  in  the  running  fight  were  carried  by  their  com- 
rades back  into  the  camp.  The  Mohawks  of  the  detachment,  angry 
at  the  fall  of  Hendrik,  did  brave  service  in  this  retreat,  and  lost 
during  the  morning  about  forty  of  their  warriors ;  but  they  did 
scarcely  anything  more  after  they  reached  the  camp.  Of  course  the 
fugitives  and  non-fighters  of  Williams's  detachment,  who  arrived 
first  at  the  camp,  spread  exaggerated  stories  of  the  numbers  and 
ferocity  of  the  enemy.  The  fighting  men  gave  the  French  their  last 
fire  when  within  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  of  the  camp  at 
the  lake. 

Thus  ended  what  was  long  called  in  New  England  "  The  Bloody 
Morning  Scout."  Its  details,  with  their  inevitable  exaggerations, 
and  subsequent  mixings  and  crossings  with  other  war  horrors  in  the 
same  neighborhood  during  the  three  following  campaigns  in  which 
New  England  again  took  large  part,  Avere  talked  over  and  over 
around  New  England  firesides,  until  the  American  Eevolution,  which 
some  of  these  very  officers  and  soldiers  lived  to  take  part  in,  pushed 
back  into  a  misty  limbo  the  incidents  of  what  they  still  fondly  called 
the  "  Old  French  War."  Strictly  speaking,  the  column  and  the 
errand  of  Colonel  Williams  that  morning  was  not  a  "  Scout "  at  all ; 
it  might  perhaps  be  called  a  "  reconnaissance  in  force " ;  but  old 
Hendrik  was  right  in  his  judgment  about  it  in  the  war-council  of 
the  early  morning;  it  was  a  nondescript,  unmilitary,  and  careless 
proceeding  from  beginning  to  end ;  it  cost  many  very  precious  Eng- 
lish lives;  and  it  came  near  costing  the  destruction  of  the  army 
encamped  at  the  lake.  For  Dieskau,  having  repulsed  the  column, 
and  sent  the  survivors  helter-skelter  within  the  camp,  along  the  front 
of  which,  in  the  meantime,  after  the  firing  began  to  be  heard  to  the 
south,  a  slight  barricade  of  army  wagons  and  turned-over  boats  and 
trunks  of  trees  laid  end  to  end  in  a  single  row  had  been  hastily 
thrown  up,  ordered  a  halt  of  his  men  when  he  reached  the  eminence 
in  the  road,  since  called  "  Gage's  Hill,"  in  plain  sight  of  the  camp 
and  the  lake,  and  sounded  his  trumpets  to  call  in  his  scattered 
Canadians  and  Indians ;  it  has  been  thought  by  many,  that  if  he 
had  pressed  right  on  down  the  little  slope,  and  entered  the  camp 


EHHKAIM     Willi  \MS.  351 

witii  the  last  of  the  iugitives,  lur  iiic  oDstrut'tiuns  were  low  and 
broken,  the  appearance  of  his  regulai-s  with  their  shining  bayonets 
(then  a  new  thing  in  the  colonies)  formidable,  the  fugitives  and  the 
wounded  brought  in  had  spread  a  sort  of  panic  through  the  camp, 
he  might  have  borne  down  all  before  him,  —  making  a  path  for  his 
Canadians  and  Indians,  —  and  killed  or  taken  prisoners  or  scattered 
through  the  woods  the  whole  little  army. 

This  was  certainly  Dieskau's  plan,  and  it  might  have  prospered 
in  his  hand,  could  he  have  controlled  his  allies.  He  saw  that  these 
were  inclined  to  scatter  right  and  left  from  his  regulars,  who  kept 
the  road  in  splendid  order,  and  that  he  must  halt  for  a  parley  with 
them.  His  trumpets  called  them  in.  Parleying  in  battle-time  is 
always  demoralizing.  His  Indians  looked  downcast  and  unmanage- 
able ;  they  had  lost  heavily  in  the  encounters  of  the  morning ;  they 
knew  also  there  were  some  cannon  in  the  English  camp,  and  proba- 
bly they  could  see  at  that  instant  thtee  or  four  of  them  mounted, 
and  pointing  south :  the  Canadians,  too,  showed  signs  of  discourage- 
ment, for  they  had  just  lost  their  veteran  commander,  St.  Pierre, 
the  same  who  had  negotiated  with  Washington  at  Fort  le  Boeuf  in 
1753,  and  who,  in  this  campaign,  commanded  both  the  Indians  and 
the  Canadians.  Nevertheless,  the  magnetic  and  imperturbable  Baron 
persuaded  them  all  to  move  on  with  him  again,  —  the  regulars  in 
front  and  the  rest  on  his  left  in  straggling  order,  making  their  way 
northwest  and  designing  to  operate  on  Johnson's  extreme  right; 
and  a  little  before  noon,  what  Blodget  calls  ''  the  second  engagement " 
began.  The  regulars  advanced  down  the  road  to  the  edge  of  the 
woods,  deployed  in  front  of  Johnson's  left-centre,  and  opened  a 
platoon-fire  at  a  distance  of  about  140  yards,  which  kept  up  for  some 
time  but  without  great  effect;  until  Captain  Eyre,  who  commanded 
the  camp  artillery,  trained  three  heavy  cannon  upon  them  (shown 
in  the  cut  of  the  fight  under  the  numoral  "11"),  but  these  were 
aimed  too  high,  as  is  usual  with  inexperienced  gunners,  and  the 
balls  crashed  into  the  trees  over  the  lieads  of  the  French  some 
twenty  feet;  and  Blodget  says,  they  were  not  "discharged  more 
than  four  or  five  times";  because  the  regulars,  finding  their  platoon- 
fire  ineffectual,  broke  their  ranks  and  took  to  cover  Indian  fashion. 
Then  it  was  that  the  second  battle  really  began.  The  fusillade  on 
both  sides  soon  became  furious,  and  was  kept  up  for  about  four 
hours  without  intermission.  The  day  was  fair,  but  the  wind  was 
southerly  and  drove  the  smoke  into  the  eyes  of  the  English.  The 
bullets  flew  all  over  the  camp,  even  round  the  heads  of  the  surgeons 
dressing  the  wounded  in  the  rear. 


352  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

After  the  initial  trepidation  common  to  raw  troops  was  over, 
encouraged  and  at  first  threatened  by  their  officers  with  drawn 
swords,  the  New  England  men  became  cool  and  remained  so,  "  our 
people  took  sight  and  were  all  good  marksmen"  (Blodget).  The 
Baron,  unable  to  make  any  impression  on  the  English,  left  and 
centre,  where  the  Connecticut  people  were,  and  a  few  Mohawks, 
seeing  his  regulars  falling  around  him  unsupported  by  his  Cana- 
dians and  Indians  who  had  gone  mostly  round  to  a  knoll  on  John- 
son's right,  changed  his  special  point  of  attack  towards  the  English 
right,  and  opened  a  heavy  fire  on  the  three  Massachusetts  regiments, 
—  Titcomb's,  Ruggles's,  and  Williams's,  —  the  last  now  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Pomeroy.  Apparently,  one  motive 
of  Dieskau's  in  moving  to  his  own  left,  was  to  knit  connection  with 
his  allies  already  operating  on  that  side.  If  so,  he  was  disap- 
pointed. ''  Are  these  the  so  much  vaunted  troops  ?  "  he  cried  bit- 
terly, as  he  saw  some  of  them  disinclined  to  fight  at  all,  and  some 
of  the  rest  inclined  to  fight  as  safely  as  possible.  Yet  for  all  this, 
a  galling  fire  was  thrown  into  the  camp,  by  a  considerable  -psntj  of 
French  and  Indians  from  the  high  ground  beyond  the  swamp  directly 
west  of  the  Massachusetts  regiments ;  until  a  field-piece,  marked 
"  12 "  on  Blodget's  Plan,  was  discharged,  and  two  mortars  marked 
"  25  "  threw  a  few  shells  among  them,  and  scattered  them,  weaken- 
ing the  whole  attack  on  that  flank. 

Dieskau  maintained  a  hot  fire  for  about  an  hour  opposite  to  the 
Massachusetts  men.  All  fear  was  now  gone  from  the  latter,  and 
they  gave  as  good  as  they  got.  Johnson  had  received  a  slight  flesh 
wound  near  the  beginning  of  the  fight,  and  had  retired  at  once  to 
his  tent,  leaving  the  sole  command  to  Lyman,  who  was  everywhere 
in  the  heat  of  action,  directing  and  animating  his  men  for  four 
hours,  and  marvellously  escaped  without  a  wound.  ^'16.  Colonel 
Titcomb  and  Lieutenant  Barron,  that  they  might  fire  at  the  enemy 
at  greater  advantage,  got  behind  this  tree,  tho'  at  a  rod's  distance 
from  the  breastwork;  and  here  it  was  they  both  unhappily  fell, 
being  insensibly  fianked  by  some  of  the  enemy  "  (Blodget) .  Dieskau, 
exposing  himself  near  the  English  line,  was  twice  severely  wounded; 
his  Adjutant,  himself  wounded,  was  trying  with  a  Canadian  to  carry 
their  helpless  commander  to  the  rear,  when  the  latter  refused  to  be 
moved,  and  ordered  the  Adjutant  to  lead  the  regulars  in  a  last 
effort  against  the  English  line. 

But  it  was  now  too  late.  One  by  one,  or  in  little  knots,  the  New 
England  men  were  already  jumping  over  their  row  of  logs  ;  even  the 
wagoners  about  the  camp  took  guns  and  powder-horns   from  the 


EPHRAIM    ^VILLIAMS.  353 

wounded,  and  prepared  lu  j«uii  m  liu-  int\  ;  ami  iii  a  few  moments 
the  whole  line,  with  a  great  shout,  dashed  over  the  slight  barricade, 
and  fell  upon  the  French,  with  hatchets  and  the  butts  of  their  guns. 
It  was  now  near  five  o'clock.  The  French  and  their  allies  fled  from 
all  sides  of  the  field  unpursued,  and  had  not  rejoined  a  large  body 
of  Indians  and  Canadians  who  had  retreated  early  in  the  afternoon, 
back  to  the  place  of  the  morning  ambush,  and  a  little  further  to  the 
place  where  the  French  packs  had  been  left  as  preparatory  to  that, 
when  the  latter  body  were  suddenly  attacked  not  far  from  Bloody 
Pond,  and  then  and  there  took  place  what  Blodget  called  "  the  third 
or  last  engagement"": — and  we  will  let  him  tell  the  story  of  this 
in  his  own  words. 

They  heard  at  Fort  Lyman,  between  9  and  10  o'clock,  the  Noise  of  a  Multi- 
tude of  Guns  ;  and  as  it  continued  without  Interruption,  they  judged  that  our 
Army  at  the  Camp  [it  was  the  Ambush-Fight]  was  attacked  by  a  large  Body  of 
French  and  Indians:  upon  which  it  was  tho't  proper  to  detach  between  200  and 
300  men  to  their  Assistance.  This  detachment  consisted  partly  of  Yorkers  but 
mostly  of  New  Hamp.shire  troops  [made  up  largely  of  Scotch-Irish],  and  was 
put  under  the  Command  of  Capt.  McGinnis  and  Capt.  Folsom.  They  arrived 
between  4  and  5  o'clock,  at  the  place  where  the  French  encamped  the  Night 
before,  which  was  near  the  place  where  the  Fight  began  in  the  Morning ;  and 
here  they  discovered  about  500  of  the  enemy  (chiefly  Indians)  who  had  fled  from 
the  Battle  at  the  Camp ;  upon  which  they  fell  upon  them,  drove  them  from  the 
Encampment,  and  pursued  them  till  Evening  came  on,  making  a  considerable 
slaughter  among  them.  Our  loss  was  small ;  but  by  all  accounts,  an  Hundred  of 
the  enemy  were  killed.  Our  men  loaded  themselves  with  their  Packs,  and  left 
great  Numbers  behind  that  they  could  not  carry  away  ;  which  were  brought  in 
the  next  Day,  with  as  much  Ammunition,  Provisions,  and  other  Plunder,  asfllled 
4  or  5  Wagons.  Their  Flight  was  so  hasty,  that  tlu'v  dropped  some  of  the  Scalps 
of  our  Men,  which  we  recovered. 

The  brave  McGinnis  was  mortally  wounded  in  this  fight,  in  which 
the  attacking  party  was  greatly  outnumbered.  He  continued,  how- 
ever, to  give  orders  till  the  firing  was  all  over,  when  he  fainted,  and 
was  carried  dying  into  the  camp  by  the  lake.  The  several  bands  of 
Dieskau's  fugitives,  from  the  several  fields  of  fight,  reunited  them- 
selves in  the  forest  in  the  course  of  the  evening,  encamped  there  for 
the  night,  and  reached  their  canoes,  at  the  head  of  South  Bay,  the 
next  evening,  "spent,"  as  Parkman^  says,  "with  fatigue  and  fam- 
ine." Dieskau  himself  had  a  hard  fate.  He  was  thrice  severely 
wounded,  the  last  time  after  his  regulars  had  fled,  and  he  lay  help- 
less in  his  blood.  He  was  carried  into  General  Johnson's  tent,  where 
his  wounds  were  dressed,  though  they  proved  to  be  incurable,  and 

1  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Vol.  I.,  p.  MOH. 


354  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

where  he  was  defended  by  Johnson  and  other  officers,  and  put  under 
a  guard,  against  the  bitter  revenge  of  some  of  the  Mohawks,  who 
tried  repeatedly  to  kill  him  outright  on  account  of  the  fall  of  their 
Sachem,  Hendrik.  So  soon  as  his  desperate  wounds  would  allow 
it,  he  was  carried  on  a  litter,  strongly  escorted,  from  the  lake  to  Fort 
Lyman,  and  thence  to  Albany,  and  afterwards  to  New  York.  He 
was  an  object  of  universal  interest  and  curiosity  Avherever  he  went. 
In  the  spring  of  1757  he  sailed  for  England,  and  was  for  some  time 
in  Falmouth,  and  longer  in  Bath  for  the  benefit  of  the  waters.  In 
1760  the  famous  Diderot  met  him  in  Paris,  and  the  latter's  Memoirs, 
published  in  1830,  give  extremely  interesting  conversations  as 
between  the  two  men  at  that  time  on  this  Crown  Point  expedition. 
There  is  another  paper  in  the  French  archives,  purporting  to  be  a  dia- 
logue between  Marshal  Saxe  and  the  Baron  Dieskau  from  the  Elysian 
Fields,  in  which  the  same  expedition  figures  largely  and  truthfully. 
Both  these  papers  are  translated  in  the  New  York  Col.  Documents, 
X.,  pp.  340-343.  Dieskau  died  in  1762.  Interest  will  forever  gather 
on  both  the  continents  around  the  name  and  deeds  of  this  gallant, 
intellectual,  vivacious,  truth-loving,  and  grateful  Frenchman,  immor- 
talized by  one  fateful  day  of  intercourse  with  rustics  and  savages  in 
the  wilds  of  northern  New  York. 

The  same  day  and  the  same  field  immortalized  another  man  of 
greatly  inferior  genius  and  prominence  and  opportunities,  whose 
grip,  nevertheless,  upon  posterity,  is  even  firmer  than  the  French- 
man's, because  on  his  way  to  the  battle-field  he  turned  aside  to  do  a 
conscious  act  of  lasting  benefit  to  those  then  unborn,  and  went  for- 
ward to  seal  the  contract  in  his  own  blood.  Ephraim  Williams's 
niche  of  fame  will  be  high  and  safe,  so  long  as  there  remain  citizens 
of  Williamstown  and  students  of  Williams  College.  The  night 
after  the  battle  was  dolorous  in  the  camp  at  the  lake,  and  the  morn- 
ing scarcely  less  so.  The  burial  of  the  dead  seems  to  have  fallen 
into  the  care  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Pomeroy,  who  had  now  succeeded 
to  ,the  command  of  Williams's  regiment.  "At  least  forty  biers, 
cross-poles  to  carry  the  dead  upon,"  were  sent  out;  and  sepulture 
was  accorded  (for  the  most  part)  to  the  bodies  of  friend  and  foe 
alike.  When  this  fact  was  reported  throughout  New  England,  the 
military  authorities  at  the  lake  were  harshly  chidden ;  Dr.  Chauncy 
relates  that  the  opinion  in  Boston  was,  that  the  officers  were  "  too 
polite  by  half  to  Dieskau,  and  all  the  French  " ;  and  attention  was 
widely  called  to  the  contrast  between  this  and  the  treatment  of  the 
bodies  of  English  and  Virginians  on  Braddock's  Field  two  months 
before. 


EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS.  355 

Colonel  ^^'illiams's  body  was  found  where  it  fell  twenty-four 
hours  before,  —  a  little  to  the  west  of  the  old  military  road,  on 
ground  still  rising  to  the  west.  The  body  hatl  not  been  rifled  or 
disturbed.  His  watch  and  sword,  a  small  ivory  memorandum-book, 
and  several  other  trinkets  were  taken  charge  of  by  his  brother  the 
Surgeon,  taken  by  him  to  Deerfield,  where  they  were  carefully  i)re- 
served,  together  with  the  Doctor's  own  sword  and  other  equipments, 
until  the  centennial  celebration  at  the  College  of  the  battle  of  Lake 
George,  when  the  watch  and  sword  were  presented  to  Williams 
College ;  and  later  the  Doctor's  own  sword  and  other  memorials  of 
the  two  brothers  were  given  to  the  College  by  Captain  Ephraim 
Williams,  U.  S.  A.,  and  Bishop  John  Williams,  of  Connecticut,  both 
of  them  lineal  descendants  of  Dr.  Thomas  Williams.  These  relies 
are  now  (1892)  in  Clark  Hall,  forming  a  small,  but  valuable,  part  of 
a  collection  of  local  antiquities  gathered  by  the  ])r('s»'iii  writer 
mainly  in  the  decade  of  1880-1890. 

Colonel  Williams  was  buried  that  day  under  a  pine  tree  larger  and 
taller  than  most  of  those  then  growing  over  considerable  portions  of 
the  battle-field.  Tradition  naturally  preserved  the  spot,  for  armies 
from  New  England  annually,  or  bftener,  passed  it,  till  the  final 
conquest  of  Canada;  and  very  soon  thereafter  permanent  set- 
tlers crept  into  that  neighborhood,  and  kept  alive  the  local  word. 
Dr.  W.  S.  Williams,  a  grandson  of  the  Surgeon,  found  no  difficulty  in 
exhuming  the  skeleton  in  or  about  the  year  1837.  The  skull  was 
taken  away  at  that  time;  and,  it  is  said,  was  carried  to  North 
Carolina,  where  two  members  of  the  family,  both  physicians,  resided 
about  that  time.  When  a  committee  of  the  alumni  of  the  College, 
of  which  E.  W.  B.  Canning  (1834)  was  chairman,  visited  the  place  in 
some  reference  to  the  centennial  of  1855,  they  found  an  old  man 
living  near  who  had  helped  in  the  exhumation  just  referred  to,  and 
had  filled  up  the  grave.  He  pointed  out  to  this  committee  the  pre- 
cise six)t  of  the  burial,  who  caused  to  be  drawn  over  it  a  rock  of 
considerable  size,  into  which  the  "  E.  W."  initials  were  cut.  About 
twenty-five  years  later,  David  Dudley  Field  authorized  A.  L.  Perry, 
of  the  College,  to  purchase  the  ground  holding  this  grave,  and  then 
to  surround  it  with  a  heavy  stone  and  iron  fence.  The  land  was 
accordingly  bought,  and  stands  now  in  the  name  of  the  President 
and  Trustees  of  Williams  College;  and  Robert  R.  Clark,  for  a  whole 
generation  the  skilled  and  worthy  carpenter  of  the  College,  was  of 
much  assistance  in  placing  the  granite  posts,  and  fixing  the  iron 
rods  which,  in  that  sandy  soil,  will  probably  stand  for  a  century  in 
the  true.     The  rock  above  the  grave  was  left  where  it  was  placed  in 


356  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

1855,  while  the  initial  letters  of  the  brave  Colonel's  name  were  more 
deeply  and  indelibly  sunk  into  it.  At  the  same  time,  Perry  trimmed 
up  carefully  a  young  pine  growing  near,  doubtless,  in  some  sense,  a 
representative  of  the  old  one  of  1755. 

Besides  Blodget's  very  good  descriptions  of  the  battle,  and  his 
pretty  fair  pictorial  representations  of  it,  a  large  part  of  which  he 
saw,  and  the  Boston  Dr.  Chauncy's  "  First  and  Second  Letter  to  a 
Friend,"  whose  informants  were  a  "  Major  Hore,"  a  participant  in 
the  fight,  and  especially  Blodget  himself  so  soon  as  he  returned  to 
Boston,  there  are  several  other  connected  accounts  of  the  scenes  of 
the  day,  by  those  who  were  eye-witnesses  and  participators ;  and  of 
these  accounts,  the  readers  of  the  future  time  will  pretty  surely 
approve  the  judgment  of  the  present  writer  if  he  give  in  full 
General  Johnson's  official  report,  written  the  day  after  the  battle, 
the  letter  of  Colonel  Pomeroy  to  Israel  Williams,  also  written  the 
next  day,  and  the  letter  of  Dr.  Thomas  Williams,  the  Surgeon^ 
written  two  days  later  than  these  to  his  wife  at  Deerfield.  We 
must  remember  while  reading  the  official  account,  that  General 
Johnson  was  inexperienced  in  civilized  war,  that  he  overestimated 
his  own  function  in  the  fights,  and  that  he  does  not  even  mention 
the  name  of  his  second  in  command. 

Justin  Winsor,  Librarian  of  Harvard  University,  kindly  sent  to 
the  present  writer,  with  the  word,  ''  Professor  Perry  may  like  to  see 
this,"  his  own  note  on  one  of  the  contemporary  pictorial  represen- 
tations of  the  battle  of  Lake  George.     The  note  is  appended  in  fulL 

The  sketch  on  the  other  side  of  this  leaf  follows  an  engraving,  unique  so  far 
as  the  editor  knows,  which  is  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  American  Anti- 
quarian Society.  It  is  too  defective  to  give  good  photographic  results.  The 
print  was  "  engraved  and  printed  by  Thomas  Johnston,  Boston,  New  England, 
April,  175G." 

The  key  at  the  top  reads  thus:  "  (1.)  The  place  where  the  brave  Coll.  Wil- 
liams was  ambush'i  &  killed,  his  men  fighting  in  a  retreat  to  the  main  body  of 
our  army.  Also  where  Cap*.  McGennes  of  York,  and  Cap*  Fulsom  of  New 
Hampshire  bravely  attack' d  y^  enemy,  killing  many.  The  rest  fled,  leaving 
their  packs  and  prisoners,  and  also  (2.)  shews  the  place  where  the  valiant  Col. 
Titcomb  was  killed,  it  being  the  westerly  corner  of  the  land  defended  in 
ye  general  engagement,  which  is  circumscribed  with  a  double  line,  westerly  and 
southerly;  (3.)  with  the  s<i  double  line,  in  y^  form  of  our  army's  entrench- 
ments, which  shows  the  Gen.  and  each  Col.  apartment.  (4.)  A  Hill  from 
which  the  enemy  did  us  much  harm  and  during  the  engagement  the  enemy  had 
great  advantage,  they  laying  behind  trees  we  had  felled  within  gun-shot  of  our 
front.     (W.)  The  place  where  the  waggoners  were  killed." 

On  the  lower  map  is:  "  The  prick'd  line  from  South  Bay  shews  where  Gen. 
Dieskau  landed  &  y^  way  he  march'^  to  attack  our  forces." 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  357 

The  two  forts  are  described:  "  Fort  Edward  was  built,  1755,  of  timber  and 
earth,  16  feet  high  and  22  feet  thick  &  has  six  cannon  on  its  rampart." 

"This  fort  [William  Henry]  is  built  of  timber  and  earth,  22  feet  high  and  25 
feet  thick  and  part  of  it  32.     Mounts  14  cannon,  33  &  18  pounders." 

The  dedication  in  the  upper  left-hand  corner  reads  :  "To  his  Excellency 
William  Shirley,  esq.,  Captain  general  and  GovMn-chief  in  and  over  his  Majesty's 
l*rovince  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England,  Major  General  and  Com- 
mander-in-chief of  all  his  Majesty's  land  forces  in  North  America  ;  and  to  the 
legislators  of  the  several  provinces  concerned  in  the  expeditions  to  Crown 
Point,  —  this  plan  of  Hudson  Kiver  from  Albany  to  Fort  Edward  (and  the  road 
from  thence  to  Lake  George  as  surveyed).  Lake  George,  the  Narrows,  Crown 
Point,  part  of  Lake  Champlain,  with  its  South  bay  and  Wood  Creek,  according 
to  the  be.st  accounts  from  the  French  geneml's  plan  and  otlier  observations  (by 
scale  No.  1)  &  an  exact  plan  of  Fort  Edward  &  William  Henry  (by  scale  No.  2) 
and  the  west  end  of  Lake  George  and  of  the  land  defended  on  the  S'**  of  Sept. 
last,  and  of  the  Army's  Intrenchraents  afterward  (by  Scale  3)  and  sundry  par- 
ticulars respecting  y*^  late  Engagement  with  the  distance  and  bearing  of  Crown 
Point  and  Wood  Creek  from  No.  4,  by  your  most  devoted,  humble  servant, 
Tim?  Clement,  Surv":    Havel  Feb.  10,  1756." 

Camp  at  Lakk  Gkorge,  9  Septb'  1755. 

To  THE  Governors  of  the  Several  Colonies  who 
RAISED  Troops  on  the  present  Expedition. 

Gentlemen,  Sunday  Evening  the  7'*^  Ins*.  I  received  Intelligence  from  some 
Indian  Scouts  I  had  sent  out  that  they  had  discovered  three  large  Roads  about 
the  South  Bay  and  were  confident  a  very  considerable  Number  of  the  Enemy 
were  Marched  or  on  their  March  towards  our  Encampment  at  the  Carrying 
Place  where  were  posted  about  250  of  the  New  Hampshire  Troops  and  five  Com- 
pany's of  the  New  York  Regiment.  I  got  one  Adams  a  Waggoner  who  volunta- 
rily and  bravely  consented  to  ride  Express  with  my  Orders  to  Col.  Blanchard  of 
the  New  Hampshire  Regiment  Commanding  Officer  there.  I  acquainted  him 
with  my  Intelligence  and  directed  him  to  withdraw  all  the  Troops  there  within 
the  Works  thrown  off.  About  half  an  hour  or  near  an  hour  after  this  I  got  two 
Indians  and  two  soldiers  to  go  on  Foot  with  another  Letter  to  the  same  purpose. 

About  12  o  Clock  that  Night  the  Indians  and  Soldiers  returned  with  a  Wag- 
goner who  had  stole  from  the  Camp  with  about  18  others  their  Waggoners  and 
Forces  without  order.  This  Waggoner  says  they  heard  and  saw  the  Enemy 
about  four  Miles  from  this  side  the  Carrying  Place,  they  heard  a  Gun  Fire  and 
a  Man  call  upon  Heaven  for  Mercy  which  he  judged  to  be  Adams.  The  next 
Moniing  I  called  a  Council  of  War  who  gave  it  as  their  Opinion  and  in  which  the 
Indians  were  extremely  urgent  that  1000  Men  should  be  detached  and  a  Number 
of  their  People  would  go  with  them  in  order  to  Catch  the  Enemy  in  their  Retreat 
from  the  other  Camp  either  as  Victors  or  defeated  in  their  design  —  the  1000 
Men  were  detached  under  the  Command  of  Coll^  Williams  of  one  of  the  Boston 
Regiments  with  upwards  of  200  Indians  —  they  Marched  between  8  and  9 
o'clock —  in  about  an  hour  and  a  half  afterwards  We  heard  a  heavy  firing  and 
all  the  Marks  of  a  Warm  Engagement  which  we  judged  was  about  3  or  4  miles 
from  us.     We  beat  to  Arms  and  got  our  Men   all  in  readiness  —  the  Fire 


358  OEIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

approached  nearer  upon  which  I  Judged  our  People  were  retreating  and  detached 
Lieut.  Colo.  Cole  with  about  300  Men  to  cover  their  Retreat  —  about  10  o  Clock 
some  of  our  Men  in  the  Rear  and  some  Indians  of  the  said  Party  came  running 
into  Camp  and  acquainted  us  that  our  Men  were  retreating,  that  the  Enemy- 
were  too  strong  for  them.  The  whole  party  that  escaped  returned  to  us  in  large 
Bodies. 

As  we  had  thrown  up  a  Breast  Work  of  Trees  round  our  Encampment  and 
planted  field  pieces  to  defend  the  same  we  imediately  hauld  some  heavy  cannon 
up  there  to  strengthen  our  Front  took  possession  of  some  Eminences  on  our  left 
Flank  and  got  one  Field  piece  there  in  a  very  advantageous  Situation.  The 
Breast  Work  was  manned  throughout  by  our  People  and  the  best  disposition 
made  thro'  our  whole  Encampment  which  time  and  Circumstances  would  permit. 
About  half  an  hour  after  11  the  Enemy  appeared  in  sight  and  marched  along  the 
Road  in  a  very  regular  Order  directly  upon  our  Center.  They  made  a  small  halt 
about  150  yards  from  our  Breast  Work,  when  the  Regular  Troops  (whom  we 
judged  to  be  such  by  their  Bright  and  fixt  Bayonetts)  made  the  grand  and  Cen- 
ter Attack,  the  Cannadians  and  Indians  squatted  and  dispersed  on  our  Flanks  — 
the  Enemys  Fire  we  received  first  from  their  Regulars  in  Platoons  but  it  did  no 
great  Execution  being  at  too  gi'eat  a  distance  and  our  Men  defended  by  the 
Breast  Work.  Our  Artillery  then  began  to  play  on  them  and  was  served  under 
the  direction  of  Capt  Eyre  during  the  whole  Engagement  in  a  manner  very 
advantageous  to  his  Character  and  those  concerned  in  the  Management  of  it. 
The  engagement  now  became  general  on  both  sides  —  the  French  Regulars  kept 
their  Ground  and  order  for  some  time  with  great  Resolution  and  good  Conduct, 
but  the  Warm  and  constant  Fire  from  our  Artillery  and  Troops  put  them  into 
disorder,  their  Fire  became  more  scattered  and  unequal  and  the  Enemys  Fire  on 
our  left  grew  very  faint.  They  moved  then  to  the  right  of  our  Encampment  and 
Attacked  Col.  Ruggles,  Col.  Williams  and  Col.  Titcombs  Regiments  where  they 
maintained  a  very  warm  fire  for  near  an  hour,  still  keeping  up  their  Fire  in 
the  other  parts  of  our  Line  tho'  not  very  strong,  the  three  Regiments  on  the 
right  supported  the  Attack  very  resolutely  and  kept  a  constant  and  strong  fire 
upon  the  Enemy.  This  Attack  failing  and  the  Artillery  still  playing  along  the 
Line.  We  found  their  fire  very  Weak  with  considerable  Intervals,  this  was  about 
4  o'clock  when  our  Men  and  the  Indians  jumped  over  the  Breast  Work,  pursued 
the  Enemy  Slaughtered  Numbers  and  took  several  prisoners  amongst  whom  was 
the  Baron  Dieskau  the  french  General  of  all  the  Regular  Forces  lately  arrived 
from  Europe  who  was  bro*  to  my  Tent  about  6  o' Clock  just  as  a  wound  I  had 
received  was  dressed  the  whole  Engagement  and  pursuit  ended  about  7  o' Clock. 

I  dont  know  whether  I  can  get  the  returns  of  the  slain  and  wounded  on  our 
side  to  transmit  herewith,  but  more  of  that  by  and  by. 

The  Greatest  Loss  we  have  sustained  was  in  the  Party  commanded  by  Coll? 
Williams  in  the  Morning,  who  was  Attacked  and  the  Men  gave  way  before  Col. 
Whiting  who  brought  up  the  Rear  could  come  to  his  Assistance,  the  Enemy  who 
were  more  Numerous  endeavoured  to  surround  them,  upon  which  the  Officers 
found  they  had  no  way  to  save  the  troops  but  by  retreating  which  they  did  as 
fast  as  they  could. 

In  this  Engagement  we  suffered  our  greatest  Loss.  Col.  Williams  Major 
Ashley  Capt  Ingersal  and  Capt  Cuter  of  the  same  Regiment.  Capt  Furrall 
Brother  in  law  to  the  General  who  Commanded  a  party  of  Indians,  Cap*  Stod- 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  359 

dert,  Capt  MaGinnis  Capt  Stevens  all  Indian  Officers  and  the  Indians  say  near 
40  of  tlieir  People  who  fought  like  Lions  were  all  slain.  Old  Hendricks  tiie  great 
Mohawk  Sachem  we  fear  is  killed.  We  have  abundant  reason  to  think  we  killed 
a  great  Number  of  the  Enemy  amongst  whom  is  Mon'  S'  Piere  who  commanded 
all  the  Indians  the  Each  Number  on  either  Side,  I  cannot  obtain  for  tho'  I  sent 
a  party  to  bury  our  dead  this  Afternoon,  it  being  a  running  Scattered  Engage- 
ment we  can  neither  find  all  our  dead  nor  give  an  exact  acc^*  as  fast  as  these 
Troops  joined  us  they  formed  with  the  rest  in  the  main  Battle  of  the  Day,  so 
that  the  killed  and  wounded  in  both  Engagements  Officei*s  excepted,  must  stand 
upon  my  Return. 

About  8  o  clock  last  night  a  party  of  120  of  the  New  Hampshire  Regm!  and  90 
of  the  New  York  Regm^  who  were  detached  to  our  Assistance  under  the  Com- 
mand of  Cap'  McGinnes  from  the  Camp  at  the  Carrying  Place  to  reinforce  us, 
were  attacked  by  a  party  of  Indians  and  Cannadians  at  the  place  where  Coll<> 
Williams  was  attacked  in  the  Morning.  Their  engagement  began  between  4  &  5 
o  Clock.  This  party  who  our  People  say  were  between  3  and  400  had  fled  from 
the  Engagement  here  and  gone  to  scalp  our  People  killed  in  the  Morning.  Our 
brave  men  fought  them  for  near  two  hours  and  made  a  considerable  Slaughter 
amongst  them.  Of  this  brave  party  2  are  killed  11  wounded  and  5  Missing. 
Capt.  MaGinnis  who  behaved  with  the  utmost  Calmness  and  Resolution  was 
brought  on  a  Horse  here  and  I  fear  his  wounds  will  prove  mortal.  Ensign  Fal- 
sam  of  New  Hampshire  Regiment  wounded  thro'  the  Shoulder. 

I  this  Morning  called  a  Council  of  War  a  copy  of  the  Minutes  of  which  I  send 
you  herewith. 

Mon»'  Le  Baron  de  Dushau  [Dieskau]  the  French  General  is  badly  wounded 
in  the  leg  and  thro'  both  his  Hips  and  the  Surgeon  very  much  fears  his  Life  he 
is  an  Elderly  Gentleman  an  experienced  Officer  and  a  Man  of  high  consideration 
in  France.  From  his  papers  I  find  he  brought  under  his  Command  to  Canada 
in  the  Men  of  War  lately  arrived  at  Quebec  3171  Regular  Troops  who  are  partly 
in  Garrison  at  Crown  Point  and  encampt  at  Ticonderoga  and  other  Advantage- 
ous passes  between  this  and  Crown  Point.  He  tells  me  he  had  with  him  yester- 
day Morning  200  Grenadiers  800  Canadians  and  700  Indians  of  defferent  Nations. 
His  Aid  de  Camp  says  (they  being  separately  asked)  their  whole  Force  was 
about  2000  —  severall  of  the  Prisoners  say  about  2300.  The  Baron  says  his 
Major  General  was  killed  and  His  Aid  de  Camp  says  the  greater  part  of  their 
Chief  Officers  also  he  thinks  by  the  Morning  and  Afternoon  Actions  they  have 
lost  near  1000  Men,  but  I  can  get  no  regular  Accounts,  most  of  our  People  think 
from  5  to  600.  We  have  about  30  Prisoners  most  of  them  badly  wounded  the 
Indians  Scalped  of  their  Dead  already  near  70  and  were  employed  after  the 
Battle  last  night  and  all  this  Afternoon  in  bringing  in  Scalps  and  great  Number 
of  French  and  Indians  yet  left  unscalpcd.  They  carried  of  Number  of  their 
Dead  and  secreted  them.  (Jur  Men  have  Suffered  so  much  fatigue  for  3  days 
past,  and  are  constantly  standing  upon  their  Arms  by  day  half  the  whole  upon 
Guard  every  Night  and  the  rest  lay  down  Armed  and  Accoutred,  that  both 
Officers  and  Men  are  almost  wore  out.  The  Enemy  may  rally  and  we  judge  they 
have  considerable  Reinforcements  near  at  hand,  so  that  I  think  it  necessary  we 
be  upon  our  Guard  and  be  watchful  to  maintain  the  Advantages  we  have  gained. 
For  these  Reasons  I  dont  think  it  either  prudent  or  safe  to  be  sending  out 
]>nvti..c  ;.,  ^(^arch  of  the  Dead. 


360  ORIGINS   IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

I  dont  hear  of  any  Officers  killed  at  our  Camp  but  Col.  Titcomb  and  none 
wounded  but  myself  and  Major  Nicolls  of  Col.  Titcombs.  I  cannot  yet  get  cer- 
tain returns  of  our  dead  and  Wounded  but  from  the  best  Accounts  I  can  obtain 
We  have  lost  about  130  who  are  killed  about  60  Wounded  and  severall  missing 
from  the  Morning  and  Afternoons  Engagement. 

I  think  we  may  expect  very  shortly  another  and  more  formidable  Attack  and 
that  the  Enemy  will  then  come  with  Artillery,  The  late  Col.  Williams  had  the 
Ground  cleared  for  Building  a  Stockaded  Fort.  Our  Men  are  so  harassed  and 
obliged  to  be  so  constantly  upon  Watchful  Duty  that  I  think  it  would  be  both 
unreasonable  and  I  fear  in  vain  to  set  them  at  work  upon  the  designed  Fort. 

I  design  to  order  the  New  Hampshire  Kegiment  up  here  to  Reinforce  us  and 
I  hope  some  of  the  designed  Reinforcements  will  be  with  us  in  a  few  days  when 
these  fresh  Troops  arrive  I  shall  immediately  set  about  building  a  Fort. 

My  wound  which  is  in  my  thigh  is  very  painful.  The  ball  is  lodged  and  can- 
not be  got  out,  by  which  means  I  am  to  my  mortification  confined  to  my  Tent. 

10th  This  letter  was  begun  and  should  have  been  dispatched  yesterday,  but  we 
have  had  two  Alarms  and  neither  time  nor  Prudence  would  permit  it.  I  hope 
Gentlemen  you  will  place  the  incorrectness  hereof  to  the  Account  of  our  Situ- 
ation.    I  am  most  respectfully. 

Gent"  Your  most  obedt  serv* 

Wm.  Johnson. 

If  General  Johnson  in  the  comparative  quiet  and  comfort  of  his 
tent  during  these  two  days,  looking  over  at  his  leisure  the  papers  of 
his  distinguished  captive,  Dieskau,  and  holding  pleasant  conversa- 
tions with  him  and  his  aide  at  sundry  times,  felt  called  upon  to 
apologize  for  any  incorrectness  in  his  prompt  report  to  the  governors, 
what  shall  we  say  in  the  way  of  excuse  for  mistakes  in  his  letter  to 
Israel  AVilliams  of  Colonel  Seth  Pomeroy,  who,  on  the  same  day,  was 
evidently  in  military  charge  of  the  camp,  certainly  of  the  Massachu- 
setts end  of  it,  giving  orders  of  all  sorts,  receiving  reports  of  the 
numbers  of  the  dead  and  wounded  and  missing,  superintending  in 
some  sense  the  burial  of  the  dead,  and  the  care  of  the  stores  and  the 
spoils  ?  This  letter  will  speak  for  itself  in  every  way.  It  is  among 
the  most  precious  of  the  colonial  documents  during  the  old  French 
War. 

Lake  George  Sept^  9'^  1755. 
Honor'd  &  Dear  S« 

[To  CoL.  Israel  Williams.] 

Yesterday  a  Memorable  day.  I  Being  the  only  Field  officer  In  Co^?  Ephreham 
Williams  Rigement  Suppos'd  to  be  now  Living  think  It  my  Duty  to  let  you  know 
what  happen'd  ye  8^^  of  this  Instant  which  was  yesterday — the  forenoon  &  till 
near  2  of  y^  Clock  Spent  In  Council  this  Day  &  now  So  many  to  write  too  must 
be  Excused  for  my  Shortness  &  Imperfections  —  news  as  follows  viz  —  Sabbath 
day  Just  night  we  had  news  y*  a  Large  body  of  men  March'd  up  wood  Creek 
Southwardly  —  we   Suposing  y'  they  Intend  to   Cut  of  our  wagons  or  atack 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  WILLIAMS  ALUMNI  IN  1855  UPON  A  ROCK 
WHICH  BECAME  THE  TRADITIONAL.  BUT  WAS  NOT  THE  ACTUAL,  PLACE 
WHERE   COLONEL   EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS   WAS    KILLED. 


361 


362  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

ye  Fort  at  ye  Carrying  Place  but  wanted  better  Information  Sent  monday  morn- 
ing about  1200  Men  near  200  of  them  Indians  Commanded  By  Col".  Williams 
Colo  Whiting  &  Col^  Cole  of  Rhode  Island  Whiting  In  ye  Middle  Cole  brought 
up  ye  rear  old  Hendreck  king  of  ye  Six  nations  before  with  Col^.  Williams  the 
Indians  Some  afore  some  in  ye  middle  &  Some  in  ye  rear  &  so  Intermix' d  Through  ; 
as  they  got  ready  to  March  —  got  about  3  Mile  off  our  Camp  ye  guns  begun  to 
Tire  It  was  then  between  10  &  11  of  ye  Clock  we  Put  our  Selves  Into  as  good  a 
Posture  of  Defence  as  we  Cou'd  not  knowing  but  our  men  wou'd  retreet  &  bring 
ye  army  upon  us,  &  not  Long  before  (to  our  grate  Surprise)  they  retreeted  but 
numbers  y*  Came  furst  Bringing  wounded  Men  &  Soon  flock' d  In  by  hundreds  all 
ye  Time  a  Perpetual  Fire  &  Drawing  nearer  and  nearer  &  between  11  &  12  of 
ye  Clock  ye  Enemy  Came  In  Sight  the  Regulars  March'd  as  near  as  I  Cou'd  Tell 
about  6  Deep  &  as  I  Judg'd  about  20  rods  In  Length  Close  order,  ye  Indians  & 
Regulars  at  ye  Last  wing  hilter  Scilter  ye  woods  full  of  them  —  they  Came  with 
In  about  20  rods  &  fir'd  Regular  Plattoons  but  we  Soon  brook  there  order  i 
ye  Indians  &  Cannadians  Directly  took  tree  with  In  handy  gun  Shot  —  Such 
a  Battle  It  is  Judg'd  by  all  y*  I  have  heard  was  never  known  In  America  the 
Enemy  Fau't  with  undanted  Corage  &  the  gratest  Part  of  ye  English  with  Heroick 
Bravery  till  about  5  of  ye  Clock  aftarnon  then  we  got  ye  grown'd  Having  Lost  at 
this  place  (I  have  not  had  time  to  get  a  Certin  ace',  but  going  over  y'  ground) 
about  12  Men.  Col?  Titcomb  was  one  —  what  ye  Enemy  Lost  I  never  took  much 
Pain  to  know  not  having  time  only  Just  to  run  out  upon  ye  ground;  before 
a  party  yt  Lay  &  stood  along  near  ware  I  stood  to  fight ;  there  I  found  ten  Dead 
&  3  wounded  all  Frenchmen,  them  I  ordered  to  be  Carried  In  Immediately,  one 
a  Gentleman ;  ye  number  In  all  taken  (I  have  not  Counted  'em)  but  I  think  it 
about  twenty  —  amongst  y*  rest  the  general  of  ye  French  army  &  the  AD  Camp 
&  by  there  Papars  we  know  there  numbers  &  what  He  brought  with  him  the 
numbers  at  Crown  Point  .  .  .  about  4000  brought  with  him  about  1800  —  the 
whole  Plan  of  there  opporration  &  Design,  a  map  of  our  Fort  at  ye  Carrying 
Place  &  our  Camp :  an  ace'  of  Marches  our  number  &  2000  more  y'  they  heard 
ware  to  joyne  us :  Came  with  full  asureance  to  Lodge  In  our  Tents  that  night 
which  to  his  grat  surprise  Did  (But  Blessed  Be  God  as  a  wound  Captive)  &  It  is 
thought  not  Like  to  live  the  French  General  Saith  that  our  People  made  such  a 
regular  Retreet  &  gave  them  such  Close  shots  yt  Dampen'd  his  Indians  &  Cana- 
dians ;  having  there  Principle  Indian  Officer  Kill'd  &  a  grate  number  of  French 
Gentlemen  Officers  there  was  not  above  100  of  our  men  y'  Fired  at  all :  But  they 
Did  with  undanted  Bravary  &  well  answer'd  ye  Caractter  of  Englishmen  ;  kill'd 
Taken  or  Lost  In  that  Battle  In  our  Rigement  I  have  Inclosed  which  was  vastly 
ye  gratest  Part ;  they  being  foremost  &  stood  for  a  Considerable  time  the  fire  of 
there  whole  army  till  they  ware  lik'd  to  be  surrounded  which  oblig'd  'em  to 
retreat  Col"  Williams  was  Shot  Dead  In  a  Moment  &  before  he  had  Time  to  Fire 
his  Gun  Capt  Hawley  Shot  I  Fear  Mortal  before  he  had  time  to  fire  his  gun  :  My 
Brother  Lieut  Pomeroy  I  have  had  an  ace*  his  being  well  till  the  army  retreated 
&  ask'd  what  are  they  a  going  to  run  ;  Yes  It  was  said  well  said  he  I  will  give 
'em  one  Shot  more  before  I  run  any  further  I  hant  heard,  since  I  have  heard  he 
is  ded  &  scalpt.  Our  People  are  out  Burying  ye  Dead  now  when  they  return 
I  may  give  a  More  Particular  ace*.  —  we  Design  to  Make  a  Stand  here  till  we  have 

1  Firing  our  Field  Peaces  among  'em  not  one  Indian  Found  any  ware  there 
about. 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  363 

a  sufficient  Reinforcement  what  number  y^  must  be  I  Cant  tell  but  they  Deter- 
mine to  stop  us  before  we  get  to  Crown  Point  the  French  General  saith  If  we  give 
them  one  more  such  a  Dressing  Crown  Point  &  all  there  Country  will  be  ours 
But  they  Design  to  Put  a  Stop  to  y»  —  But  I  hope  in  God  they  will  be  Disapointed 
for  I  Judge  humanly  speeking  our  all  Depends  on  y*  success  of  this  Expedition 
Therefore  I  Pray  God  wou'd  Fire  the  Brests  of  His  People  with  a  True  Zeal  &  a 
Noble  Generous  spirit  to  Come  to  the  help  of  y«  Lord  to  y^  help  of  y«  Lord 
against  y*  Mighty  &  I  trust  all  those  y»  value  our  Holy  Religion  &  our  Liberties 
will  spare  nothing  Eaven  to  y^  one  half  of  there  Estate  General  Johnson  shot  In 
the  Thigh  not  Brook  Maj'  General  Lyman  well  both  behaved  with  stediness  & 
resolution. 

I  Desire  y«  Prayers  of  God's  People  for  us,  y'  we  may  not  turn  our  backs 
upon  our  Enemies  but  stand  &  make  a  victorious  Defence  for  our  selves  &  our 
Country  Crown  us  with  victory  to  the  Glory  of  God  &  return  us  in  Safty. 
From  Your  Most  Obedient  Humble  Serv» 

Seth  Pomeroy. 

P.S.   ther  is  Someting  I  have  omitted  now  han't  room.    Shall  mention  In  one 
to  my  wife  or  Maj'  Hawley, 


Probably  as  a  sort  of  postscript  of  this  letter,  and  almost  certainly 
by  the  same  messenger  and  on  the  same  day,  Colonel  Pomeroy  sent 
to  Israel  Williams  at  Hatfield  the  following  official  list  of  casualties 
in  the  Hampshire  regiment.  It  will  be  remembered,  that  while  there 
were  then  as  now  ten  companies  in  a  full  regiment,  there  were  but 
seven  of  these  commanded  by  Captains,  the  Colonel  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  and  Major  each  having  a  technical  company  of  his  own. 
There  were  casualties  in  every  company.  The  regiment  was  not  full 
by  any  means. 

A     TRUE     ACCT    OF     THOSE     KiLLED    WoUNDED    AND     MiSSIXG    OF     COLO.     WlL- 

LiAMs's  Regiment  in  action  Sept.  8,  1765. 

Colonel  Williams^s  Company. 

Colo.  Eph.  Williams 

EnsD  Stratton 

Serj't  Welles 

Corpl  Graves 

Rob'?  Royn 

John  Taylor. 

Corpl  Bourn 

Tho?  Serjeant  ,  „  ,  _     , 

Lemuel  Stoddard  [  Supposed  Dead. 


Dead. 


Sol?  Stone.  J 

Micah  Harrington  1  „_        ,    , 

£,.,      ^  >  Wounded. 
Silas  Graves. 


364  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

Colo.  Pomeroy''s  Company. 

Serj't  Caleb  Chapin  i 

Corpl  Ebenr  Wright  l  Supposed  Dead. 

Daniel  Hinkley.  J 

Capt.  Simon  Davis  i 

Serj'l  Gen'Li  Thomas  \  Wounded. 

Daniel  Grainger.  J 

Maj.  Ashley'' s  Company. 
MajT  Noah  Ashley       ]  ^^^^ 
Israel  Shaw.  J 

Gideon  Stiles 


^     ,      o  I  Wounded. 
Gordon  Symson. 

Capt.  House'' s  Company. 

Lieu*.  Cobb  and  Son  1 

Serj't  Kendal  I 

Benj'n  Bosberg  (?)  ^  Dead. 

Wertherley  (?)  j 

Fours  (?).  J 

Rob*  Craige 
Jona  Dracke  (?). 


Wounded. 


Wounded. 


Capt.  BurVs  Company. 

Saml  Livermore  1  ^ 

1-1,     ,r  A  ^Dead. 

Eben'i  Ames.  j 

Capt.  Hawley's  Company. 
Capt.  Elisha  Hawley 

Corpl.  Sternes 

Lemuel  Lyman 
Saml  Fairfield. 
Lieut.  DanI  Pomroy 

Serj't Wright 

Thomas  Wait 
Danl  Kentfield  (?) 
Saml  Marshal 
ElnathP  Phelps 
Jon*.  Harmon 
Eben'r  Kinsley 
Dan'i  Wells. 

Capt.  Porter'' s  Company. 
Capt.  Moses  Porter       j 
Ens'D.  Reuben  Wait     I  Dead. 
Henry  Bartlet.  J 

Asa  Stratton  1  „  ,  -r^     •, 

Zebediah  Williams.      |  ^^VVO^^^  Dead. 

Zebediah  Williams        1  „_        ,    , 
T  TT  1,1     ^  V  Wounded. 

James  Hubbard  J 


Supposed  to  be  Dead. 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  365 

Capt.  IngersolVs  Company. 

Capt.  Jon*.  Ingersoll 

Serj't Ball 

Aaron  Bagg  Dead. 

Abra'^  Picket 

Richard  Campbell. 

Ens5.  Josiah  Williams 

Tho«  Welcher 

Jn?  French 

Josiah  Barker  1^  Wounded. 

Jn?  Aulkam 

Hebert  Miller 

Saml  Ponder. 

Capt.  Hitchcock's  Company. 

Lieut.  Burt  -i 

Wn?  Hitchcock  j-  Dead. 

Solom :  Chandler.         J 

Capt.  DooliUWa  Company. 

Pelatiah  Bugbe 

Saml  Southwark 

Elijah  Balcom  I-  Dead. 

John  Warrin 

Charles  Cuiso  (?). 
60  Dead  —  21  Wounded. 
French  Captives    27,  of  which  20  Wounded. 

The  above  ace?  was  drew  in  haste  &  I  have  had  but  a  minute's  time  to  peruse 
it.  but  I  think  it  is  a  just  account. 

Seth  Pomeroy. 

In  a  letter  to  his  friends  in  Northampton,  written  a  little  later, 
Colonel  Pomeroy  gives  the  losses  of  the  several  corps  as  follows 
In  the  Massachusetts  regiments,  the  killed  were,  in  Titcomb's,  35 
in  Williams's,  50 ;  in  Ruggles's,  37 ;  —  in  the  Connecticut  troops,  39 
in  the  Rhode  Island  troops,  20 ;  in  the  New  York  troops,  10 ;  and 
among  the  Mohawks,  40.     This  list  aggregates  231  killed,  and  prob- 
ably includes  the  missing.     Dr.  Perez  Marsh,  Surgeon's  Mate  in 
Colonel  Williams's  regiment,  and  ever  after  closely  connected  with 
the  Williams  family,  making  on  the  spot  a  two  weeks'  later  calcula- 
tion  than   Pomeroy's,  concluded   that   there   were   216  killed,   96 
wounded,  and  a   few  missing.     It  will  not  escape  the   observing 
reader,  that  the  proportion  of  killed  to  wounded  was  vastly  greater 
in  that  battle  than  in  any  of  the  battles  anywhere  in  the  present 
century. 


366  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Herewith  follows  the  deeply  interesting  letter  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Williams,  the  Surgeon,  written  from  the  camp  to  his  wife  in  Deer- 
field  the  third  day  after  the  battle  :  — 

Lake  George,  Sept.  11,  1755. 
My  Dear  Spouse :  Last  Monday,  the  8*^  instant,  was  the  most  awful  day  that 
my  eyes  ever  beheld,  &  may  I  not  say  that  ever  was  seen  in  New  England,  con- 
sidering the  transactions  of  it.  Having  intelligence  that  an  army  of  French  & 
Indians  were  discovered  by  our  Indian  scouts,  part  of  our  army  were  detached 
to  intercept  their  retreat,  as  it  was  supposed  they  were  designed  for  Fort  Lyman, 
[now  Fort  Edward']  at  the  south  end  of  the  Carrying-place  ;  about  1000  whites 
under  the  command  of  my  dear  brother  Ephraim  who  led  the  van,  &  Lt.  Col. 
Whiting  who  brought  up  the  rear  &  about  150  Mohawks  under  the  Command  of 
King  Hendrick,  their  principal  speaker,  were  attacked  by  the  French  Army  con- 
sisting of  1200  regulars,  &  about  900  Canadians  &  Savages,  about  3  miles  from 
our  encampment.  &  the  main  of  our  detachment  it  is  said,  put  to  a  precipitate 
flight,  but  the  certainty  is  not  yet  known,  besure  those  brave  men  who  stood 
fighting  for  our  dear  country  perished  in  the  field  of  battle.  The  attack  began 
about  half  an  hour  after  ten  in  the  morning,  &  continued  till  about  four  in  the 
afternoon  before  the  enemy  began  their  retreat.  The  enemy  were  about  an 
hour  &  a  half  driving  our  people  before  them,  before  they  reached  the  camp, 
where  to  give  them  due  credit  they  fought  like  brave  fellows  on  both  sides  for 
near  four  hours,  disputing  every  inch  of  ground,  in  the  whole  of  which  time 
there  seemed  to  be  nothing  but  thunder  &  lightning  &  perpetual  pillars  of  smoke. 
Our  Cannon  (which  under  God  it  appears  to  me)  saved  us  were  heard  down  as 
low  as  near  Saratoga,  notwithstanding  the  wind  was  in  the  south,  &  something 
considerable,  &  which  by  the  way  was  a  great  disadvantage  to  our  troops,  as  the 
smoke  was  drove  in  our  faces.  The  wounded  were  brought  in  very  fast,  &  it 
was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  their  wounds  could  be  dressed  fast  enough, 
even  in  the  most  superficial  manner,  having  in  about  three  hours  near  forty  men 
to  be  dressed,  &  Dr.  Pynchon,  his  mate  &  Billy  (one  of  his  students)  &  myself 
were  all  to  do  it,  my  mate  being  at  Fort  Lyman  attending  upon  divers  sick  men 
there.  The  bullets  flew  like  hail-stones  about  our  ears  all  the  time  of  dressing, 
as  we  had  not  a  place  prepared  of  safety,  to  dress  the  wounded  in,  but  through 
God's  goodness  we  received  no  hurt  any  more  than  the  bark  of  the  trees  &  chips 
flying  in  our  faces  by  accidental  shots,  which  were  something  frequent.  Our 
Tent  was  shot  through  in  divers  places,  which  we  thought  best  to  leave  &  retire 
a  few  rods  behind  a  shelter  of  a  log  house,  which  so  loose  laid  as  to  let  the  balls 
through  very  often.  I  have  not  time  to  give  a  list  of  the  dead  which  are  many, 
by  reason  I  have  not  time  to  attend  the  wounded  as  they  ought  to  be.  My  neces- 
sary food  &  sleep  are  almost  strangers  to  me  since  the  fatal  day  ;  fatal  indeed  to 
my  dear  brother  Ephraim,  who  was  killed  in  the  beginning  of  the  action,  by  a 
ball  through  his  head.  Great  numbers  of  brave  men,  &  some  of  the  flower  of 
our  army  died  with  him  on  the  spot,  a  list  of  which  I  refer  you  to  Capt.  Burke's 
letter  to  Lt.  Hoit,  having  not  time  to  get  a  copy  of  one  myself.  Twenty  odd 
wounded  in  our  regiment,  amongst  whom  some,  I  fear  will  prove  mortal,  &  poor 
brother  Josiah  makes  one  of  the  number,  having  a  ball  lodged  in  his  intestines, 
which  entered  towards  the  upper  part  of  his  thigh  &  pased  through  his  groin. 
Poor  Capt.  Hawley  is  yet  alive,  though  I  did  not  think  he  would  live  two  hours 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  367 

after  bringing  him  in  being  shot  in  at  the  left  pap  (&  the  ball  cut  out  near  his 
shoulder  blade)  cutting  his  pleura,  &  piercing  through  the  left  lobe  of  his  lungs. 
As  the  violence  of  his  symptoms  are  this  day  somewhat  abated,  I  have  some 
small  hopes  he  may  recover.  Our  Mohawks  suffered  considerable  in  the  action, 
having  thirty  three  killed,  with  the  brave  King  Hendrick,  which  has  exasperated 
them  much,  so  that  it  is  with  a  great  deal  of  difficulty  that  we  can  keep  them 
from  sacrificing  the  French  General  &  Aid-de-camp,  &  the  rest  of  the  French 
prisoners,  about  21  in  number,  which  we  have  taken.  The  French  General  is 
much  wounded,  whose  name  &  title  is  as  follows :  (as  appears  by  his  papers) 
M.  Le  Baron  des  Dieskau,  Marshall  cle  Camp  et  Annies  Envoye  in  Canada  pour 
Commander  Tout  les  Troupes.  It  seems  he  was  a  Lt.  Col^  under  Count  Saxe 
last  war  in  Flanders ;  &  was  sent  over  with  the  same  power  &  command  from 
that  country  that  the  late  Gen.  Braddock  was  from  England ;  but  must  con- 
clude, being  interrupted  every  moment  by  my  patients  wanting  something  or 
other. 

Our  recruits  begin  to  come  up,  which  if  the  remainder  soon  join,  hope  we 
shall  yet  see  Crown  Point  in  a  few  weeks,  &  by  God  Almighty's  assistance  make 
it  our  own.  The  remainder  of  the  French  army  were  attacked  by  250  of  the 
New  Hampshire  troops  after  they  left  us  ;  &  put  to  a  precipitate  flight,  as  they 
were  not  apprised  of  those  troops,  they  left  their  baggage  &  most  of  their  provi- 
sions, packs,  &  some  guns,  «&  many  dead  bodies  on  the  spot  where  the  attack 
began  in  the  morning,  when  our  troops  came  upon  them,  as  they  were  sitting 
down  to  rest  after  their  fatigue  with  us.  The  French  General  says  he  lost  600 
of  his  men,  &  the  Aid-de-camp  says  more,  &  that  they  have  lost  1000.  It  is  cer- 
tain they  were  smartly  paid,  for  they  left  their  garments  «&  weapons  of  war  for 
miles  together  after  the  briLsh  with  the  Hampshire  troops  like  the  Assyrians  in 
their  flight.  If  we  had  had  5  or  600  fresh  troops  to  have  followed  them  it  is 
thought  very  few  would  have  gone  back  to  Crown  Point  to  tell  what  had  become 
of  their  brethren.  It  is  now  11  oclock  at  night  &  I  have  had  scarce  any  sleep 
since  the  action,  must  therefore  wish  you  a  good  night,  looking  to  a  merciful  & 
gracious  God  to  keep  &  preserve  you  with  all  my  dear  relatives  &  friends  «&  in 
his  own  due  time  return  me  home  to  you  in  safety  laden  with  the  experience  of 
his  salvation,  &  a  grateful  sense  of  his  divine  mercies  to  us  all.  "With  love  to 
my  dear  children  &  proper  regards  to  all,  as  due,  I  subscribe  myself 
Your  affectionate  Husband  till  Death. 

Tho»  Williams. 

writ's.  F'^THKK  Williams. 

The  olticial  and  original  return  of  the  losses  of  the  day,  as  given 
by  Peter  Wraxall,  who  signs  himself  "  A.  De  Camp  to  Gen^  John- 
son," now  lies  before  the  writer,  and  is  one  of  several  valuable 
originals  loaned  to  him  for  the  purpose  to  which  this  is  now  put  by 
his  friend  and  former  pupil,  Fisher  Howe,  of  Boston.  Only  the 
losses  in  Colonel  Williams's  regiment  are  given  in  detail  here  from 
that  invaluable  paper,  and  then  a  summary  of  the  losses  in  the  other 
regiments,  and  then  the  aggregate  of  them  all. 


368 


ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


Massachdsetts  RegT  Command,  by  Col.  Eph^  Williams  — 


Killed    "Wounded    Missing 


Col.  Eph.  Williams 1 

Major  Noah  Ashley 1 

Capt.  Moses  Porter 1 

Capt.  Ingersole 1 

Lt.  Simon  Cobb 1 

Lt.  Daiil  Pomroy 1 

Lt.  Nathl  Burt 1 

Ensign  John  Stratton 1 

Ensign  Reuben  Wait 1 

Sergt."  Corpus  and  Privates 32 

Capt*  Simon  Davis  and  Elisha  Hawley 

Ensign  Josiah  Williams 

Sergts.  Corp\8  and  Privates 

Missing 

"IT 


2 

1 

23 


Col.  Titcomb's  Reg.  .  . 
Col.  Ruggles'  Reg.  .  . 
Lyman's  (Conn.)  Reg.  . 
Goodrich's  (Conn.)  Reg. 


9 

5 

9 

29 


Rhode  Island  Reg 20 

Three  (Conn.)  Comp.  with  N.  Y.  Reg 7 

Total  N.  England 120 


3 

26 

3 

27 

25 

1 

28 

3 

2 

16 

6 

1 

1 

3 

62 


Capt.  Stoddart,  Capt.  Magin  and  Capt.  Stevens,  Indian  officers,  all  killed  in 
the  Morning  Engagement. 

There  are  several  good  reasons  that  make  it  seem  proper  that  this 
chapter  on  Ephraim  Williams  should  be  brought  to  a  close  by 
quoting  verbatim  a  letter  written  from  Lake  George  less  than  three 
weeks  after  the  battle,  by  Dr.  Perez  Marsh,  Surgeon's  Mate  there, 
to  "William  Williams  at  Hatfield."  Both  the  writer  and  the 
recipient  of  the  letter  became  afterwards  prominent  people  in 
Dalton.  Marsh  was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1748,  became  a 
physician,  married  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  was 
appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace  at  Dalton  in  1761,  and  a  Judge  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1765,  —  retiring  from  public  life  in 
1774,  because  he  sympathized  strongly  (like  the  Williams  family  in 
general)  with  the  royal  cause.  The  recipient  of  the  letter,  William 
Williams,  was  son  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  removed  from  Hat- 
field to  Dalton  not  far  from  1761,  became  deacon  of  the  church  and 
a  father  of  the  town,  was  an  original  member  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  the  Williamstown  Free  School  and  later  of  the  College,  and 
was  chosen  the  first  President  of  the  Board.  This  letter  shows,  as 
no   other  contemporaneous    document    shows,    the    strong   colonial 


EPHRAIM   WILLIAMS.  369 

strifes  and  jealousies,  felt  if  not  manifested,  even  on  the  battle-field, 
as  between  Yorkers  and  New  England  men  in  general,  and  more 
minutely  as  between  the  men  of  the  separate  eastern  colonies  one 
against  another.  The  letter  shows  also  the  kind  of  stories  current 
in  the  camp  in  those  days,  and  under  those  circumstances,  both  in 
regard  to  allies  and  enemies.  The  damaging  reference  to  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Whiting,  of  the  Connecticut  troops,  had  probably  not  a  })ar- 
ticle  of  foundation  in  fact.  That  a  commander  should  wish  to  pull 
his  men  back  out  of  a  local  ambuscade  is  natural  enough,  and  would 
seem  to  be  good  tactics.  Indeed,  the  military  criticisms  of  Dr. 
Marsh,  including  the  fling  (if  it  be  one)  at  Colonel  Pomeroy,  are 
very  light  weight.     Let  the  surgeon  stick  to  his  scalpel. 

In  reference  to  the  poisoned  bullets  alleged  by  Marsh  and  many 
others  to  have  been  used  in  the  battle  of  Lake  George,  it  is  certain, 
if  that  were  done  at  all,  that  it  was  not  done  with  the  knowledge 
and  approval  of  the  government  of  France,  or  of  the  Baron  General 
Dieskau.  It  was  done  secretly  by  the  savages,  if  it  were  done  at 
all.  If  actually  used  by  the  Indians  in  that  battle,  it  would  have 
been  just  as  likely  beforehand  to  characterize  the  Mohawks  on  the 
English  side,  as  the  Canada  Indians  on  the  French  side.  In  truth, 
the  charge,  though  stoutly  raised  by  the  New  England  men  against 
their  enemies  in  general,  was  nevei' proved  in  any  proper  sense  of  the 
word.  The  surgeons  strongly  suspected  it  in  certain  wounds  prov- 
ing mortal ;  they  allowed  the  accusations  to  go  forth ;  they  even 
specified  the  names  of  certain  supposed  victims,  particularly  Micah 
Harrington,  of  Fort  Massachusetts;  but  lapse  of  time  and  the  nature 
of  the  proof  gradually  made  the  surgeons  less  confident,  and  the 
public  less  credulous  about  the  whole  matter. 

Lake  George  20'^  Sept'!i/5o 
D'?  S't,  I  this  instant  received  yours  of  ye  12'*».  Col?-  Pomroy  rec'd  another. 
The  letters  I  imagine  have  been  at  Albany  about  a  weak.  Col'?.  Pomroy  has 
wrote  several  times  since  the  date  of  these  &  Withal  has  given  you  a  truer  rep- 
resentation of  the  Battle  &  all  its  circumstances  than  I  can  amidst  sick  & 
wounded  who  take  up  tlie  most  of  my  time  &  tho'ts — so  Much  that  I  have 
hardly  realiz'd  ye  death  of  our  dear  friend  who  fell  gloriously  in  the  defence  of 
y't  Country  &  priviledges.  The  victory  be  sure  is  great  &  noble,  but  the  loss  of 
80  many  good  men  —  the  best  in  ye  regim'?,  the  best  in  ye  army  —  the  loss  itself 
especially  considered  in  its  circumstances,  eclipses  all  the  glory  &  darkens 
every  prospect.  In  the  first  place  that  the  army  should  be  here  a  fortnight  in 
the  enemies  country  without  the  least  fortification  is  to  me  very  surprizing,  but 
that  they  should  still  continue  in  this  defenceless  posture,  even  after  they  had 
heard  of  an  army  not  far  off,  is  more  surprizing.  But  the  most  astonishing  thing 
that  happened  was  that  Col«.  Williams  should  go  three  miles  from  the  Camp, 
with  12  hundred  men,  expecting  an  attack  every  minute,  or  at  least  that  it  was 


370  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

quite  probable,  &  yet  keep  no  [advanced]  scouts.  I  have  often  heard  him 
speak  of  this  very  thing,  &  the  danger  of  marching  without  it.  That  the 
Colo'y  should  neglect  this  &  give  ye  enemy  the  best  advantage  you  can  conceive 
of  is  very  remarkable.  The  enemy  could  not  have  had  a  more  advantageous 
place,  nor  our  Forces  a  worse.  One  thing  more,  which  is  your  desire  to  know, 
&  most  shocking  &  surprizing  to  us  was  the  shamefull  retreat  of  a  certain 
Gent'n  in  the  Army  who  brought  up  the  rear,  Notwithstanding  ye  express  orders 
of  our  dear  friend  C0I2.  Williams  that  no  man  retreat  upon  pain  of  death. 
This  Gent'n,  upon  the  first  fire  of  the  enemy,  gave  express  Command  retreat ! 
retreat !  —  left  their  friends  (who  fought  valiantly  while  they  lived)  to  fall  a 
prey  into  ye  hands  of  an  enemy  whose  orders  were  ye  most  shocking  that  ever 
were  heard  —  neither  to  give  nor  take  any  quarters.  Agreeable  to  ye  same  we 
found  Capt.  Porter  &  others  butcher' d  alive  who  were  captivated  by  'em  without 
any  wound. 

The  Gent'n  whose  conduct  has  been  thus  surprizing  you  have  doubtless  been 
acquainted  with  at  N.  Haven.  The  Col.  &  he  were  peculiar  good  friends,  which 
aggravates  ye  thing  &  makes  ye  sin  unpardonable,  for  had  they  stood  ye  ground, 
tho'  they  were  under  such  disadvantages,  I  doubt  not  they  could  easily  have 
drove  'em,  &  had  not  those  in  ye  camps  perceived  their  fire  to  draw  nearer 
they  would  soon  have  issued  forth  to  their  assistance,  but  on  ye  contrary  hear- 
ing by  ye  report  they  came  nearer  to  ye  camps  every  minute  all  they  had  to  do 
was  to  put  'em  [themselves]  into  a  [readiness]  to  engage  'em.  The  enemy  'tis- 
true  were  confident  of  success,  &  behaved  with  all  the  courage  &  resolution  pos- 
sable.  I  suppose  one  half  of  the  1200  who  were  first  attack'd  never  fired  a  gun 
till  they  came  within  ye  camps,  their  fright  was  so  great  they  disheartened  many 
soldiers  in  ye  camps,  &  they  &  many  others  would  have  gon  clear,  had  not  it 
been  for  the  Gen'i'l  &  other  officers  who  drew  their  swords  &  declar'd  they  would 
run  era  thro.  After  they  were  once  ingaged  they  fough[t]  well.  The  Gen'i^l^ 
observation  who  [Dieskau]  we  took  prisoner  was  that  our  men  "in  ye  morning 
fought  like  good  boys,  about  noon  like  men,  but  in  the  afternoon  like  the  Devil." 
The  numbers  of  the  enemy  slain  is  not  known.  An  account  of  ours  you  have 
doubtless  heard  in  our  report  —  45  dead  —  24  wounded.  In  the  army,  216  dead, 
96  wounded. 

The  cruel  treatment  of  our  regiment,  who,  without  any  disparagement,  was 
the  best  in  the  army,  you  have  doubtless  heard.  Envy  &  mallace  seems  to  be  ye 
occasion.  I  hope  for  ye  honour  of  ye  County,  without  bringing  into  consideration 
the  reflection  upon  Col.  Pomroy,  your  honour'd  father  will  exert  himself  in  this 
affair,  for  if  possable  we  have  actually  jumped  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire. 

Capt.  Hawley  is  dead  you  will  hear  by  the  bearer.  Ens's  Williams  is  not  out 
of  danger,  but  vastly  better.  His  wounds  work  exceeding  well,  &  'tis  probable 
he  may  recover.  You  have  heard  the  ace'*  of  poison  bullets  &c.  I  would  be 
more  particular,  but  Mr.  Clarke  [the  messenger]  was  ready  to  set  out  when  I 
receiv'd  your  letter.  His  Company  is  gone  and  he  impatient.  I  hope  to  see 
you  shortly,  &  converse  freely. 

Please  to  make  my  compliments  acceptable  to  all  friends. 

Your  sincere  friend  &  Hum'kl  Servant, 

Perez  Marsh. 

P.S.  Whether  we  proceed  this  fall  is  now  debated,  &  what  will  be  deter- 
mined I  know  not,  but  tis  generally  tho't  in  ye  negative. 


EPHRAIM    WILLIAMS.  371 

A  little  side  light  is  thrown  in  conclusion  upon  the  futile  Crown 
Point  expedition  by  the  following  bill  for  services  rendered  the 
returning  soldiers  at  the  close  of  the  season.  Dr.  Samuel  Lee,  who 
had  come  into  what  is  now  Berkshire  County,  from  Lyme,  Coimecti- 
cut,  and  was  practising  medicine  at  the  time  iu  the  Upper  Housatonic 
township  (Great  Barriugton),  sent  in  a  bill  to  the  General  Court  as  a 
"  Practitioner  in  Physick,"  of  which  the  following  is  the  heading :  — 

The  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay     Dr. 

For   what   I   have   done    for  the  Soldiers   on  their  Return   from  thk 

Camp  at  Lake  Geor«;k. 

These  services  extended  throughout  the  mouth  of  December,  1755. 
At  that  time  the  principal  road  from  Albany  to  AVestfield  and  Boston 
ran  through  the  Upper  Housatonic  township,  and  had  been  called 
since  1735  the  "  Albany  road."  Over  this  road  passed,  both  ways, 
most  of  the  military  companies  between  the  Connecticut  and  the 
Hudson  during  the  two  last  French  wars  and  the  Revolutionary  War 
that  followed.^  Dr.  Lee  had  many  patients  among  the  Massachu- 
setts soldiers,  sick  and  scattered  along  this  road.  He  speaks  of  an 
Aaron  Smith,  belonging  to  Captain  Jolin  Phay's  company,  who  "was 
sick  8  or  9  miles  from  me,"  and  whom  he  visited  repeatedly.  He 
speaks  also  of  "Ebenf  Hide  2**  Belonging  to  Capt.  Elisha  Noble's 
Company  in  ye  Reg^  of  Col!  Ejdiraim  Williams  Esq.  Deceased.  The 
Above  Said  Hide  was  sick  about  Nine  or  Ten  miles  Distant  from 
me."  He  also  treated  Ensign  Caleb  Wright,  of  Captain  Elisha 
Noble's  company. 

Dr.  Lee  took  oath  to  this  bill  (before  sending  it)  in  Canaan,  Litch- 
field County,  Connecticut,  before  David  Whitney,  Justice  of  the 
Peace.     The  aggregate  charges  were  £3  Is.  9d. 

The  charges  in  the  above  account  I  apprehend  to  be  reasonable. 

W.  Brattle. 

1  See  Berkshire  Historical  Collections ^  v.  1,  pp.  118  et  seq. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


WEST    HOOSAC. 


' '  —  Holding  the  care 
Of  home  and  children,  and  the  hope  to  die, 
Kemembered  'mong  the  mossy  names  that  haunt 
The  pine-hid  churchyard ;  happy  in  the  toil 
That  seeks  night's  peaceful  couch  with  lamps  unlit." 

Until  the  building  of  Fort  Massachusetts  in  1745,  very  little  was 
known  in  the  settled  parts  of  the  state  about  its  extreme  northwest 
corner.  It  was  cut  off  on  the  east  by  the  high  mountain  wall  of  the 
Hoosacs,  over  which  there  ran  at  that  time  only  a  very  narrow  and 
pretty  straight  Indian  trail.  The  only  other  practical  access  to  it 
was  from  the  south,  over  the  rough  and  rocky  watershed  that  divides 
the  head  streams  of  the  Housatonic  from  those  dropping  down  into 
the  Hoosac.  Much  interest  was  felt,  however,  in  this  strip  of  land 
and  in  those  streams,  by  the  people  of  the  "  Bay,"  and  perhaps  even 
more  by  the  dwellers  along  the  Connecticut ;  for  New  Hampshire 
had  long  claimed  a  strip  off  the  northern  boundary  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  New  York  quite  as  persistently  another  strip  over  the 
Taconics  to  the  eastward.  The  former  controversy  was  finally  set- 
tled in  1741,  and  the  latter  only  in  1787. 

Access  was  really  had  into  the  valley  of  the  Hoosac  for  purposes 
of  settlement  and  civilization  from  the  south,  namely,  from  the 
Indian  town  of  Stockbridge,  incorporated  in  1739.  The  first  Eng- 
lish family  to  join  the  missionary  station  in  Stockbridge,  started  in 
1734  by  John  Sergeant  and  Timothy  Woodbridge,  was  that  of 
Ephraim  Williams,  Senior.  He  had  been  a  man  of  affairs  in  New- 
ton, Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Captain ;  and  when  the  General  Court 
made  grant  to  the  Housatonic  Indians  of  the  town  of  Stockbridge, 
they  made  reservation  of  certain  portions  of  the  land  to  Sergeant 
and  Woodbridge,  and  also  certain  other  portions  to  four  gentlemen 
whom  they  might  appoint  as  companions  and  exemplars  to  assist  the 
missionary  and  school-teacher  in  civilizing  and  Christianizing  the 

372 


WEST   HOOSAC.  373 

Indians.  The  first  naiued  of  these  four,  and  the  first  to  arrive  in 
the  early  part  of  the  year  1739,  was  Ephraim  Williams.  It  is  just 
about  forty-five  miles  from  the  Connecticut  River  through  Westtield 
to  Stockbridge.  A  horse-road  had  just  been  laid  out  over  the  hills 
following  in  general  an  old  Indian  trail ;  and  Williams  is  said,  by 
tradition,  to  have  brought  his  young  children  to  Stockbridge  in  pan- 
niers on  a  horse.  Williams  brought  also  with  him  to  Stockbridge 
a  commission  to  lay  out  at  his  earliest  convenience  two  townships  on 
the  Hoosac  River;  and  apparently  as  soon  as  he  had  gotten  his 
family  housed  on  Stockbridge  Hill,  and  their  most  pressing  exigen- 
cies provided  for,  with  proper  assistants  he  carried  out  this  commis- 
sion according  to  his  best  judgment,  and  reported  results  to  the 
court  in  Boston  in  the  month  of  June.  This  is  called  the  survey  of 
1739.  The  report  of  it  is  interesting  reading,  as  it  is  preserved 
in  the  archives  of  the  state ;  and  especially  interesting  is  the  rude 
map  of  the  townships  accompanying  the  report. 

In  the  wood-cut  annexed  the  reader  will  see  the  reproduction  of 
that  map,  and  the  earliest  local  construction  of  these  two  townships 
on  the  Hoosac,  by  the  first  white  men  known  to  have  ever  traversed 
the  banks  of  our  river  and  those  of  its  two  forks.  They  made  the 
main  river  the  centre  of  the  west  township,  and  as  far  as  possible 
the  two  forks  the  middle  of  the  east  township.  The  courses  of  the 
two  forks  are,  in  general,  almost  continuous  north  and  south,  and 
they  come  together  at  a  very  large  angle  in  the  present  town  of 
North  Adams ;  the  course  of  the  united  stream  for  five  or  six  miles 
is  nearly  west,  so  that  the  plan  of  Williams  required  a  lay-out  of 
the  two  townships  nearly  at  right  angles  with  each  other :  the  east 
town  lying  in  general  north  and  south,  and  the  west  town  bearing  an 
east  and  west  course. 

For  some  reasons  (we  do  not  know  what  they  were)  this  first 
survey,  doubtless  made  in  haste,  for  all  the  lines  of  it  were  not  fully 
brought  together  on  the  map,  though  the  wood-cut  represents  them 
as  completed,  did  not  please  the  parties  most  interested  in  the  local- 
ity. After  Fort  Massachusetts  was  built  in  1745,  and  rebuilt  in 
1747,  quite  a  number  of  the  "river-gods"  clambered  over  the  Hoosac 
^Mountain  to  take  a  look  at  the  main  valley,  and  the  subordinate 
valleys.  Colonel  Oliver  Partridge  came  over  in  1746,  to  superintend 
burying  the  dead  around  the  fort,  and  Major  Epliraim  Williams 
doubtless  made  himself  very  familiar  with  the  lay  of  the  land 
throughout ;  at  any  rate,  after  the  representations  of  somebody,  the 
General  Court  ordered,  in  April  of  1749,  a  new  survey  and  plan  of 
the  two  townships,  then  first  distinctly  designated  as  "East  Hoosac" 


"A   Plan  of  23,040  acres  of  Land    lying  on  the  East  Side  of  Ashuwilticook  River  and  South   Branch 
of  Hoosuck    River,    beg'ing  at  a   Hennlock  Tree  nnark'd  0  +  . 

"Surveyed   May  1739,   by  the  Needle  of  the  surveying  Instrunnent, 

"By  Mr.  NATH.    KELLOGG, 

Surveyor." 


374 


WEST   HOOSAC.  375 

and  "West  Hoosac."    The  reader  will  be  doubtless  pleased  to  see 
the  order  of  the  court  in  their  own  language :  — 

In  House  Reps.  Apr  18,  1749. 

Ordered,  That  Col.  Dwight  &  Col.  Choate  with  such  as  the  Hon.  Board  shall 
join  be  a  committee  to  repair  to  the  Province  Lands  near  Hoosuck,  as  soon  as 
may  be,  with  a  skilful  surveyor  and  chainmen  under  oath,  and  lay  out  two 
Townships  of  the  contents  of  six  miles  square,  in  the  best  of  the  land  and  in  as 
regular  form  as  may  be,  joining  them  together,  and  return  a  correct  plat  of  said 
Townships  to  this  court  for  their  further  order  thereon.  And  also  to  return  the 
course  and  distance  said  Towns  bear  from  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  as  near  as 
they  can  the  quantity  of  Intervale  Land  contained  in  each  Township  and  what 
the  quality  of  the  soil  adjoining  to  the  said  Township  is. 

This  order  was  coiunirred  in  by  the  Council,  and  Oliver  Partridge, 
Esq.,  was  joined  to  the  committee  on  the  part  of  that  body. 

The  new  survey  discarded  the  former  one.  It  set  down  the  new 
towns  parallel  with  each  other,  rectangular  in  form,  intended  to  be 
equal  in  area,  although  the  most  cursory  observation  showed  the 
west  town  to  be  much  the  better  for  agriculture,  because  it  held 
much  more  intervale  and  the  upland  was  more  level.  Partially  to 
equalize  this  difference,  the  north  line  of  the  east  town  (later 
Adams)  was  not  carried  north  over  the  mountain  to  Hazen's  line 
run  eight  years  before,  and  its  south  line  was  carried  south  (where 
there  was  better  land)  a  corresponding  distance  below  the  south 
line  of  the  west  town.  Tlie  north  line  of  the  west  town  was 
Hazen's  line  for  the  distance,  and  its  south  line,  of  course,  so  much 
above  the  south  line  of  the  other.  The  committee  had  been  in- 
structed by  the  court  to  lay  out  botli  townships  six  miles  square ; 
but  the  lay  and  the  quality  of  the  land  alike  forbade  this ;  twelve 
miles  from  the  assumed  east  line  of  New  York  (not  finally  settled 
until  1787)  would  have  carried  the  east  line  of  East  Hoosac  well  up 
the  precipitous  sides  of  the  Hoosac  Mountain ;  and  so  the  actual 
survey  made  the  townships  about  five  miles  wide,  and  something 
more  than  seven  miles  long.  The  division  line  between  the  two  has 
never  been  altered  to  this  day,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  eastern 
line  of  East  Hoosac,  although  that  township  was  divided  a  few 
years  ago  into  "  North  Adams  "  and  "  Adams  "  by  an  east  and  west 
line  near  the  middle. 

The  official  report  of  the  committee  for  the  new  survey  makes 
interesting  reading.  It  was  made  on  the  10th  of  November  follow- 
ing the  appointment  of  the  committee  in  April,  1749,  by  Oliver  Par- 
tridge, of  Hatfield,  their  chairman :  — 


376  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

The  com.  appt'd  by  the  Great  &  Gen  Court  in  April  last  to  repair  to  the 
Province  lands  near  Hoosuck  to  lay  out  two  Townships  of  the  contents  of  six 
miles  square  &c  Report  — 

That  on  the  26  day  of  October  the  com.  went  from  Hatfield,  and  the  next  day 
came  to  Fort  Mass  —  (having  obtained  Mr  Nathaniel  Dwight  a  skilf ull  Surveyor 
to  survey  the  Townships)  The  next  day  we  went  out  to  view  the  lands,  ordered 
the  surveyor  to  measure  the  distance  from  the  fort  to  the  line  that  is  run  between 
this  Government  &  New  Hampshire  (which  was  run  some  years  since  by  Mr. 
Hazzen)  and  on  Monday  &  Tuesday  following  we  proceeded  to  view  the  lands. 
In  the  meantime  directed  the  Survr  to  take  the  courses  &  distances  of  ye  adja- 
cent mountains,  and  when  we  had  sufficiently  satisfied  ourselves  in  what  form 
the  Townships  be  laid  out,  we  directed  the  Survr  to  lay  them  out  agreeable  to 
the  plan  herewith  presented  (Having  caused  the  Surv  &  chainmen  to  be 
sworn. ) 

As  to  t!ie  quantity  of  intervale  contained  in  the  townships,  we  made  no  par- 
ticular measure  thereof  by  the  survey,  but  carefully  viewed  the  townships  and 
would  inform  that  the  land  on  the  river,  running  through  the  centre  of  the  East 
Township  for  more  than  4  miles  northerly  and  southerly  about  half  a  mile  East 
&  West  appears  rich  &  good,  a  considerable  part  thereof  is  intervale. 

In  the  West  Township  there  is  no  so  great  quantity  of  Intervale,  but  a  very 
valuable  and  rich  tract  of  land  in  the  middle  of  the  Township,  insomuch  that 
the  com.  do  deem  the  West  Township  the  most  valuable. 

Great  part  of  the  land  in  both  townships  is  considerably  loaded  with  timber. 

As  to  the  quality  of  lands  adjoining  sd  townships  the  Com.  would  inform 
that  on  the  East  of  sd  Townships  lie  the  Great  Hoosuck  Mountain  (so-called) 
which  is  about  7  miles  from  side,  on  which  mountain  there  is  a  sufficient  quan- 
tity of  land  for  a  township  or  two  —  a  great  part  of  it  is  valuable  —  On  the  West 
side  of  the  West  town  lays  a  range  of  mountains,  and  between  the  two 
townships  lays  another  range  of  mountains  over  which  the  dividing  line  runs 
—  Between  the  North  line  of  the  East  town  and  the  Province  line  the  land  is 
mountainous  and  broken  —  and  the  land  on  the  south  of  sd  town  is  —  some  very 
poor  and  some  of  it  good  and  accommodable  for  settlement. 

All  which  is  humbly  submitted  in  the  name  and  by  the  order  of  the  Committee. 

Ov.  Partridge. 
Nov.  10.  1749. 

The  north,  line  of  West  Hoosac  was  shortened  a  few  rods  at  its 
western  extremity,  in  1787,  by  the  final  New  York  line,  which  shaved 
off  an  elongated  corner  at  that  point  of  no  great  consequence ; 
while  the  establishment  of  the  same  ^ew  York  line  created  an 
elongated  gore,  446  rods  long  at  its  base,  which  was  continuous 
with  the  original  south  line  of  West  Hoosac,  which  came  to  a 
point  at  the  point  of  the  little  triangle  just  referred  to  as  cut  off 
at  the  north,  which  gore  was  added  to  Williamstown  in  1837;  so 
that  only  the  east  line  of  West  Hoosac  remains  now  the  east  line  of 
Williamstown,  just  as  it  was  platted  in  1749. 

At  the  next  session,  January,  1750,  the  settlement  of  the  town- 


WEST  HoosAr.  377 

ship  thus  laid  out  was  uiuii'i-  lik'  conMiU'iiiuuii  of  the  Legislature, 
and  the  result  was  the  adoption  by  both  branches  of  the  following 
orders : — 

Ix  Ho.  litis.  Janlauv  17,  ITIU  (1750  New  Style.) 
Voted,  That  Col.  Miller  and  Capt.  Livermore  with  such  as  the  Hon.  Council 
shall  appoint  be  a  com.  to  lay  out  63  house  lots  in  the  Westernmost  Township 
(Each  house  lot  to  draw  one  sixty  third  part  of  sd.  Township)  one  for  the  first  set- 
tled minister,  one  for  the  ministry,  and  one  for  the  school,  as  near  the  centre  of 
the  Township  as  may  be  with  convenience,  the  said  lots  to  contain  10  or  12 
acres  each  as  the  Com.  shall  best  judge  —  said  house  lots  to  be  adjoining  —  and 
also  that  said  Com.  be  directed  to  lay  out  such  Highways,  streets  and  lanes  to 
and  amongst  the  house  lots  as  shall  be  necessary  and  convenient,  and  that  said 
Committee  have  power  to  admit  sixty  settlers  or  inhabitants  into  said  Township 

—  each  of  them  shall  be  entitled  to  one  sixty  third  part  of  said  Township  upon 
the  conditions  following  viz.  —  That  each  settler  pay  the  Com.  upon  his  being 
admitted,  £6.  13.  0  Lawful  money  for  the  use  of  the  Government,  and  that  he 
shall  within  the  space  of  Two  years  from  the  time  of  his  being  admitted  build  a 
house  18  feet  long,  15  feet  wide  and  seven  foot  studd,  and  shall  fence  five  acres 
of  his  said  house  lot  and  bring  the  same  to  English  grass,  or  fit  it  for  plowing 
and  raising  of  wheat  or  other  corn,  and  shall  actually  by  themselves  or  assigns 
reside  on  said  house  lot  five  years  in  seven  from  the  time  of  their  being  admitted 

—  and  that  they  do  settle  a  learned  Orthodox  minister  in  said  Town  within  the 
term  of  five  years  from  the  time  of  their  being  admitted  —  And  in  case  the 
aforesaid  conditions  are  not  fulfilled,  according  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning 
thereof  —  that  then  such  settler  or  settlers'  right  shall  be  forfeit  and  revert  back 
to  the  Province  to  be  disposed  as  the  Gen.  Court  shall  and  may  hereafter  order 
and  determine  —  any  thing  in  their  grant  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

And  that  the  sd  Com.  be  further  directed  to  take  a  bond  of  each  person  by 
them  admitted  as  a  settler  of  the  penal  sum  of  fifty  pounds  money  payable  to 
the  Province  Treasurer  or  his  succesors  in  sd  office  for  the  faithful  performance 
of  the  conditions  of  sd  grant  —  the  sd  Com  to  make  report  of  their  doings  — 
and  due  return  of  sd  bonds  to  the  Province  Treasurer  as  soon  as  may  be  —  who 
shall  be  paid  for  their  service  out  of  monies  received  of  the  settlers  —  And  as 
to  the  Easternmost  Township  to  be  settled  as  the  Gen  Court  shall  order.  Sent 
up  for  Concurrence.  ^^^^^    Hubbard,  Speakr  Pro  Tempore. 

In  council  Apr  6.  1760 

Read  and  Concurred  and  James  Ninatt  Esq  is  joined  in  the  affair.  Saml 
Holbrook  Depy  Secretary  Consented  to  S.  Phipps. 

The  normal  scheme  on  which  these  lots  were  to  be  laid  as  a  village 
centre  is  plain  enough  both  from  what  was  actually  done,  and  from 
the  later  testimony  of  some  of  the  original  proprietors ;  namely,  to 
lay  out  on  both  sides  of  a  main  street  fifteen  rods  wide,  extending 
from  Green  River  at  the  east,  one  and  three-eighths  miles  to  Buxton 
P>rook  at  the  west,  sixty-three  house  lots,  each  lot  thirteen  and  one- 
third  rods  wide  on  the  street,  and  running  back  from  it  120  rods, 


378  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

thus  making  each  lot  contain  just  ten  acres.  The  odd  number  of  the 
lots  (63)  made  a  strict  rectangle  of  them  impossible  ;  and  the  actual 
encroachment  of  the  Green  Eiver  on  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
general  plot,  as  that  was  then  located,  threw  live  lots  more  on  to 
the  north  side  of  the  street  than  on  the  south  side.  Sixty-three  lots 
were  laid  out  on  the  prescribed  street,  but  they  are  both  wider  and 
deeper  than  the  normal  plan  allowed  for.  Instead  of  a  uniform 
depth  on  both  sides  of  120  rods,  Alexander  Walker,  a  Scotch  sur- 
veyor of  some  attainments  and  reputation,  for  a  long  time  now 
(1892)  a  citizen  of  Williamstown,  after  repeated  and  variously  diversi- 
fied measurements,  finds  the  thirty-four  lots  on  the  north  side  of 
Main  Street  each  125  rods  deep,  and  the  corresponding  twenty-nine 
lots  on  the  south  side,  each  129.5  rods  deep.  The  normal  plat  would 
have  been  255  rods  north  and  south,  and  420  rods  east  and  west. 
The  actual  plat  is  irregular  for  two  probable  reasons  :  (1)  The  Green 
Eiver  cuts  off  a  considerable  corner  on  the  south  side  towards  the  east, 
and  (2)  The  surveyors  of  that  time  are  known  to  have  made  large 
allowances  in  their  measurements  for  "  slag  "  or  slack ;  that  is,  the 
chain  could  not  be  carried  straight  and  held  taut  on  account  of  trees 
and  other  impediments  in  the  line  being  measured,  and  accordingly 
the  chain  was  reckoned  short,  and  more  land  given  to  the  rod. 
The  actual  width  of  the  lots,  according  to  Walker,  is  very  nearly 
13.75  rods  each,  instead  of  the  normal  13.33  rods  each;  which  is  an 
increase  very  nearly  in  proportion  to  the  increase  in  the  depth  of 
the  lots  from  120  rods  to  125  on  the  north  side  of  the  street. 
Nothing  known  to  the  present  writer  accounts  for  the  still  greater 
•depth  beyond  the  normal  of  the  fewer  house  lots  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Main  Street.  In  those  days  lands  were  abundant,  and  conse- 
quently cheap;  and  all  of  the  after  lots  surveyed  in  West  Hoosac 
now  overrun  in  the  same  way,  and  probably  for  the  same  reason, 
their  original  and  prescribed  dimensions. 

Mr.  Walker  makes  the  bearing  of  the  Main  Street  N.  61°  55'  W. 
In  this  direction,  accordingly,  the  actual  plat  was  extended,  as 
between  the  two  streams  mentioned  a  moment  ago,  over  four  emi- 
nences, the  summits  of  each  of  which  are  very  nearly  100  feet  above 
the  Hoosac  Eiver,  flowing  north  of  the  village  plat  at  an  average 
distance  of  perhaps  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  its  northerly  line. 
The  Main  Street  bisects  the  plat  the  longer  way,  and  is  itself 
bisected  the  other  way  by  a  continuous  North  and  South  Street, 
whose  bearing  is  S.  29°  30'  W.  or  N.  29°  30'  E.  The  broad  space  at 
the  intersection  of  these  streets  was  originally  called  "  The  Square,'^ 
and  is  now  called  "  The  Field  Park."     It  constitutes  the  third  of  the 


WEST   HOOSAC.  379 

eminences  but  just  now  referred  to,  and  was  occupied  for  a  century 
by  two  Congregational  meeting-houses  in  succession.  The  first  two 
"  Inns  "  of  the  village  adjoined  upon  it,  as  do  also  the  two  present 
hotels.  It  was  designed  to  be,  it  has  always  been,  and  is  likely  per- 
haps ever  to  continue,  the  technical  centre  of  the  village  ;  but  a 
strong  competitor  for  this  position,  certainly  in  point  of  business 
and  places  of  assembly  and  residence,  have  latterly  become  the  two 
more  easterly  eminences  and  the  shallow  valley  l)etween  them.  Into 
this  valley  came  the  new  meeting-house  in  1809,  after  its  immediate 
predecessor  was  burned  on  the  old  site  in  1866 ;  and  about  the  same 
time  was  built,  in  the  same  valley,  the  principal  school  building  for 
the  village,  accommodating  also  the  High  School  of  the  town. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  Main  Street  were  laid  down  thirty-four 
settling  lots,  —  seventeen  on  each  side  of  the  North  Street;  on  the 
south  side  of  Main  were  plotted  twenty -nine  of  these  lots,  —  seven- 
teen on  the  west  side  of  the  South  Street  and  twelve  on  its  east  side. 
The  Green  River  tumbles  down  over  natural  falls  and  through  pre- 
cipitous places,  just  where  five  of  these  lots  would  naturally  have 
been  located,  although  Water  Street  finds  a  way  from  Main  Street, 
down  a  steep  hill  and  then  up  alongside  Green  River,  and,  although 
one  house  lot,  No.  57,  was  laid  out  at  right  angles  to  all  the  rest, 
parallel  with  and  alongside  of  the  Main  Street  to  its  east  end.  This 
lot,  57,  is  not  as  long  as  the  rest,  and  is  in  several  ways  anomalous. 
The  contents  of  each  of  the  rest  of  the  lots  on  the  south  side  of 
Main  Street  are  eleven  acres  and  thirteen  one-hundredths,  while  the 
area  of  each  of  the  lots  on  the  north  side  is  ten  acres  and  three- 
quarters.  The  aggregate  area  of  all  the  house  lots,  exclusive  of  the 
streets,  and  reckoning  No.  57  as  a  full  lot  on  the  southern  tier,  is 
687  acres  and  a  quarter.  The  average  contents  of  the  sixty-three 
lots  is,  as  nearly  as  possible,  eleven  acres. 

The  original  house  lots  of  the  town  having  been  thus  surveyed  and 
mapped  out  for  exhibition  to  would-be  purchasers,  the  next  thing  in 
order  was  to  dispose  of  them  to  actual  settlers.  There  w^ere  two 
main  obstacles  in  the  way  of  this.  Almost  everybody  expected  a 
speedy  resumption  of  hostilities  in  a  renewed  war  with  the  French 
and  Indians ;  and,  in  that  case.  West  Hoosac  would  lie  right  on  the 
path  of  all  the  main  war  parties  from  Canada,  and  any  scattered 
dwellings  built  on  these  lots  would  be  wholly  exposed  to  the  merci- 
less savages.  In  the  second  place,  similar  lands  and  homes  were 
then  being  offered  by  agents  of  the  General  Court  in  perhaps  a  score 
of  new  towns  scattered  through  the  western  part  of  the  colony. 
Ephraim  Williams,  Senior,  Imd,  some  time  before  this,  opened  up 


380  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  four  "Housatonic  townships,"  so-called,  and  invited  into  them 
his  old  neighbors  of  Newton  and  Watertown,  and  welcomed  new- 
comers from  any  quarter.  Stockbridge  itself  and  Pittsfield  were 
then  bidding  for  English  inhabitants.  Good  lands  were  then  very 
cheap,  in  any  quantity,  on  every  hand. 

The  committee  in  charge  of  selling  the  West  Hoosac  lots  could, 
nevertheless,  make  a  pretty  fair  show.  The  original  scheme  of  the 
village  contemplated  two  roads,  each  parallel  with  the  Main  Street, 
along  the  ends  of  the  lots  the  entire  distance,  both  north  and  south. 
A  part  of  this  north  road  was  actually  built  very  early,  is  still  in 
use  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  plat,  but  was  there  intermitted  as 
to  the  rest  of  the  circuit,  and  has  never  been  resumed.  These  roads 
looked  well  on  a  parchment  plot  of  the  proposed  homesteads,  in 
connection  with  the  central  streets  in  both  directions,  which  latter 
formed  a  perfect  Greek  cross.  Then,  the  purchaser  of  any  one  of 
these  house  lots  bought  thereby  and  at  the  same  time  the  fee  simple 
of  one  sixty-third  of  the  whole  township,  as  the  proprietors  might 
conclude  afterwards  to  divide  up  the  lands  among  themselves,  as 
into  meadow  lots,  oak  lots,  fifty-acre  lots,  and  so  on,  until  all  the 
land  was  thus  distributed.  Moreover,  the  committee  could  say  and 
did  say  to  buyers,  "Fort  Massachusetts  is  only  about  four  miles 
from  '  The  Square '  of  the  new  village,  and  will  serve  as  some  sort 
•of  defence  —  at  the  least,  of  a  refuge  —  to  the  pioneer  settlers." 
So  they  offered  the  lots  for  sale,  under  the  certain  prescribed  condi- 
tions already  quoted,  which  were  considerably  complicated,  to  the 
ofl8.cers  and  soldiers  in  Fort  Massachusetts,  in  the  chief  towns  along 
the  Connecticut,  in  Concord  and  Boston,  and  in  Canaan  and  Litch- 
field, Connecticut.     It  took  a  good  while  to  dispose  of  them  all. 

In  the  meantime,  at  the  beginning  of  February,  1751  (new  style, 
1750  old  style),  the  following  petition  was  presented  to  the  General 
Court  by  Captain  Ephraim  Williams,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  some 
of  the  soldiers  under  him  in  Fort  Massachusetts  :  — 

Feb.  1750  —  Petition  of  Ephm  "Williams  Commander  of  Fort  Massachusetts  : 
Most  Humbly  showeth  that  your  petitioner  hath  been  detained  in  Boston 
ever  since  ye  last  of  Nov.  past  waiting  for  money  due  to  him  and  Company  out 
of  the  Province  Treasury  for  which  he  hath  his  warrants  duly  executed.  But 
there  being  no  money  in  the  Treasury  for  the  payments  of  them,  he  must  either 
wait  longer  (which  is  very  expensive)  or  return  home  without ;  ye  later  of 
which  will  be  very  Detrimental  (as  also  the  former  hath  been)  by  reason  that 
fifteen  of  the  Lotts  in  ye  land  to  the  westward  of  sd  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  (by 
the  Committee  appointed  for  the  sale  of  them)  virtully  Bargained  to  some  of  his 
soldiers  upon  conditions  they  speedily  pay  what  they  bargained  to  give,  which 
they  (foremost  of  their  money  due  aforesd)  are  unable  to  do  and  so  consequently 


WEST   HOOSAC.  381 

must  lose  them,  and  as  that  would  be  a  great  disappointment,  therefore  your 
petitr  Humbly  prays  Your  Honr  and  Honrs  would  direct  the  Comee  aforesd  to 
take  ye  warrants  above  mentioned  into  their  own  hands,  they  advancing  the 
Contents  of  them  to  your  Petitr,  which  will  not  only  enable  sd  soldiers  to  pay 
for  sd  Lotts,  but  Save  your  Petitr  a  vast  charge,  which  he  humbly  hopes  your 
Honor  and  Honors  in  your  known  wisdom  will  do  and  as  in  duty  bound  will 
ever  pray  —  signed  E.  Williams  Jr —  (own  hand). 

This  petition  appealed  to  the  sense  of  fair  and  right  in  the  minds 
of  the  legislators,  and  was  acted  upon  at  once  and  favorably,  as 
appears  by  the  following  vote :  — 

House  Reps.  Feb.  7,  1750. 

Reed  and  Ordered  that  the  Comee  for  admitting  settlers  in  the  West  New 
Township  at  Hoosuck,  be  and  they  hereby  are  directed  and  impowered  out  of 
the  monys  which  they  shall  receive  from  the  said  Settlers  to  pay  the  within 
named  Williams  the  money  due  on  said  warrants  —  He  delivering  the  sd  com- 
mittee with  proper  orders  on  the  Treasurer  to  discount  the  same  with  them. 

And  the  said  committee  are  also  allowed  to  admit  as  many  of  the  Soldiers  at 
Fort  Mas.sachusetts,  as  Settlers  as  they  shall  judge  proper.  Sent  up  for  concur- 
rence. T.  Hubbard  Spkr. 

Concurred  —  Consented.     T.  Phipps. 

As  an  inducement  to  buyers  and  settlers,  the  committee  were  able 
to  urge  the  fact,  that,  in  1750,  a  grant  of  200  acres  of  land  had  been 
made  to  Captain  Ephraim  Williams,  Junior,  in  East  Hoosac,  by  the 
General  Court,  on  condition  that  he  should  reserve  ten  acres  of  the 
meadow  around  Fort  Massachusetts  for  the  use  of  that  fort,  and  also 
build  a  grist-mill  and  a  saw-mill  on  one  of  the  branches  of  Hoosac 
River  near  their  junction,  and  keep  the  same  in  repair  for  twenty 
years  for  the  use  of  the  settlers  in  the  two  townships.  The  mills 
were  built  accordingly  on  the  south  branch  (Ashuwillticook)  at  a 
natural  fall,  still  utilized  for  a  water-power,  a  couple  of  rods  above 
the  bridge,  by  which  one  enters  the  present  village  of  North  Adams 
from  the  west.  The  mills  were  the  first  resource  of  the  first  settlers 
of  both  townships. 

The  committee  were  required,  by  law,  to  reserve  three  house  lots 
in  West  Hoosac,  "  one  for  the  first-settled  minister,  one  for  the  min- 
istry, and  one  for  the  school,  as  near  the  centre  of  the  township  as 
may  be  with  convenience."  They  reserved,  accordingly,  for  these 
purposes  in  their  order,  near  the  square,  Nos.  36,  38,  and  35,  the  first 
two  out  of  the  north  tier,  and  the  third  from  the  south  tier  alongside 
the  South  Street.  The  remaining  sixty  lots  were  put  upon  the  mar- 
ket substantially  in  the  following  manner:  The  price  was  uniform 
for  all  the  lots,  namely,  £6  13s.  4d.,  although  there  were  very  con- 
siderable  differences   in   the   value   of  the   same   for  homesteads. 


382  ORIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Chance  determined  by  the  number  drawn  the  location  of  each  man's 
purchase.  One  could  buy  just  as  well  in  Concord  or  Litchfield  as  in 
West  Hoosac  itself ;  and  the  process  could  go  on  without  confusion 
till  the  last  number  was  drawn  from  the  box.  The  name  of  the 
man  and  the  number  of  the  lot  went  together ;  there  was  no  oppor- 
tunity of  choice  as  between  the  lots  themselves. 

In  September,  1752,  the  committee  reported  to  the  province  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  in  the  following  words  :  — 

We  the  Subscribers  appointed  by  this  Honored  Court  to  lay  out  63  Houselotts 
in  the  Westernmost  Township  at  Hoosuck  —  sixty  of  which  to  be  disposed  of  by 
us  —  We  have  completed  that  service  as  directed  by  the  order  of  the  court  here- 
with exhibited.  ^  t  tit 

f James  Minot 

Com.  <  Sam^  Miller 

(  Samuel  Livermore. 

The  committee  then  present  their  account  for  services,  horse-hire, 
and  subsistence,  —  fourteen  days  in  " lotting"  :  — 

3  days  at  Concord      to  sell  lots  at  6/  per  day  — 


3     ' 
1     ' 

'     "  Worcester    "    " 
'     "  Watertown"    " 

"         2/  horsehire  — 

Total 
To  surveyor  &  chainmen 
Paid  Prov.  Treasurer 

Balance  to  be  paid  Treas, 

£  34  10 
9  18  10 
239  15 

£284    3  10 
115  16    2 

£400 

The  committee  charge  themselves  for  several  lots  of  land,  to 
wit :  — 

60  Lotts  of  land  sold  to  several  persons  as  per  particular  list  herewith  annexed 

at  £6  13  4. 
3  Lotts  to  ye  minister,  ministry,  and  school. — 
In  Council  Jany  3,  1753.     Voted,  that  the  within  account  be  allowed,  and 
that  the  Com.  to  pay  the  ballance  thereof  being  £115  16  2  into  the  Province 

'r^^^^^^y-  S.Phipps. 

Thus  the  house  lots  were  all  disposed  of  in  the  first  instance,  — 
about  one  quarter  of  them  to  officers  and  men  at  Fort  Massachusetts  ; 
some  to  land  speculators  of  the  time  5  some  to  men  whose  motives 
appear  to  have  been  patriotic  merely,  to  help  on  the  settlement  as  a 
good  mode  of  defence  against  Canada  ;  and  some  to  men  whose  resi- 
dence and  character  cannot  be  ascertained  at  this  late  day.  There 
were  forty-six  buyers  in  all.  Lieutenant  Samuel  Brown,  of  Stock- 
bridge,  took  three  lots,  and  there  were  twelve  others  who  took  two 


WEST   HOOSAC. 


383 


lots  each.  The  remaining  thirty-three  subscribed  for  one  lot  only. 
It  is  probably  best  to  make  a  permanent  record  here  of  all  the  names 
of  these  forty-six  persons,  their  residences  at  the  time  so  far  as 
these  are  known,  and  the  numbers  of  the  house  lots  originally  drawn 
by  them  ;  although  a  brisk  trade  in  the  lots  sprang  up  almost  imme- 
diately, and  only  a  small  part  of  these  first  drawers  ever  became 
resident  settlers  upon  them.  Before  doing  this,  however,  we  will 
give  the  original  scale  as  each  man  drew  his  lot,  or  lots,  and  the 
place  of  each  lot  upon  the  rectangle. 

Original  Drawings  of  Houselots. 


Reuben  Eliding 

33 

34  John  Moffat 

Micah  Harrington                   31 

32  Elisha  Williams  Jr 

Nath"!  Russell                         29 

30  Tho«  Train 

George  Willis  Esq                   27 

28  Isaac  Wyinan 

I^muel  Avery                          25 

26  Josiah  Dean 

Tho»  Moffat                             23 

24   W"'  Chidest€r 

Elizur  Dickinson                     21 

22  Beng.  Simonds 

John  Chamberlain                   19 

20  Aeneas  Mackey 

Lieut  Moses  Graves                17 

18  Joel  Dickinson 

Thos  Moffat                              15 

16  Josiah  Williams 

Ezekiel  Foster                         13 

yl4   Abner  Roberts 

Joseph  Smith                          11 

12  Sam' Wells 

Dr.  Seth  Hudson                       9 

10  Eph^  Williams  Jr 

Josiah  Williams                        7 

8       "            "        *' 

Sain^  Calhoon                            5 

6  W"  Chidester 

Timo  Woodbridge                    3 

4  Col.  Oliver  Partridge 

Sam^  Brown  Jr.                          1 

2  Lieut  Isaac  Wyman 

S.  Street 

Sqcake 

N.  Street 

School                                          35 

36  Ministers 

Sam'  Calhoon                           37 

38   Ministry 

Lieut  Sami  Brown                   39 

40  Lieut  Elisha  Hawley 

Capt.  Elisha  Chapin               41 

42  John  Buch 

!  Elijah  Brown                           43 

44  Josiah  Dean 

Lieut  Obadiali  Dickinson       45 

46  John  Moffat 

Joseph  Hawley  Esq                47 

48  Moses  Graves 

Daniel  Haws                           49 

60  Sami  Taylor 

Elisha  AUis                             51 

52   Saml  Smith 

Eben'  Graves                          53 

64  Saml  Brown 

Olivur  Avery 

56 

50   Eben' Graves 
58   Saml  Brown 

t 

> 

59  John  Crawford 

1 

« 

60  Aaron  Denio 

Ze 

61    Obadiah  Dickinson 

•< 

2 

62   Aeneas  Mackey 

$ 

o 

63  Dani  Donillson                       j 

384 


ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN, 


Lots  and  Purchasers  Grouped. 


Capt. 

Ephraim  Williams,  Jr. 

Fort  Mass. 

Lieut 

.  Isaac  Wyman 

((         t 

William  Chidester 

"         ' 

Dr. 

Seth  Hudson 
Samuel  Calhoun 

H                 1 

Ezekiel  Foster 

4(                  ( 

Benjamin  Simonds 

((                  ( 

Abner  Roberts 

((                  ( 

Thomas  Train 

U 

Micah  Harrington 

ii                i 

Elisha  Chapin 

ii             ; 

John  Bush 

u              ( 

John  Chamberlin 

4(            ; 

Lieut 

.  Samuel  Brown 

Stockbridge 

Samuel  Brown,  Jr. 

(( 

Josiah  Williams 

(( 

Col. 

Oliver  Partridge 
Timothy  Woodbridge 

Hatfield 

Lieut 

.  Moses  Graves 

t( 

Reuben  Belding 

(( 

Lieut 

.  Obadiah  Dickinson 

u 

Elisha  Allis 

(( 

Joseph  Smith 

<.( 

Samuel  Wells 

(( 

Joel  Dickenson 

(( 

Joseph  Hawley,  Esq. 

Northampton 

Lieut 

.  Elisha  Hawley 

(( 

Josiah  Dean 

Canaan,  Ct. 

Elisha  Williams,  Jr. 

Weathersfield,  Ct. 

Oliver  Avery 

Charlemont 

Serg. 

Samuel  Taylor 

u 

Thomas  Moffat 

New  London,  Ct. 

Ebenezer  Graves 

North  Reading 

John  Mofiat 

Boston 

Daniel  Donalson 

Coleraine 

Aaron  Denio 

n 

Nathaniel  Harvey 

u 

Samuel  Smith 

(( 

Daniel  Hawes 

(( 

John  Crofoot  (Crawford) 

Worcester 

Aeneas  Mackay 

Unknown 

Lemuel  Avery 

u 

Elisha  Brown 

(( 

George  Willis,  Esq. 

(( 

Nathaniel  Russell 

(( 

8  10 

2  28 

6  24 

9 

5  37 

13 

22 

14 

30 

31 

41 

42 

19 

39  54  58 

1 

7  16 

4 

3 

17  48 

33 

61  45 

51 

11 

12 

18 

47 

40 

26  44 

32 

55 

50 

15  23 

53  56 

34  46 

63 

60 

57 

52 

49 

59 

20  62 

25 

43 

27 

29 

WEST  HOOSAC.  385 

These  forty-six  were  the  ''first  proprietors"  of  William stown. 
By  much  the  most  distinguished  name  among  them  is  that  of  Joseph 
Hawley,  of  Northampton,  who  played  a  great  part  in  the  history 
of  Massachusetts  for  thirty  years  after  he  became  proprietor  here 
of  house  lot  47.  Some  account  of  this  man's  activity  and  influ- 
ence in  church  and  state  has  been  given  on  a  preceding  page.  The 
writer  has  now  in  his  possession  the  manuscript  deed  of  Joseph 
Hawley,  wholly  written  out  with  his  own  hand,  conveying  to 
Nehemiah  Smedley,  in  April,  1760,  this  original  house  lot  47,  along- 
side of  which,  and  partly  tlirough  which,  runs  the  present  Spring 
Street  of  our  village.  Two  of  these  first  proprietors  were  killed  in 
the  battle  of  Lake  George  with  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams  in  1755 ; 
namely,  Lieutenant  Elisha  Hawley,  brother  of  the  statesman; 
Micah  Harrington,  supposed  to  have  been  killed  by  a  poisoned  mus- 
ket-ball ;  and  a  third,  Ensign  Josiah  Williams,  half  brother  of  the 
commander,  was  severely  wounded.  Two  others  of  these  proprietors 
were  killed  July  11,  1756,  near  the  West  Hoosac  fort,  as  we  shall 
learn  more  particularly  later,  namely.  Captain  Elisha  Chapin  and 
William  Chidester,  both  long  in  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  in  West 
Hoosac  fort  also. 

The  first  actual  settlers  upon  any  of  these  lots,  who  were  also 
original  proprietors  of  the  same,  seem  all  to  have  been  soldiers  at 
Fort  Massachusetts.  Isaac  Wyman,  second  in  command  there,  com- 
menced pretty  soon  on  his  lot.  No.  2,  which  stretched  along  flank- 
ing North  Street  on  the  west  side,  and  the  front  of  which  is  now 
graced  by  the  Lodge  of  Kappa  Alpha;  Seth  Hudson,  sometimes 
surgeon  at  the  fort,  and  sometimes  commander  of  West  Hoosac  fort, 
very  influential  in  the  settlement,  and  by  much  the  last  survivor  of 
the  original  proprietors,  built  his  house  on  his  lot  No.  9,  which  lay 
on  the  west  declivity  of  the  third  eminence,  south  side  of  Main 
Street  near  Hemlock  Brook,  which  house  is  still  standing,  much 
transformed,  about  half  a  mile  down  the  brook  from  its  first  site ; 
Benjamin  Simonds,  the  same  who  was  carried  captive  to  Canada 
from  Fort  Massachusetts  in  1746,  began  to  clear  up  and  to  build 
on  his  drawn  lot  No.  22,  situated  on  the  east  slope  of  the  fourth 
eminence  north  side,  where  the  underpinning  of  the  house  is  still 
(1892)  visible,  two  or  three  rods  southwest  of  the  Danforth  mon- 
uments in  the  old  cemetery,  in  which  house  was  born  the  first 
child  of  the  hamlet,  Rachel  Simonds,  April  8,  1753,  and  near  which 
are  still  living  and  growing  less  four  or  five  old  apple-trees  prob- 
ably set  in  that  year  or  the  next,  which  house  is  yet  standing,  sub- 
stantially unchanged  across  the  Main  Street  nearly  opposite  where 


386 


ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


it  first  stood;  Thomas  Train,  who  drew  No.  30,  which  was  the 
fourth  lot  west  of  Simonds's,  in  the  same  tier  of  lots,  and  who  mar- 
ried long  afterwards  this  same  Rachel  Simonds,  whose  posterity 
both  from  this  marriage,  and  a  second  with  Deacon  Benjamin  Skin- 
ner, have  been  numerous  and  prominent  in  Williamstown ;  Ezekiel 
Foster,  who  was  of  Fall  Town  (Bernardston),  began  on  his  drawn 
lot  No.  13,  which  was  the  second  west  of  Seth  Hudson's  in  the  same 
tier,  and  lay  a  good  deal  in  the  valley  of  Hemlock  Brook ;  and  Eben- 
ezer  Graves,  who  was  from  North  Reading,  and  who  drew  Nos.  53 
and  56  near  the  east  end  of  the  plat,  53  being  on  the  south  side. 


SETH    HUDSON'S    ORIGINAL    HOUSE   ON    LOT   9. 
First  Proprietors'   Meeting  held   in   it. 


and  56  on  the  north,  the  front  of  the  latter  being  now  occupied  by 
the  premises  of  James  M.  Waterman. 

Besides  these  six,  there  w^ere  seven  others,  who  may  fairly  and  by 
way  of  precedence  be  termed  the  original  settlers  of  West  Hoosac, 
that  is  to  say,  who  actually  occupied  their  lots  before  the  renewal 
of  the  French  War  in  1754,  and  who  united  in  a  petition  soon  to  be 
quoted  entire  to  the  General  Court  in  September,  1753;  namely, 
Elisha  Higgins  from  Fort  Massachusetts,  Silas  Pratt  from  Worcester, 
Allin  Curtiss  from  Canaan,  Connecticut,  Gideon  Warren  from  Brim- 
field,  Darius  Mead  from  Dutchess  County,  New  York,  Tyras  Pratt 
from  Shrewsbury,  and  Elihu  Curtiss  from  Canaan,  Connecticut. 

In  response  to  this  petition,  William  Williams,  Esq.,  of   Pitts- 


WFS^T    H(>n>; An. 


387 


field,  "one  of  his  ^NEajestys  Jusrict's  oi  me  I'eace  for  the  County 
of  Hampshire,"  was  authorized  by  the  governor  and  Council  to 
issue  his  warrant  for  the  first  proprietors'  meeting  in  West  Hoosac, 
and  it  was  issued  accordingly,  directing  Isaac  Wyman  to  "  Notifye 
and  warne  the  said  proprietors  to  assemble  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Seth 
Hudson  on  Wednesday  the  fifth  day  of  December  next,  at  Nine  of 
the  clock  in  the  forenoon,"  to  act  upon  articles  specified  in  the  war- 
rant. Thus  began  the  civic  life  and  government  of  West  Hoosac, 
and  it  has  never  been  intermitted  from  that  day  to  this.  Allin  Cur- 
tiss  was  chosen  the  moderator  of  this  first  meeting,  and  Isaac 
Wyman  proprietors'  clerk.     To  choose  committees  to  lay  out  new 


BENJAMIN    SIMONDS'S  ORIGINAL    HOUSE   ON    LOT   22. 
Moved,  but  otherwise  unchanged  in  1894. 

divisions  of  land,  to  lay  out  roads,  and  to  lay  and  collect  suita- 
ble taxes,  was  the  principal  business  of  this  meeting.  Its  date 
was  Dec.  5,  1753.  There  is  no  proof  that  Ephraim  Williams, 
although  he  constantly  kept  the  earliest  settlers  in  mind  until  he 
fell,  ever  took  any  practical  steps  to  have  either,  of  his  two  lots 
cleared  up  and  built  upon,  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  legis- 
lative grant;  lie  was  extremely  busy  elsewhere  during  those  four 
years.  Colonel  Oliver  Partridge,  of  Hatfield,  gave  his  house  lot 
No.  4,  the  second  lot  west  of  North  Street,  and  next  to  Captain 
Wyman's,  to  Thomas  Train,  whose  own  lot  30  was  less  eligible,  on 
condition  "that  he  completely  fulfill  the  conditions  enjoined  by  the 
General  Court."     Partridge,  however,  reserved  to  himself  a  part  of 


388  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  afterdrafts  of  the  house  lot,  which  Train  subdued,  and  cultivated 
till  1768,  when  he  sold  it  to  Dr.  Jacob  Meack  for  £40.  Meack,  whO' 
was  the  first  physician  in  the  place,  if  we  except  Seth  Hudson,  later 
made  his  homestead  just  over  Hemlock  Brook,  on  No.  12  north  tier, 
in  a  house  still  standing,  but  many  times  built  over.  Partridge's  lot, 
then  Train's,  then  Meack's,  is  the  lot  next  west  of  the  Kap  lot,  and 
the  highest  and  easternmost  portion  of  the  fine  estate  of  Mr.  Proc- 
tor. Timothy  Woodbridge,  of  Hatfield,  kept  his  lot  No.  3  for  twelve 
years,  and  paid  his  annual  dues  for  the  same,  and  then  sold  the 
house  lot,  and  the  meadow  lot,  and  the  second-division  fifty-acre  lot 
drawn  by  No.  3  to  Benjamin  Simonds  for  £25,  Aug.  15,  1764.  This 
lot  is  exactly  opposite  across  Main  Street  to  the  Partridge  lot  No.  4. 
This  became  the  home  and  the  tavern-stand  of  Simonds  for  many 
years. 

But  the  larger  part  of  the  first  proprietors  began  at  once  to  sell 
off  their  rights  to  other  parties,  oftentimes  without  ever  having  seen 
them.  As  a  sample  of  many  more,  we  will  just  trace  the  fortunes 
for  a  few  years  of  house  lot  No.  1,  whose  front  is  now  covered  by  the 
beautiful  stone  building  of  the  Delta  Psi  Society,  and  ran  along 
South  Street,  as  far  as  the  present  land  of  Deacon  James  Smedley. 
In  the  original  drawing  this  lot  fell  to  Samuel  Brown,  Junior,  of 
Stockbridge,  who  belonged  to  one  of  those  four  English  families  first 
brought  thither  by  the  action  of  the  General  Court  for  the  encour- 
agement and  support  of  the  Indian  Mission.  Brown  held  the  lot 
but  a  short  time,  and  then  sold  it  to  Ezekiel  Hinds,  a  resident  of 
Stockbridge  and  a  soldier  at  Port  Massachusetts,  who  sold  the  same 
to  Samuel  Smedley,  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  Oct.  31,  1752,  for 
£27.  Consequences  important  to  Williamstown  in  the  sequel  fol- 
lowed upon  this  sale  of  No.  1  from  Hinds  to  Smedley,  "  husband- 
man" to  "husbandman'^;  ^  for  one  result  of  it  was,  that  three  young 
men  from  Litchfield,  Nehemiah  Smedley  and  William  Horsford  and 
Josiah  Horsford,  the  first  the  son  and  the  two  others  later  the  sons- 
in-law  of  Samuel  Smedley,  came  up  he-re  probably  in  1753  to  look 
the  ground  over.  They  liked  it,  but  they  did  not  like  the  increasing 
signs  of  a  renewed  French  and  Indian  war.  They  returned  to  Con- 
necticut, and  not  very  long  after  enlisted  in  a  military  company 
raised  by  that  colony  to  protect  itself  from  Indian  incursions,  by 
helping  Massachusetts  garrison,  the  ''  West  Hoosac  fort,"  so-called. 
Afterwards  all  three  of  these  young  men  became  very  prominent  in 
the  settlement.      It  was  believed  and  reported   by  his  eldest  son, 

1  The  deed  now  lies  open  before  me.  It  is  one  item  among  the  *'  Smedley 
Papers." 


WEST  HOOSAC.  389 

Levi,  ill  his  old  age,  that  Neheiniaa  6iiitniley  set  out  the  first  orchard 
in  town  on  No.  1  in  1754;  it  was,  at  any  rate,  in  full  bearing  in 
1765.  After  the  death  of  the  father,  Samuel  Smedley,  No.  1  was 
deeded  to  Nehemiah  by  the  widow  and  the  eldest  son,  John,  March 
21,  1758.  Precisely  when  Nehemiah  Smedley  built  the  house  on 
No.  1,  whether  it  were  before  or  after  he  became  the  sole  possessor, 
cannot  now  be  told ;  it  was  a  "  regulation  "  house,  and  its  sills  were 
of  white  oak ;  it  had  been  incorporated  early  in  this  century  into  a 
larger  gambrel-roofed  house,  which  had  become  old  itself  and  was 
taken  down  in  1884  to  make  room  for  the  Delta  Psi  Lodge;  the 
present  writer  found  then  and  there  pieces  of  two  of  the  old  oaken 
sills,  and  bits  of  them  are  preserved  in  the  historical  museum  in 
Clark  Hall ;  and  he  hazards  little  by  the  opinion  that  those  sills  had 
lain  there  at  least  one  century  and  a  quarter  undisturbed. 

No.  1  continued  to  be  the  homestead  of  Nehemiah  Smedley  till 
after  1765,  when  the  next  stage  of  our  story  will  begin,  since  that  is 
the  date  of  the  incorporation  of  West  Hoosac  under  the  name  of 
"Williamstown";  and  in  the  mean  time  five  brothers  and  four  sis- 
ters of  Nehemiah  came  up  from  Litchfield  to  become  dwellers  in 
West  Hoosac,  all  sons  and  daughters  of  that  Samuel  Smedley  who 
bought  No.  1  of  Ezekiel  Hinds  in  1752,  whose  own  genealogy  is  so 
significant  and  relevant  to  the  after  history  of  Williamstown,  that 
it  may  as  well  be  given  here  as  anywhere. 

When  the  Rev.  Peter  Bulkley,  of  the  parish  of  Odell,  Bedfordshire, 
in  the  diocese  of  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  emigrated  to  this  country 
with  a  considerable  number  of  his  English  congregation,  and  settled 
with  them  in  Concord  in  1636,  there  were  two  brothers  in  his  church, 
both  admitted  freeman  in  Concord  in  1644,  namely,  John  and  Bap- 
tist Smedley.  John  was  the  elder,  and  became  the  more  prominent 
in  church  and  state.  He  was  representative  to  the  General  Court 
in  1667  and  1670,  and  was  senior  selectman  in  1680.  A  colony  went 
early  from  Concord  to  Fairfield,  Connecticut ;  and  Samuel  Smedley, 
undoubtedly  a  son  of  John,  appears  in  Fairfield  in  1690.  The  name 
soon  became  extinct  in  Concord,  so  that  the  historian  of  that  town 
knew  nothing  of  any  Smedleys  anywhere ;  but  this  Samuel,  of  Fair- 
field, preserved  the  seed  of  a  large  family  in  Connecticut.  His  son, 
Samuel  2d,  was  born  in  1702,  married  Esther  Kilborn  Feb.  1,  1729, 
and  died  Feb.  16, 1756.  He  had  moved  from  Fairfield  to  Woodbury, 
and  from  Woodbury  to  Litchfield,  and  bought  a  farm  in  1741,  "  at  ye 
south  End  of  ye  Great  Pond"  (now  Bantam  Lake  in  Morris),  of 
fifty-four  acres,  from  which  all  of  his  eleven  children  with  one  excep- 
tion, Joshua,  the  youngest,  became  sooner  or  later  residents  of  Wil- 


390  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

liamstown :  the  sons,  John,  Nehemiah,  Jedidiah,  Samuel  3d,  Moses, 
and  Aaron ;  and  the  daughters,  Esther,  Jemima,  Ann,  and  Lucina. 

Samuel  1st,  of  Fairfield,  had  certainly  one  other  son,  Ephraim, 
and  Ephraim  had  Ephraim,  Junior,  who  was  born  in  1746,  and  mar- 
ried Ann  Gibbs  Jan.  28,  1767,  and  died  May  20,  1821.  He  was  the 
ancestor  of  the  New  Haven  Smedleys,  expressmen  there,  some  of 
whom  have  strikingly  resembled  in  physiognomy  the  Williamstown 
Smedleys.  The  Gibbs  family,  with  which  the  Smedleys  much  inter- 
married, were  neighbors  of  theirs  on  Bantam  Lake.  The  most  dis- 
tinguished scion  of  the  Smedley  name  in  America  was  Captain  Samuel 
Smedley,  of  Fairfield,  perhaps  another  son  of  Ephraim  1st,  who  was 
a  fighting  sea-captain  during  the  Eevolutionary  War.  Major  Hincks, 
in  some  sketches  of  the  men  of  the  Ke volution,  says  of  him:  "Capt. 
Samuel  Smedley  sailed  upon  the  Atlantic  as  commander  of  the  brig 
Defense,  perhaps  the  most  successful  vessel  in  the  Colonial  Navy. 
He  captured  many  prizes,  among  them  the  British  ship  Cyrus, 
mounting  eighteen  guns  and  laden  with  a  cargo  that  sold  for  about 
£20,000,  one  of  the  most  valuable  captures  made  during  the  Eevolu- 
tion.  After  the  war  Capt.  Smedley  was  for  many  years  collector  of 
Customs  for  this  district,  residing  and  having  his  office  at  Fairfield." 
He  was  a  Democrat  in  politics.  President  Jefferson  appointed  him 
to  this  office  in  1801.  He  left  some  valuable  papers,  now  in  posses- 
sion of  the  city  of  Bridgeport.  In  England,  too,  the  Smedley  family 
have  continued  to  be  somewhat  notable  in  the  eastern  and  northern 
countries.  Frank  E.  Smedley,  author  of  the  "  Colville  Family,"  and 
other  tales,  is  a  writer  of  reputation  at  the  present  time ;  and  we 
are  told  that  the  family  circle  in  the  sanctuary  at  Westminster 
Abbey  have  been  Smedleys  for  several  generations. 

We  return  now  to  some  others  of  the  earliest  actual  settlers  upon 
the  house  lots,  besides  those  already  characterized,  who  obtained 
their  lots  by  purchase,  or  otherwise,  from  the  original  drawers  of 
them.  Speculation  in  the  lots  was  rife  almost  from  the  beginning. 
Elisha  Higgins,  long  a  soldier  in  Fort  Massachusetts,  bought  of 
Reuben  Belding,  of  Hatfield,  house  lot  12,  with  all  its  afterdrafts, 
for  £20,  the  12th  of  October,  1753.  This  is  the  first  lot  over  Hem- 
lock Brook  on  the  north  side,  to  one  going  west  on  Main  Street.  He 
sold  this  the  next  spring  for  £27  13s.,  to  Nathan  Mead,  "gentle- 
man," of  Oblong,  Dutchess  County,  New  York.  Darius  Mead,  of  the 
same  locality,  was  a  settler  here  in  1753,  and  both  continued  to  buy 
and  sell  land  here  for  several  years,  though  it  is  not  certain  that 
Nathan  Mead  ever  permanently  resided  here.  Elisha  Higgins,  how- 
ever, after  selling  No.  12,  bought  No.  17,  the  third  lot  west  of  12 


WEST    HOOSAC.  391 

and  on  the  southern  tier  of  lots.  Here  he  built  his  house  and  lived 
for  many  years,  buying,  in  1762,  for  £10,  the  next  lot  west,  namely, 
No.  19 ;  and  still  further  west,  along  this  tier,  may  be  seen  to  this 
day  the  stones  of  cellar-walls  and  bits  of  brick  of  the  chimneys  of 
two  or  three  other  houses.  The  southwest  quarter  of  the  plat, 
except  the  easternmost  and  the  four  westernmost  lots,  were  not  so 
eligible  for  building  as  most  of  the  fronts  of  the  lots  in  the  other 
three  quartei-s  of  the  plat  taken  as  a  whole,  on  account  of  an  irregu- 
lar and  rocky  bluif  that  begins  to  rise  on  that  side  almost  as  soon  as 
one  crosses  the  Hemlock  Brook.  One  such  rocky  protuberance 
from  this  base  juts  over  across  ^lain  Street,  and  covers  the  street 
front  of  Xo.  22  on  the  north  side,  which  was  the  reason  why  Benja- 
min Simonds  placed  his  original  house  quite  to  the  north  of  the 
street,  over  a  little  run  of  water  (which  was,  doubtless,  another 
inducement  to  the  location  of  the  house),  near  the  top  of  a  fine 
slope,  giving  a  splendid  view  over  the  entire  plat;  so  that  Simonds, 
and,  later,  his  son-in-law,  Putnam  (the  lot  is  still  called  the  "  Putnam 
lot'^  by  old  inhabitants),  reached  the  street  by  a  road  running  down 
by  the  little  water-course  that  flanked  the  bluff  in  front.  Higgins's 
house  was  on  the  east  declivity  of  the  fourth  eminence,  just  middle 
way  between  Nos.  1  and  33,  which  constitute  (seventeen  lots)  the 
southwest  quarter  of  the  plat. 

Silas  Pratt,  originally  from  Worcester  or  Shrewsbury,  a  good 
soldier  in  Fort  Massachusetts  for  several  years,  a  soldier  also  in  the 
West  Hoosac  Fort,  a  man  of  courage  and  enterprise,  who  ultimately 
settled  on  Northwest  Hill,  on  the  first  farm  over  the  line  in  Ver- 
mont, who  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Bennington  with  at  least  one  of 
his  sons,  may  perhaps  be  reckoned  as  the  eighth  positive  settler  in 
West  Hoosac ;  and  his  son  William,  born  in  1760  within  the  lines  of 
the  West  Hoosac  fort,  may  be  the  first  male  child  born  in  town.  Two 
girls  had  preceded  William  Pratt,  namely,  Kachel  Simonds  and 
Esther  Horsford.  All  three  were  bom  within  a  stone's  throw  of 
Hemlock  Brook;  and  the  reader  may  have  noticed  that  all  the  first 
homesteads  thus  far  delineated  were  upon  the  third  and  fourth  emi- 
nences, and  most  of  them  on  the  declivities  sloping  down  to  the 
brook  between  these.  It  is  not  entirely  certain  which  house  lot 
Silas  Pratt  first  pitched  upon,  for  he  owned  several  of  them  first  and 
last ;  but  it  is,  on  several  grounds,  probable  that  19  was  the  number, 
because  he  certainly  sold  that  to  Elisha  Higgins  in  1762,  and  because 
John  Chamberlin,  who  originally  drew  it,  was  a  soldier  in  Fort 
Massachusetts  with  Pratt  and  Higgins.  We  shall  learn  more  about 
Silas  Pratt  —  and  most  of  it  to  his  credit  —  before  we  have  done  with 


392  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

him  ;  but  we  pass  now  to  Tyras  Pratt,  many  times  closely  associated 
with  Silas,  and  probably  closely  related  to  him,  who  was  a  settler  in 
West  Hoosac  in  1753,  a  soldier  previously  in  Fort  Massachusetts, 
and  who  made  his  home  before  1757  in  Eoadtown,  now  Shutesbury, 
whence  he  went  out  soldier  again  in  Captain  Samuel  Taylor's  com- 
pany, Sept.  17,  1776.  We  may  call,  if  we  choose,  Tyras  Pratt  the 
ninth  of  our  actual  beginners  on  the  purchased  house  lots,  and  may 
be  pretty  sure  that  he  began  on  No.  53,  at  the  other  end  of  the  plat 
from  the  rest,  near  the  east  end  of  the  southeast  quarter.  At  any 
rate,  he  sold  that  lot,  in  1756,  to  William  Horsford,  with  one-half  of 
the  afterdrafts,  exclusive  of  the  meadow  lot. 

Our  tenth  man,  according  to  the  loose  reckoning  followed  at  pres- 
ent, was  Gideon  Warren.  We  have  already  found  David  Warren  a 
soldier  in  Fort  Massachusetts  at  the  time  of  its  capture  in  1746,  and 
he  was  of  Marlboro.  Jabez  Warren  was  a  corporal  in  the  fort  at 
Coleraine  in  1748,  and  he  was  from  Brimfield.  Gideon  Warren  was 
also  a  soldier  in  the  line  of  forts,  but  we  hear  little  of  him  till  he 
made  a  settlement  in  West  Hoosac  in  1753,  where  for  some  years  he 
was  prominent.  It  is  likely  that  he  bought  No.  50,  on  whose  then 
rocky  front  Griffin  Hall  has  stood  since  1828,  because  he  afterwards 
sold  different  parts  of  the  first-division  fifty-acre  lot  30,  which  was 
drawn  by  house  lot  50.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the 
course  of  Green  Eiver  as  cutting  off  five  house  lots  at  the  east  end 
of  the  southeast  quarter,  leaving  in  that  but  twelve  lots.  There  are 
two  considerable  falls  in  that  stretch  of  the  river  running  north  that 
occupied  what  would  otherwise  have  doubtless  been  a  house  lot,  and 
another  considerable  fall  at  no  great  distance  below,  after  the  river 
turns  sharply  to  the  east  —  almost  at  right  angles.  It  was  early 
perceived  that  these  falls  would  be  useful  for  mills,  and  might  make 
it  needless  for  the  settlers  to  frequent  longer  Colonel  Williams's 
grist-mill,  more  than  four  miles  away,  in  East  Hoosac.  The  two 
first-mentioned  falls  came  in  the  fifty-acre  lot  30  and  the  last  one  in 
the  corresponding  lot  29. 

Gideon  Warren,  yeoman,  sold  Samuel  Payn,  of  Dutchess  County, 
New  York,  for  £6,  two  acres  on  Green  River  (part  of  a  lot  known  as 
No.  30)  with  privilege  of  flowing  the  river  bank  "  as  hie  up  as  ye 
top  of  ye  upper  falls  "  ;  "  and  also  a  strip  of  land  two  rods  wide  by 
the  west  side  of  said  river,  beginning  at  the  north  side  of  said  land 
I  sold  to  said  Payn,  and  running  north  by  the  river  to  the  mouth  of 
the  brook,  and  up  the  hill  to  the  lot  now  enclosed,  and  so  out  to  the 
main  road  or  Highway,  to  be  a  highway  for  the  use  of  the  town." 
This  important  sale  was  made  June  1,  1761.     It  opened  into  Main 


WEST   HOOSAC.  393 

Street  at  right  angles  to  what  has  always  been  called  "Water  Street, 
and  paved  the  way  for  the  first  grist-mill  in  town,  whose  stones, 
and  those  of  its  several  successors  till  this  day,  have  been  whirled 
by  water  stored  up  at  the  lower  of  the  two  falls.  The  language  of 
this  old  deed  —  "mouth  of  the  brook"  —  gives  the  first  mention  of 
what  has  long  been  called  "  Phebe's  Brook,"  from  Phebe  Holmes,  an 
old  colored  woman,  whose  cabin  stood  near  the  head  of  the  little 
stream,  which,  reinforced  by  the  overflow  of  the  "  College  Spring," 
drops  into  the  Green  "Riv»'r  iiwt  at  its  own  sn(l«l«i!  I.piul  to  the 
eastward. 

Samuel  Payn  bought  also  the  next  year,  the  nieatlow  lot  56,  eleven 
acres,  about  a  mile  above  his  mill  privilege,  on  both  sides  of  Green 
River,  of  Joseph  Ballard,  then  of  New  Salem,  but  afterwards  of 
West  Hoosac.  Ballard  also  sold  in  August,  1761,  to  James  Meacham, 
of  New  Salem,  Nos.  7  and  8  of  the  first-division  fifty-acre  lots, 
which  have  been  in  active  possession  of  his  direct  descendants  from 
that  day  to  this.  James  B.  Meacham  owned  in  August,  1892,  what 
lands  his  great-grandfather,  James  ^leacham,  first  occupied  in 
August,  1762,  just  130  years.  The  lots  were  bought  just  one  year 
before  that,  for  £73  Ss.  Hd.  Mrs.  Meacham  brought  with  her,  through 
the  almost  unbroken  wilderness,  two  little  girls,  one  not  quite  four, 
and  the  other  not  quite  two ;  and  a  third,  Lucy,  was  born  just  six 
weeks  after  the  father  put  up  his  temporary  shelter  on  one  side  of 
an  isolated  big  rock  near  the  middle  of  fifty-acre  lot  No.  7.  The 
birth  is  recorded  as  falling  on  Sept.  26,  1762.  The  mother  also 
brought  with  her  a  root  or  two  of  a  hop-vine,  and  planted  it  on  the 
other  side  of  the  same  rock.  That  vine  has  leaved  out,  blossomed, 
and  borne  fruit  for  130  years,  and  seems  likely  to  do  the  same  for  a 
century  longer.  A  grandson  of  hers,  Captain  James  Meacham, 
pointed  out  to  the  writer,  about  twenty  years  ago,  the  rock  and  the 
growing  hop-vine;  and  the  latter  has  taken  occasion  many  times 
since  to  make  the  short  pilgrimage  thither  (the  rock  is  in  plain 
sight  from  his  south  windows),  to  be  sure  that  the  hops  were  still 
growing.  The  tall  Captain  died  in  his  eightieth  year,  May  20, 1883. 
Soon  after  their  arriving,  the  first  James  Meacham  was  fortunate 
enough  to  kill  a  bear,  whicli  furnished  the  family  what  they  quaintly 
called  "  pork " ;  and  once,  at  least,  they  found  a  deposit  of  wild 
honey  to  be  a  welcome  addition  to  their  slender  commissariat. 

But  the  rock  and  its  hop-vine,  and  the  log-cabin  lean-to,  was  a 
considerable  distance  from  Samuel  Payn's  authorized  road  along  the 
west  side  of  Green  River,  to  and  past  his  mill-privilege;  and  so, 
our  tenth   settler,  Gideon  Warren,  sold   to   James  Meacham,  both 


394  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

"  husbandmen,"  another  piece  of  eleven  acres  from  his  fifty-acre  lot 
No.  30,  drawn  by  house  lot  50,  which  brought  the  Meachams  snug 
up  to  Green  River  road,  where  they  built  their  second  house  in  1764, 
which  is  still  standing  as  a  shed,  in  connection  with  their  third 
house,  a  commodious  brick  one,  to  which  the  second  one  was  drawn 
an  eighth  of  a  mile  further  north  on  the  same  street.  Later  on, 
we  shall  hear  more  about  the  Meachams.  The  Revolutionary  War, 
and  even  Shays's  Rebellion  brought  them  into  notice.  Gideon 
Warren,  too,  will  at  least  make  his  bow  on  our  stage  once  or  twice 
more. 

The  eleventh  and  last,  but  one,  principal  settler  in  West  Hoosac 
before  the  renewal  of  the  French  and  Indian  war,  was  Captain 
Allin  Curtiss,  of  Canaan,  Connecticut.  He  bought  the  house  lot 
originally  drawn  by  Ezekiel  Foster,  of  Falltown  and  Fort  Massachu- 
setts, namely,  No.  13,  already  characterized  in  connection  with 
Foster,  who  continued  a  settler  and  citizen  for  many  years,  but 
bought  lands,  and  had  a  home  in  different  parts  of  the  town.  Cur- 
tiss's  dwelling-house  stood  just  beyond  the  bridge  over  Hemlock 
Brook  on  the  left-hand  side  to  one  going  west.  It  is  more  than 
probable,  that  the  present  house  of  Mark  Gamet  occupies  the  site  of 
Captain  Curtiss's  dwelling,,  in  which  was  held  the  second  meeting  of 
the  West  Hoosac  proprietors,  in  April,  1754.  Captain  Curtiss  was 
then  chosen  ^^  Moderator "  in  his  own  house.  But  he  was  also 
■chosen  Moderator  of  the  first  proprietors'  meeting  in  the  fall  before, 
which  was  held  in  Seth  Hudson's  house  just  across  the  brook  to  the 
•eastward,  on  No.  9.  Curtiss  was  a  very  capable  man.  He  returned 
after  a  little  to  Canaan,  and  the  town  books  there  show  his  activity 
and  prominence  for  many  years.  There  are  still  families  of  his 
name  in  Canaan,  as  there  are  also  Deans  and  Horsfords,  who  repre- 
sent, in  a  certain  way,  Josiah  Dean,  who  drew,  originally,  house  lot 
26,  and  Josiah  and  William  and  John  Horsford,  who  came  from 
Canaan  a  little  later,  and  stayed  very  much  longer.  Elihu  Curtiss 
was  presumably  a  brother  of  Captain  Allin.  Elnathan  Curtiss,  whose 
name  we  shall  meet  with  pretty  soon,  was  from  Kent,  a  little  way 
from  Canaan,  south,  both  on  the  Housatonic  River. 

The  following  petition  to  the  General  Court  presented  in  Septem- 
ber, 1753,  by  these  first  proprietors,  shows  that  no  provision  had  yet 
been  made  for  their  legal  organization  as  a  "Propriety"  then  so- 
called. 


WEST  HOOSAC.  395 


To  Ilis  Exclly  William  Shirley  Esqr  Captain  General  &c.,  the  Honble  his 
Majisty's  Council,  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General  Court  assem- 
bled Sept.  1753. 

The  Petition  of  us  the  Subscribers  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and  Others,  Proprie- 
tors of  the  West  Hoosuck  Township  at  Hoosuck,  Lately  sold  by  the  General 
Court  Humbly  Sheweth 

That  the  General  Court  was  pleased  to  open  the  sd  Township  and  lay  out  the 
House  lots  under  the  Direction  of  the  Courts  Comtee,  and  the  Proprietors  owners 
of  said  lots  are  divers  of  them  at  work  upon  them  and  bringing  forward  Settle- 
ments ;  but  upon  advisement  find  they  are  incapable  of  Calling  and  Holding 
meetings,  without  the  Aid  of  yr  Excelcy  and  Honours  which  we  exceedingly 
want  in  order  to  agree  upon  the  building  a  Meeting  House,  Setling  a  Minister, 
Making  Division  of  other  Lands  and  to  do  and  Transact  all  such  matters  and 
things  as  may  be  necessary  and  proper  for  proprietors  of  New  Townships  to  do. 
We  therefore  Humbly  pray  yr  Exclcy  and  Honurs  to  appoint  some  proper  per- 
son to  call  a  Meeting  of  said  proprietors  for  such  purposes  as  may  be  necessary 
and  direct  a  method  of  calling  meetings  of  said  proprs  in  the  future,  and  as  in 
duty  bound  shall  Ever  pray  &c. 

Isaac  Wyman 
Elisiia  Higgins  Allin  Ccrtiss 

Silas  Pratt  Darius  Mead 

Tyras  Pratt  Setii  Hudson 

Gideon  Warrin  Thomas  Train 

EzEKL  Foster  Ebenr  Graves 

Elihu  Curtiss 


In  the  House  of  Representatives  Septr  10.  1753 
Read  and  Voted  that  William  Williams  Esqr  one  of  his  Majs  Justices  of  the 
Peace  for  the  County  of  Hampshire  Issue  his  Warrant  for  calling  a  meeting  of 
the  proprietors  of  the  West  Township  at  Hoosuck  so  called  Directed  to  one  of 
the  principal  proprietors  of  sd  Township,  Requiring  him  to  set  up  a  Notification 
in  some  public  place  in  sd  Township  Setting  forth  the  time,  place  and  Occasion 
of  sd  Meeting  fourteen  days  beforehand,  which  Meeting  shall  be  holden  in  sd 
Township,  and  such  of  the  proprietors  as  shall  be  present  at  sd  Meeting  are 
hereby  authorized  and  impowered  by  a  Maj.  vote  to  Determine  upon  a  Division 
of  all  or  a  part  of  the  Lands  in  said  Township  not  already  allotted,  also  Chuse  a 
Comtee  or  Comtees  to  lay  out  the  same,  also  to  raise  moneys  to  defray  the 
Charges  that  may  arise  by  means  of  laying  out  sd  Lands,  also  for  Clearing  High- 
ways, as  also  to  Chuse  a  proprietors'  Clerk,  Treasurer,  Assessors  and  Collectors 
and  also  to  agree  and  determine  upon  a  method  of  calling  meetings  of  said  pro- 
prietors for  the  future. 

Sent  up  for  Concurrence 

T.  Hubbard  Sp'k»r 

In  Council  Sept.  10.  1753  —  Read  and  Concurred 

Tiios  Clark  Dep.  Sec'y 
Consented  to  W.  Shirley. 


396  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

In  response  to  this  order  of  the  court,  William  Williams,  of  Pon- 
toosuck,  now  Pittsfield,  the  real  father  and  founder  of  that  town, 
issued  his  legal  call  to  the  West  Hoosac  proprietors,  as  follows  :  — 

Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay. 
Whereas  I  have  Rec?  special  Direction  from  the  great  and  Gen  >  Court  of  this 
province  at  there  Sessions  in  September  last  to  issue  my  warrant  for  calling  a 
meeting  of  the  proprietors  of  the  west  township  of  Hoosuck  so  called  Directed 
to  one  of  the  Principal  proprietors  of  s'd  Township  requiring  him  to  set  up  a 
Notification  in  some  publick  place  in  s'd  Township  seting  forth  the  time  place 
and  occasion  of  s'd  meeting  fourteen  Days  beforehand,  s'd  meeting  to  be  held 
in  s'd  Township  and  such  of  the  proprietors  as  shall  be  present  at  s'd  meeting 
are  by  Said  order  of  Court  authorised  and  impowered  by  a  major  Voate  to  act 
and  Determine  upon  the  following  articles. 

Vizt.   To  agree  upon  a  Division  of  part  or  all  the  lands  in  said  township  Not 
allready  allotted  =  to  Choose  a  Committee  or  Committees  to  lay  out  the 
same  =  to  Choose  a  Committee  to  lay  out  high  ways  =  to  raise  money  to 
Defray  the  Charges  of  laying  out  the  Lands  and  highways  and  Clearing  the 
same  =  or  any  other  Necessary  Charges. 
To  Choose  a  proprietors  Clerk. 
To  Choose  a  proprietors  Treasurer. 
To  Choose  proprietors  assessors. 
To  Choose  a  proprietors  Colector  or  Colectors. 
To  agree  upon  a  method  for  Calling  meetings  for  the  future. 
In  observance  of  which  Direction 

Hampshire  SS.  To  Isaac  Wyman  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
said  west  Township  at  Hoosuck  Gent?  Greeting.  You  are  hereby  Required  to 
Notify e  and  warne  the  proprietors  of  s'd  Township  that  they  assemble  at  the 
House  of  Mr.  Seth  Hudsons  in  s'd  Township  on  Wensday  the  Fifth  Day  of 
December  next  at  Nine  of  the  Clock  in  the  four  noon  to  act  upon  the  fouregoing 
Articles  as  they  shall  think  proper  by  Setting  up  in  some  publick  place  in  said 
Township  an  attested  Coppy  of  the  foregoing  order  of  Court  and  this  warrant 
by  you  Sygned  fourteen  Days  before  the  time  of  said  meeting. 

Poontoonsuck 
November  15  :  1753.  W"  Williams 

Just.  Peace. 

"  Some  publick  place  in  said  Township."  Where  was  there  such 
a  "  place  "  in  West  Hoosac  in  November,  1753  ?  There  were  proba- 
bly eight  or  ten  small  houses  of  the  prescribed  pattern  then  built,  or 
begun,  along  the  broad  Main  Street,  which  was  then  full  of  trees  and 
rocks  from  end  to  end ;  but  nearly  all  of  these  houses  were  towards 
the  west  end,  either  on  the  plateaus  of  the  third  and  fourth  emi- 
nences, or  in  the  valley  between  them  of  Hemlock  Brook.  The 
house  in  which  the  proprietors  were  to  meet  was  on  the  east  side  of 
the  brook,  and  near  it ;  the  house  of  the  man  who  was  to  be  chosen 
moderator  was  on  the  west  side  of  the  brook,  and  near  it ;  so  that 


WEST   HOOSAC.  397 

the  supposition  seems  rational  that  Captain  Wyman  posted  his 
"  Notifycation "  somewhere  on  the  rude,  log-built  bridge  over  the 
brook,  which  was  then  the  only  bridge,  and  apparently  the  most 
"  publick  place  "  in  the  precinct.  Accordingly,  the  proprietors  pres- 
ent came  together  for  their  first  meeting  (a  notable  one)  in  the 
house  of  Seth  Hudson.  The  room  in  which  they  met  has  been  but 
very  little  altered  since.     The  followin<r  is  the  official  record  :  — 

At  a  rroprietor.s  iuet'iin<;  lawtuliy  wanu'd  in  tlio  west  township  at  hoosuck  ss 

Called  December  the  fifth  1753  —  Voted  by  the  major  part  of  the  proprietors  at 

s'd  meetin  the  fouregoing  articles  Vizt. 

First.   Voted  and  Chose  Allen  Curtice  moderator  for  s'd  meetin. 

Second  Voted  and  Chose  Isaac  Wyman  Proprietoi-s  Clerk 

Thirdly  Voted  by  the  proprietors  to  lay  out  all  the  medow  land  lying  upon  the 
Main  River  [Hoosac]  and  all  the  medow  land  lying  upon  green  Kiver  as  far 
as  the  first  Brook  or  Creek  in  Equal  proportion  to  each  Right  in  Said  Town- 
ship and  one  hundred  acres  of  upland  to  each  Right  adjoyning  to  the  medow 
land  or  as  Near  as  they  Can  to  lay  out  the  best  land. 

Fourthly.  Voted  to  leave  it  to  the  Commite  to  Lay  out  the  land  in  one  Division 
or  two  as  they  shall  Judge  best. 

6lr  Voted  and  Chose  Allen  Curtice  Seth  Hudson  Jonathan  mechom  Ezekiel  Fos- 
ter Jabiz  Worren  the  Commite  to  lay  otit  the  land  in  s'd  Township 

6'y  Voted  and  Chose  Samuel  Taylor  Giden  Worrin  .Jonathan  mechom  the  Com- 
mite to  lay  out  high  Ways  in  s'd  Township  that  shall  be  Necessary. 

Vy  Voted  and  Chose  Allen  Curtice  sevayer  to  Clear  the  Roads  in  s'd  Township 

8'y  Voted  at  s'd  meeting  to  Lay  the  Roads  at  the  Baud  of  each  main  street  foure 
rods  wide  in  said  Township 

d^y  Voted  that  the  Roads  to  accommidate  the  medow  land  shall  be  but  two  Rods 
wide,  and  all  the  Rods  to  accomidate  the  other  Divisions  two  Rods  widf 
allso 

Voted  to  raise  a  rate  of  Eight  Shillings  upon  Each  Proprietors  Right  in  sci 
Town  to  pay  the  Charges  that  may  arise  by  Laying  out  s'd  Land 
Voted  to  Rase  ten  shillings  to  pay  for  a  Proprietors  Book 
Voted  and  Chose  Isaac  Wyman  I*roprietors  Treasurer. 
Voted  and  Chose  Thomas  Train  Josiah  Deean  Colectors  for  said  Proprietors 
Voted  and  Chose  Ebenezer  Graves  Allen  Curtice  and  Ezekiel  Foster  asses- 
sors for  said  Proprietors 

Voted  at  said  meetin  that  five  or  seven  of  the  proprietors  of  said  Town 
makin  application  to  the  Clerk  of  Said  Proprietors  for  Calling  meetings  for 
the  future 

Voted  at  sM  meetin  to  Lay  out  the  Land  in  said  Town  as  soon  as  may  be 
convenant 
at  a  meeting  held  at  West  Hoosuck  pursuant  to  the  Court  order  on  the  fifth 

Day  of  December  1753  the  above  said  votes  paist  in  a  legial  manor 

Test  =  Allen  Curtice  moderator  for  said  meetin 

Isaac  Wvmak 

Prop*  Clerk, 


398  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Then  and  there,  and  thus,  began  the  self-government  of  this  town. 
Further  to  the  east  in  Massachusetts,  what  has  been  called  the  "  New 
England  Townmeeting,"  had  been  the  governing  agent  in  numerous 
little  republics  for  a  century ;  this  was  the  first  upon  the  Hoosac,  or 
in  its  immediate  vicinity.  Of  course,  the  Tojal  governor  at  Boston, 
in  this  case  a  man  of  wide  renown,  William  Shirley,  as  representing 
directly  the  crown  of  England,  was  the  highest  political  authority  in 
the  province ;  but  in  all  personal  interests  of  the  settlers,  and  in  all 
local  matters,  the  town-meeting  was  as  sovereign  then  as  it  is  now, 
and  we  look  back  with  a  fond  curiosity,  if  not  with  affection,  upon 
every  man  recorded  as  having  a  part  in  that  primal  assemblage  of 
citizens.  All  but  two  of  them  had  been  soldiers  in  Fort  Massachu- 
setts ;  Isaac  Wyman,  the  clerk,  was  then  commanding  officer  there, 
and  Seth  Hudson  had  been  surgeon  there;  Captain  Allen  Curtiss 
brought  his  military  title  from  Connecticut,  and  after  a  couple  of 
years  carried  it  back  there,  where  he  honored  it  by  a  life  of  useful- 
ness ;  and  Jonathan  Meacham,  who  was  appointed  on  two  important 
committees  at  that  first  meeting,  was  long  a  citizen  and  church  mem- 
ber here.  He  was  own  cousin  to  James  Meacham,  who  was  lately 
characterized,  and  they  both  came  here  from  New  Salem,  where 
their  ancestor,  Jeremiah  Meacham  from  old  Salem,  was  the  first  set- 
tler in  1737,  receiving  £10  from  his  fellow-proprietors,  residents  of 
Old  Salem,  for  assuming  the  hardships  of  the  pioneer  in  their  new 
town.  Jonathan  Meacham  was  with  Ephraim  Williams  in  the  battle 
of  Lake  George,  nearly  two  years  after  this  town-meeting. 

Just  four  months  after  the  first  proprietors'  meeting,  a  second  was 
called  by  the  clerk  at  the  instance  of  "five  or  seven"  of  the  local 
proprietors,  as  provided  for  in  the  first  meeting :  — 

Whereas  application  hath  bin  maid  to  me  the  subscriber  hearof  by  a  number 
of  the  Proprietors  of  the  west  Township  of  Hoosuck  so  called  to  Issue  out  a 
warrant  for  Calling  of  a  Proprietors  meeting  in  s'd  Township  setting  forth  the 
time  Place  and  ocasion  of  s'd  meeting  which  meeting  is  to  be  held  at  the  Dwelling 
house  of  Capt.  Allen  Curtiss  then  and  there  to  act  on  the  articles  as  follows : 
Vizt. 

1       To  choose  a  moderator  for  s'd  meeting 
2iy    To  se  if  the  Proprietors  will  Except  the  Keturn  of  the  Commite  Chosen  to 

lay  out  the  Division  or  Divisions  of  land  and  the  Return  of  the  Commite 

Chosen  to  lay  out  the  high  ways 
3iy    To  se  if  the  Prop?  will  Draw  for  there  medow  Lots  and  there  first  50-acre 

Division  as  they  are  now  laid  out. 
4^y    To  se  if  the  Proprietors  will  hear  and  Except  the  accompts  of  any  if  they 

be  offered 
5'y    To  se  if  the  Props  will  agree  upon  some  place  for  a  buring  place  or  apoint  a 

Commite  to  do  the  same  and  allso  for  Clearing  some  part  of  it. 


WEST    HOOSAC.  ^^99 

6'^    To  see  if  the  i  ^.^.i .  „iii  hiive  ihe  Gu»pel  Preach  in  this  town  ilii>  .^uiuiut  i  or 

some  part  of  it  and  if  so  to  Chose  a  Commite  to  bring  in  some  authodox 

min.  to  preach  the  gospel. 
7'y    To  se  if  the  Propr?  will  raise  money  to  Defray  the  necessary  Charges  arising 

in  s'd  Town 
8'y   To  se  if  the  Propr*  will  agree  upon  some  man  or  men  to  buld  a  grist  mill 

and  a  saw  mill  and  what  bounty  they  will  give  for  the  incouragement  of 

the  building  the  same 
Which  meeting  is  to  be  on  Thirsday  the  Eightenth  of  this  Instant  at  Nine  of 
the  Clock  in  the  fournoon  and  such  of  the  Tropr?  as  shall  asemble  and  meat  at 
s'd  time  and  place  are  hearby  Impowered  to  act  on  all  or  part  of  the  foregoing 
articles. 

Fort  Massachusetts  April  6,  1764. 

Isaac  Wyman  Propr?  Clerk. 

At  a  Proprietors  meeting  lawful!  warned  in  the  west  Township  at  Hoosuck 

April  the  Eighteenth  1754 

Voted  and  agreed  upon  at  s'd  meeting  as  follows  Vizt. 

1 .     Voted  and  Choose  Capt  Allen  Curtiss  moderator  for  s'd  meeting 

2iy  Voted  and  Excepted  the  Return  of  the  Commite  Chosen  to  lay  out  the 
Divisions  of  lands  in  s'd  Township  and  allso  the  Return  of  the  Commite 
Choosen  to  lay  out  highways  to  accomidate  said  Town. 

3'y  Voted  and  agreed  to  Draw  the  medow  Lots  and  the  first  fifty  acre  Division 
as  follows :  Choose  Mr,  David  King  Surveyor  to  Draw  for  the  Divisions  to 
Each  Right  in  s'd  Town  s'd  meeting  adjourned  untill  one  a  Clock  in  the 
afternoon  and  then  meet. 

4'y  Voted  and  Granted  to  Mr.  David  King,  Surveyor  his  acompt  for  Laying 
out  the  Divisions  of  Land  in  s'd  Township  and  Granted  the  whole  of  all 
the  accompts  Delivered  to  the  Clerk  of  said  Proprietors.  Adjourned  Said 
meeting  untill  the  Nineteenth  of  this  instant  at  12  a  Clock  and  then  meet. 

6'y  Voted  to  Leve  two  accres  and  a  half  for  a  burial  Place  in  said  Town  at  the 
North  East  Eand  of  the  Lot  No.  2  on  the  west  side  of  the  street  Leving  a 
two  Rod  road  at  the  eand  of  s'd  Lot  and  allso  to  Clear  half  an  acre  at  the 
South  East  Corner  of  s'd  Land  the  Proprietors  Cost. 

6'y  Voted  and  Granted  to  raise  12  Shillings  upon  Each  Proprietors  Right  in  s'd 
Town  to  Defray  the  necessary  Charges  arising  at  a  meeting  of  the  Proprie- 
tors regularly  worned  and  met  on  the  W^  of  April  1754  the  above  written 
vots  voted  and  mineted  in  a  regular  form,     test  Allen  Ccrtiss  moderator 

Isaac  Wyman  Propr?  Clerk. 

So  far,  matters  had  gone  smoothly  in  the  settlement  of  West 
Hoosac.  About  a  dozen  house  lots  had  been  roughly  occupied.  A 
meadow  lot  of  ten  or  eleven  acres  on  one  of  the  main  streams  had 
been  drawn  to  each  house  lot,  and  one  fifty-acre  lot  also.  As  the 
spring  of  1754  was  drawing  on,  there  was  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
settlers,  who  seem  to  have  been  contented  with  their  home,  to  have 
some  roads  laid  out  by  which  they  could  reach  their  new  lots,  and 


400  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

also  to  draw  their  second-division  fifty-acre  lots,  which,  it  was  under- 
stood, would  be  located  on  the  more  level  lands  in  the  south  part  of 
the  town.  Accordingly,  about  ten  days  after  the  adjournment  of 
the  second  pro^^rietors'  meeting,  api)lication  was  made  to  Captain 
Wyman,  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  their  clerk,  to  issue  a  call  for  a 
third  meeting  of  the  proprietors.  This  proved  to  be  the  last  meeting 
for  more  than  six  years  and  a  half.  The  Erencli  and  Indian  war 
was  about  to  break  out  again  with  more  violence  than  ever ;  and  the 
almost  universal  law,  that  such  an  enterprise  as  settling  and  civil- 
izing the  beautiful  Hoosac  valley  can  only  be  compassed,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  through  contentions  and  difficulties,  was  soon  to  be 
illustrated  for  the  thousandth  time.  The  following  are  the  sum- 
mons and  the  doings  of  that  meeting  :  — 

Whereas  application  hath  been  maid  to  me  the  Subscriber  hear  of  by  a  Suffi- 
cient number  of  the  Proprietors  of  the  west  Town  at  Hoosuck  for  to  call  a 
meeting  of  the  Propr?  of  s'd  town  Setting  forth  the  time  Place  and  ocashon  of 
s'd  meeting  Which  meeting  is  to  be  held  at  the  Dwelling  house  of  Capt.  Allen 
Curtiss  on  wensday  the  fifteenth  Day  of  May  at  ten  of  the  Clock  in  the  fore- 
Noon  then  and  there  to  act  on  the  following  articles  :  Vizt. 
1.  To  choose  a  moderator  for  s'd  meeting 
2iy    To  see  if  the  Proprietors  will  draw  for  there  Second  Fifty  acre  Division  and 

after  what  manner  they  will  do  the  same 
S^y    To  see  if  the  Propr^  will  Clear  Some  part  or  all  the  highways  that  are  Laid 

out  to  convene  the  fifty  acre  Division  and  the  medow  Land. 
4iy    To  see  if  they  will  Raise  money  to  Defray  the  Charges  of  the  same  or  any 

other  Necessary  Charges  that  may  arise  in  said  Town  or  to  make  any  other 

proper  votes  as  they  shall  think  best. 
These  are  therefore  to  Notifye  and  worn  the  said  Proprietors  that  they  assem- 
ble and  meat  at  s'd  time  and  place  to  act  and  Determine  on  all  or  part  of  the 
fourgoin  articles  as  they  shall  Think  Fit. 

Isaac  Wyman  Prop  Clerk 

Fort  Massachusetts  April  29  1764. 

At  a  Proprietors  meeting  lawfuU  worned  in  the  West  Township  at  lioosuck 

and  the  following  articles  acted  upon  as  follows  :  vizt. 

1.      Voted  and  Choose  Capt.  Elisha  Chapin  moderator  for  s'd  meeting. 

2iy  Voted  by  the  Propr?  to  Draw  for  the  Second  fifty  acres  Division  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner  Choose  Capt.  Allen  Curtiss  to  Draw  a  ticket  to  Each  Right 
for  s'd  Propr? 

3'y  Voted  at  s'd  meeting  to  Clear  the  Road  from  the  North  Eand  of  the  Cross 
Streeat  in  s'd  Town  to  hampshear  line  [Vt.  line]  one  rod  wide  and  for  the 
Propr?  to  work  for  two  shillings  and  Eight  pence  a  Day. 

4iy  Voted  and  granted  Oliver  Avery's  and  John  Crawfoord's  accompt  for  Clear- 
ing part  of  the  burial  Place 

6iy  Voted  and  Choose  Capt.  Allen  Curtiss  surveyor  to  Clear  the  fore  mentioned 
Road 


WEST   HOOSAC.  401 

..       \  uted  and  granted  to  Raise  Six  Shillings  upon  Each  Propr*  Risrht  in  s'd 
Town  to  Defray  the  necessary  Charges  of  the  Same. 

Test.  Elisha  Chaimx  uKxierator 

Na AC  Wyman  Propr  Clerk 

War  burst  upon  the  valley  just  one  month  after  this  meeting, 
May  28,  1754;  about  one  hundred  Indians  assaulted  "Dutch  Hoosac," 
now  Hoosac  Falls,  about  twelve  miles  down  the  river.  Their  first 
attack  was  made  on  a  few  men  at  a  mill,  where  they  killed  Samuel 
Bowen,  and  wounded  John  Barnard;  they  then  rushed  into  the 
little  settlement,  burned  the  houses  and  barns  and  a  large  quantity 
of  wheat  in  the  stack,  and  killed  most  of  the  cattle.  The  next  day, 
they  burned  the  little  settlement  at  St.  Croix,  now  Hoosac  Junction, 
so-called,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Walloomsac,  and  up  its  fertile  valley ; 
but  as  most  of  the  ^jeople  had  previously  fled  from  both  places,  but 
few  lives  were  lost.  The  garrison  at  Fort  Massachusetts  was  too 
weak  to  afford  effectual  aid  even  to  the  West  Hoosac  homesteads, 
still  less  to  those  lower  down  the  river.  Captain  Elisha  Chapin, 
who  commanded  the  fort  at  that  time,  the  same  who  was  the  last 
moderator  at  West  Hoosac,  stated  the  loss  at  Dutch  Hoosac  at  seven 
dwelling-houses,  fourteen  barns,  and  fourteen  barracks  of  wheat ; 
and  very  nearly  the  same  at  St  Croix ;  amounting,  as  he  estimated, 
to  £4000  York  currency.  These  depredations  were  attributed  prin- 
cipally to  the  Schaghticoke  Indians,  many  of  whom  were  descend- 
ants of  the  New  England  Indians,  who  had  left  the  region  of  the 
Connecticut  Kiver  in  King  Philip's  war.  Of  course,  these  were 
set  on  by  the  Canada  Indians,  and  were  soon  followed  by  their 
principals. 

All  the  settlers  at  West  Hoosac  immediately  abandoned  the 
place  on  news  of  the  approaching  ravages  below  them ;  those  who 
had  families  betook  themselves  to  Fort  Massachusetts,  where  they 
were  not  very  welcome,  and  others  returned  to  their  homes  over  the 
mountain  or  into  Connecticut.  The  second  Indian  party,  more  dis- 
tinctly announcing  the  renewal  of  the  French  war  from  the  north, 
shrewdly  avoided  Fort  Massachusetts,  flanking  it  on  the  west,  fol- 
lowing up  the  Green  River  to  the  south,  from  its  junction  with  the 
Hoosac,  and  so  over  the  low  water-shed  to  the  upper  Housatonic, 
which  they  followed  down  through  Lanesboro  and  Pontoosuck  as 
far  as  Stockbridge.  A  scout  was  sent  after  them  from  the  fort. 
In  following  their  tracks  in  what  is  now  Lanesboro,  two  Indian 
chiefs  were  discovered  stooping  down  and  tying  on  their  moccasins. 
Each  of  the  two  scouts  selected  one,  and  both  the  chiefs  were  killed 


402  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

on  the  spot.  The  scout  safely  escaped  to  the  fort,  though  closely- 
followed  for  some  distance.  A  larger  party  from  the  fort  set  out 
at  once  to  find  the  bodies  of  the  slain  chiefs,  and  found  them  buried 
in  all  the  bravery  of  their  war-costume.  The  Indians  proceeded 
through  Pittsfield,  driving  off  several  families  from  there  and 
Lenox,  and  penetrated  to  Stockbridge,  where  they  attacked  the 
house  of  Joshua  Chamberlain,  who  lived  on  the  "  Hill,"  on  ground 
well  known  to  this  day.  It  was  Sunday,  and  most  of  the  people 
of  Stockbridge  were  at  church.  Chamberlain  had  a  brave  hired 
man  whose  name  was  Owen,  who  kept  the  Indians  at  bay  while 
Chamberlain  and  his  wife  escaped,  but  who  himself  fell  under 
mortal  wounds,  and  died  very  soon.  The  Indians  scalped  him,  and 
killed  and  scalped  one  child,  and  carried  away  another,  which  they 
soon  killed  and  scalped,  in  consequence  of  discovering  that  a  party 
was  forming,  or  formed,  to  pursue  them. 

This  bold  incursion  taught  two  important  lessons.  It  taught  the 
people  of  Connecticut  that  they  were  much  exposed  to  Canada  by 
way  of  the  Housatonic,  and  that  they  ought  to  help  the  "  Bay  "  ta 
defend  the  gateway  of  the  Upper  Hoosac.  They  raised  a  small 
body  of  troops  immediately,  some  of  which  were  soon  posted  at 
Pontoosuck,  and  others,  later,  helped  to  garrison  the  AVest  Hoosac 
fort  as  soon  as  that  was  ready  to  receive  them.  For  the  other  les- 
son taught  by  the  incursion  of  the  summer  of  1754  was,  that  Fort 
Massachusetts  was  not  well  placed  to  defend  the  frontier  towns  in 
what  is  now  Berkshire  from  the  French  and  Indians.  It  stood  ta 
one  side  of  the  hostile  route.  This  item  of  experience  doubled  the 
confidence  of  the  West  Hoosac  settlers,  who  were  at  the  same  time 
soldiers,  to  demand  of  the  General  Court  a  fort  of  their  own,  to  be- 
manned  by  themselves. 

The  following  petition  to  the  General  Court  gives  an  interesting 
account,  written  by  themselves,  of  the  condition  of  our  pioneers 
during  the  summer  of  1754,  and  probably  discloses  the  names  of  all 
those  who  had  made  a  beginning  on  their  house  lots  and  had  not 
gone  back  to  their  original  homes.  Indeed,  of  the  eleven  precious 
names  appended  to  this  petition,  there  are  only  two  with  which  we 
have  not  already  become  familiar ;  namely,  Oliver  Avery  and  William 
Chidester.  Avery  was  from  Charlemont,  and  Chidester  was  from 
Cornwall,  Connecticut.  The  latter  was  an  original  proprietor  in 
West  Hoosac,  drawing  house  lot  6,  and  in  June,  1752,  buying,  by 
bond,  house  lot  18  (£20),  which  was  the  breadth  of  one  lot  east 
of  Benjamin  Simonds's  lot ;  while  in  April,  1754,  he  sold  to  his  son, 
of  the  same  name,  WiUiam  Chidester,  house  lot  24,  which  was  the 


WEST  HOOSAC.  403 

lot  next  west  of  Simonds's,  —  all,  except  No.  6,  on  the  fourth  emi- 
nence, northwest  quarter. 

To  His  Excellency  Win  Shirley  Esqr  Captn  Genl  and  Governor  in  Chief  in  and 
over  his  Majesty's  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  &c. 

To  the  Honble  his  Majestys  Council  and  The  House  of  Representatives  in 
Genl  Court  Assembled  —  Oct.  17.  1754. 

The  Petition  of  the  inhabitants  of  West  Hoosuck  —  Humbly  Sheweth 
That  upon  Survey  of  the  Plan  of  sd  Township  and  from  the  information  of 
the  Gentn  of  this  Honourable  Court  that  sold  us  our  Kespective  Lotts  we  are 
abundantly  Satisfied  that  the  Government  designed  it  for  a  Barrier  Town  into 
which  Succour  upon  any  rupture  would  be  thrown,  which  induced  us  to  take  up 
with  Narrow  Lotts  less  than  fourteen  Rods  wide  and  thereby  subject  ourselves 
to  the  inconveniences  of  living  in  a  Huddle,  also  to  give  moneys  for  our  Land 
(which  the  Government  has  had  the  Benefit  of)  which  used  to  be  given  upon  the 
promise  of  selling  and  Large  Bonds  to  the  Province  Treasurer  for  Settleing  which 
now  lie  against  us  &c.  But  may  it  please  your  Excellency  and  Hours  Such  is 
our  case  upon  the  late  Alarm  we  for  Shelter  ran  to  fort  Massachusetts  and  are 
there  with  our  familys  who  Clutter  the  Fort,  and  make  our  lives  and  that  of  the 
Soldiers  very  uncomfortable  —  in  this  poor  Situation  your  Pettnrs  are  wait- 
ing your  Excellencies  and  Honours  Directions  how  to  Bestow  ourselves,  and 
would  let  your  Excellency  know  there  is  about  E leaven  families  of  us  that 
would  gladly  Return  to  our  Settlements,  and  a  considerable  number  more,  could 
we  receive  proper  incouragemt  from  this  Honable  Court,  Whose  Determination 
we  all  Humbly  wait 

And  as  in  Duty  bound  shall  ever  pray  &c 

Signed  by 
JoxA  Meachm  Seth  Hudson 

Gideon  Warrin  William  Chidester 

Benj.  Simoxds  Ezekl  Foster 

Oliver  Avery  Allin  Curtiss 

Thomas  Train  Jabez  Warrin  Junr 

Jabez  Warrin 

This  petition  for  aid  does  not  seem  to  have  impressed  the  Legis- 
lature favorably,  under  thQ  circumstances;  and  it  was  certainly- 
contrary  to  the  views  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  of  Hatfield,  the 
military  commander  of  the  "western  frontier"  throughout  the 
impending  war.  He  had  advised  the  abandonment  of  forts  Pelham 
and  Shirley  upon  the  hilltops,  and  the  concentration  of  all  defences 
into  the  valley  of  the  Deerfield  River,  keeping  up  in  full  vigor,  how- 
ever, the  one  chief  fort  over  the  mountain,  —  dear  to  all  the  Williams 
family,  —  Fort  Massachusetts.  He  advised  these  petitioners  to  re- 
move their  gathered  crops  of  wheat  and  their  other  effects  to  some 
place  of  safety,  and  to  abandon  their  little  homes  till  after  the  next 
yearns  campaign  against  Crown  Point,  which  was  already  being  coun- 


404  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

selled  over  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Jonathan  Meacham  and 
his  brother  William  enlisted,  the  next  spring,  with  several  others  at 
the  fort,  under  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams,  and  shared  in  the  perils 
of  the  battle  of  Lake  George  5  and  when  the  news  of  that  drawn 
battle,  as  it  were,  reached  Hampshire  County,  with  a  call  for  re- 
inforcements, James  Meacham  and  others,  of  New  Salem,  enlisted 
in  the  company  of  Captain  Nathaniel  D wight,  the  same  who  ran  out 
the  lines  of  our  two  towns  in  1749,  and  his  Diary  notes  the  passage 
of  his  company  through  West  Hoosac,  on  Sunday,  September  28,  on 
his  way  to  Lake  George.  Not  much,  if  anything,  was  done  here  in 
the  way  of  improvements  during  that  summer  and  autumn  of  1755 ; 
but  many  an  active  young  fellow  from  the  eastward  and  southward 
had  his  eyes  open  as  he  trudged  along  the  old  military  paths  by  the 
Hoosac,  Owl  Kill,  the  Battenkill,  and  the  upper  Hudson,  prepared 
to  take  advantage  of  what  he  had  seen  when  Peace  and  Canada  had 
been  conquered. 

Besides  the  company  of  Captain  Dwight,  there  were  a  good  many 
other  companies,  and  parts  of  companies,  that  pressed  through  West 
Hoosac  in  the  fall  of  1755,  to  reinforce  Johnson's  army  at  the  lake, 
and  to  work  on  the  great  wooden  fort  that  he  was  building  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  his  battle-field  of  September.  He  named  this 
fort  William  Henry,  after  another  of  the  grandsons  of  King  George, 
and  it  was  completed  about  the  middle  of  November ;  and  then  the 
New  England  men,  who  had  not  already  been  sent  home,  turned 
their  faces  towards  Fort  Massachusetts.  There  were  certainly  some 
four  or  five  hearth-fires  kept  burning  in  West  Hoosac  during  that 
winter  of  1755-56 ;  and  there  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  the 
little  hamlet  on  Hemlock  Brook  was  not  wholly  deserted,  except, 
perhaps,  for  a  few  days,  even  while  the  Indians  were  burning  and 
ravaging  on  the  Hoosac,  a  few  miles  below,  in  the  summer  of  1754. 
The  women  and  children  were  taken  over  to  the  fort,  while  the  men 
passed  more  or  less  back  and  forth.  The  evidence  points  to  a  prac- 
tically continuous  occupation,  on  the  part  of  a  very  few,  of  their 
little  homes  near  the  brook,  from  1752.  The  conviction  was  deepen- 
ing on  the  part  of  all  the  actual  settlers,  and  doubtless  as  well  on 
the  part  of  all  the  military  bands  passing  through  the  place,  back 
and  forth,  that  Fort  Massachusetts  had  been  misplaced,  and  that 
the  third  eminence  in  West  Hoosac  could  be  more  easily  defended, 
and  could  much  more  easily  defend  the  settlers.  Especially  would 
this  be  the  view  of  the  Connecticut  men,  having  found  out  by  expe- 
rience that  the  Green  River  made  an  easy  path  for  the  Indians  to 
the  Housatonic.     Very  interesting   and   significant,  accordingly,  is 


WEST  HOOSAC.  405 

the  following  petition  of  William  Chidester,  a  Connecticut  man,  to 
the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  for  aid  to  erect  a  blockhouse 
in  West  Hoosac.  The  petition  wiis  sent  and  answered  in  the  depth 
of  winter :  — 


Province  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay 


To  his  Honour  Spencer  Phipps  Esq  Commander  in  Chief 
in  and  over  His  Majesty's  province  of  the  Massachusetts 
\  Bay  in  New  England,  To  the  Honourable  His  Majesty's 
Council,  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General  Court 
assembled  the  18  Day  of  Jany  1750 

The  Petition  of  William  Chidester  of  the  Place  called  Hoosuck  in  the  County 
of  Hampshire  in  said  Province  Humbly  Shews: 

That  your  petitioner  purchased  several  lotts  of  land  in  the  Westerly  Town- 
ship called  Hoosuck  Townships,  which  lays  about  four  miles  to  the  westward  of 
fort  Massachusetts,  and  liad  Removed  his  family  on  to  said  lots  In  order  to  Per- 
form the  Duties  In  joined  the  several  Purchasers  of  lotts  in  the  said  Township, 
with  an  expectation  that  the  other  purchasers  would  have  followed  him  to  fulfill 
their  obligations  on  their  Respective  lotts,  and  so  strengthen  the  Town,  that  they 
might  not  only  Defend  ourselves  against  the  common  Eniray,  but  be  a  Barrier 
to  Province,  But  so  it  is  that  Your  Petitioner  and  Some  Others,  to  tuk  amoi.nt 
OF  FIVE  FAMiLYs  are  left  alone  in  the  said  Westerly  Township  as  he  apprehends 
in  Emmenant  Danger  of  being  Murthered,  and  their  substance  destroyed  by  the 
Common  Enimy,  as  there  is  but  about  five  familys  between  his  habitation,  and 
the  place  Coled  Scotohook  (Schaghticoke)  in  the  Dutch  County  which  the 
Indians  and  French  burnt  and  distroyed  the  last  fall,  Notwithstanding  our 
forces  were  at  lake  George  at  the  same  time.  Your  Petitioner  therefore  humbly 
Prays  your  Honour  and  Honours  would  be  Graciously  pleased  to  take  his 
Distrest  Condition  into  your  wise  Consideration  and  grant  such  Releife  as  in 
Your  great  Wisdom  you  shall  see  meet.     And  as  in  Duty  bound  shall  ever  pray. 

William  Chidester 

This  petition  was  acted  upon  in  the  Popular  Assembly  in  ten 
days,  and  by  the  Council  and  governor  in  five  days  more.  Their 
reply  was  as  follows ;  — 

In  House  of  Representatives,  Jany  28  1756 
Read  and  Ordered,  That  the  prayer  of  this  Petn  be  so  far  granted  as  that  the 
Commander  in  Chief  be  disired  to  give  orderr,  That  if  the  Proprietors  of  said 
Township  or  any  part  of  them  shall  at  their  own  cost  and  charge  erect  a  suffi- 
cient Block  house  in  said  Town,  in  the  place  called  the  square  by  the 
tenth  day  of  March  next,  that  then  there  be  allowed  Ten  Soldiers,  either  out  of 
the  number  now  Stationed  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  or  otherwise  by  a  new  Levy 
as  this  Court  shall  judge  best:  and  that  the  sd  proprietors  or  such  of  them  as 
shall  appear  and  labour  in  the  Erecting  of  sd  Fort  be  allowed  their  Subsistence 
out  of  the  province  stores  for  the  space  of  two  months  ;  and  that  if  the  Propri- 
etors shall  not  appear  by  the  tenth  of  March  next  to  erect  a  Block-house  on  the 
place  called  the  square,  that  then  the   Petitioner  with  such  as  shall  appear 


406  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

spirited  with  him,  and  shall  erect  a  Block-house  round  his  house  and  the 
TWO  other  houses  convenient  to  be  taken  in,  shall  be  entitled  to  the  same 
subsistence  above  sd  while  building  said  Block-house,  and  that  when  sd  Block- 
house is  finished  Ten  of  the  Inhabitants  which  shall  have  Erected  said  Block- 
house be  put  into  pay  and  subsistence  during  ye  Courts  pleasure,  and  that  the 
Commander  in  Chief  be  disired  to  give  orders  that  there  be  a  Guard  of  Ten  men 
taken  from  Fort  Massachusetts  to  guard  the  Labourers  while  they  are  at  work 

on  sd  Block-house 

Sent  up  for  Concurrence 

T.  Hubbard  Spkr 
In  Council  Feb  2.     Read  and  Concurred 

Thos  Clark  Depty  Sec'ry 

Consented  to  W.  Shirley. 

Governor  Shirley  issued  an  executive  order  on  the  6th  of  February, 
in  accordance  with  Chidester's  request,  authorizing  him  to  build  a 
blockhouse  on  the  "  Square,"  —  that  is,  in  the  Main  Street  on  the 
third  eminence,  —  if  he  could  induce  a  sufficient  number  of  the  pro- 
prietors to  join  him  so  as  to  complete  the  work  by  the  10th  of  March ; 
otherwise  to  build  the  blockhouse  on  his  own  lot,  house  lot  No.  6, 
and  afterwards  to  picket  the  front  part  of  that  lot  and  of  the  lot  next 
west,  house  lot  No.  8.  Chidester  only  found  encouragement  to  do 
the  lesser  thing.  Benjamin  Simonds,  Seth  Hudson,  and  Jabez  War- 
ren, three  of  the  oldest  homesteaders  whose  lots  were  near  Chides- 
ter's, chipped  in  to  aid  him  in  his  work.  His  own  lot  was  the  third 
west  of  North  Street,  or  twenty-eight  rods  west  of  the  present  Kap 
House,  east  line.  These  four  men  commenced  at  once  to  erect  the 
blockhouse  on  the  eastern  line  of  No.  6,  where  it  touched  the  Main 
Street ;  and  several  others,  who  had  left  on  the  alarm  in  1754,  and 
among  them  Nehemiah  Smedley  and  Josiah  Hosford  and  William 
Hosford,  from  Connecticut,  returned  and  aided  ,in  the  work.  Ten 
men  from  Fort  Massachusetts  served  as  a  guard  from  February  29th 
to  March  29tli,  when  the  blockhouse  was  finished.  We  cannot  tell 
exactly  when  it  was  done,  but  we  know  that  pickets  were  set  after 
the  manner  of  Fort  Pelham  around  the  fronts  of  both  of  those  lots, 
enclosing  the  two  houses  (built  before),  each  on  its  own  front  lot 
next  the  street.     A  good  well  was  also  within  the  enclosure. 

This  rude  work,  not  very  well  placed,  and  not  meeting  the  views 
of  a  considerable  number  of  the  resident  proprietors,  was  called 
"  West  Hoosac  Fort,"  and  it  had  a  history,  as  we  shall  see.  It  was 
accidental,  but  it  is  interesting  nevertheless,  that  this  local  fort  occu- 
pied the  front  of  one  of  the  two  original  lots  drawn  by  Ephraim 
Williams,  the  founder.  It  is  claimed  that  William  Pratt,  son  of  Silas 
Pratt,  born  in  this  fort,  was  the  first  male  child  born  in  town.     He 


WEST   HOOSAC.  407 

died  in  Pownal  in  1846,  and  transmitted  to  his  children  many  credi- 
ble traditions  of  "  ye  olden  time."  The  old  well  of  the  fort  has  had 
a  somewhat  peculiar  history.  After  the  tooth  of  time  had  gnawed 
into  utter  disappearance  Chidester's  house  and  the  blockhouse,  their 
site  remained  unoccupied  and  the  well  unused  until  about  1825,  when 
the  nucleus  of  the  present  house  was  built  on  the  old  site,  and  the 
well  came  again  into  family  requisition.  Arad  Horsford,  William 
Bridges,  James  Smedley,  and  Robert  Noble  lived  in  it  successively, 
and  usually  found  the  well  ample  for  their  purposes.  The  last- 
named  extended  his  kitchen  northwards  over  the  well,  arranged  a 
chain  pump  to  draw  up  the  water,  when  an  animal  of  the  genus  not 
commonly  mentioned  in  polite  society  (Mephitis  americana)  fell 
into  the  well,  with  such  disagreeable  consequences  that  Mr.  Noble 
filled  it  in  "for  good."  Its  position,  however,  can  be  precisely 
pointed  out  at  the  present. 

It  was  inevitable,  in  the  nature  of  things,  that  jealousy  should 
spring  up  between  the  newer  and  the  older  forts  in  one  small 
valley.  Before  the  blockhouse  was  finished,  March  9,  1756,  the 
General  Court 

Ordered,  That  there  be  Forty  Men  at  Hoosuck  and  no  more.  Thirty  whereof 
to  be  posted  at  Vort  Massachusetts,  and  ten  at  the  West  Township,  the  said  Ten 
at  ye  West  Township  to  be  inhabitants  of  sd  Township,  if  tliere  shall  be  so  many 
inhabitants  effective  for  the  service,  alwaies  including  the  men  that  shall  have 
been  concerned  in  building  the  Block-house  agreeable  to  the  vote  of  this  Court 
of  the  28th  of  Jany  last. 

In  obedience  to  this  order  Captain  Wyman,  March  23,  detailed 
five  men  from  Fort  Massachusetts,  under  the  command  of  Sergeant 
Samuel  Taylor,  to  guard  the  new  work,  in  connection  with  the  men 
who  had  built  it.  This  put  the  new  fort  under  the  control  of  a 
subaltern  of  the  old  one.  Chidester  went  to  Boston  in  April,  and 
obtained  from  Governor  Shirley  a  Sergeant's  commission  and  author- 
ity to  supersede  Taylor  in  the  command  of  the  new  fort.  There 
seems  to  have  been  another  jealousy  stirring  in  the  minds  of  these 
men,  not  exactly  parallel  to  that  as  between  the  forts,  but  perhaps 
deeper  than  that,  and,  at  any  rate,  working  into  the  hands  of  that, 
—  namely,  the  antipathy  between  the  Connecticut  men  and  the  men 
of  the  Bay.  Chidester  and  his  chief  friends  were  from  the  southern 
colony ;  most  of  the  other  leading  men  were  from  the  eastward.  This 
colonial  bickering  had  certainly  broken  out  at  Lake  George  the  fall 
before ;  and  it  seems  difficult  to  account  for  the  facts  here  without 
this  further  hypothesis.     A  portion  of  the  settlers  were  not  satisfied, 


408  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

at  any  rate,  with  the  proceedings  of  Chidester,  his  sons,  and  his 
followers. 

Thomas  Train,  who  was  originally  from  Weston  (a  part  of  Water- 
town),  and  who  seems  to  have  been  a  special  friend  of  Colonel  Par- 
tridge of  Hatfield,  which  latter  character  married  Anna  Williams, 
daughter  of  the  Weston  minister,  and  so  came  into  favor  beyond 
his  deserts  with  the  Williams  family  as  a  whole,  and  who  had  given 
to  Train  house  lot  4  (next  to  the  new  blockhouse),  presented  the 
following  petition  on  the  27th  of  May,  1756,  for  public  aid  to  build 
another  fort. 

To  His  Honour  Spencer  Phipps  Esq  —  Lieut  Govr  and  Commander  in  Chief  of 
His  Majisties  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  &c 

The  Honble  His  Majisties  Council  and  ye  Honble  House  of  Representatives 
in  General  Court  Assembled  —  May  26.  1756. 

The  memorial  of  Thomas  Train  of  West  Hoosuck  in  behalf  of  himself  and 
Divers  others  of  the  Proprietors  of  West  Hoosuck,  Humbly  Sheweth : 

That  your  Memorialist  and  others  of  the  Proprietors  of  ye  aforesaid  Town- 
ship, would  with  ye  countenance  and  encouragement  of  ye  General  Court  build 
at  their  own  proper  cost  and  Charge  a  Block-house  at  said  place  upon  the  Square 
so  called  which  will  be  of  special  service  in  order  to  bring  forward  a  settlement 
of  said  place,  and  beg  leave  to  Represent  that  ye  Block-house  (if  it  will  bear  ye 
name)  built  by  William  Chidester  and  others  answers  no  good  purpose  and  was 
erected  contrary  to  the  minds  of  ye  Proprietors  in  general,  and  as  we  think 
contrary  to  ye  design  and  order  of  ye  Genl  Court ;  therefore  your  memorialist 
humbly  begs  leave  to  erect  a  Block-house  at  ye  aforesaid  place  of  ye  following 
Dimensions  viz:  Eighty  feet  square,  two  mounts  twenty  feet  square,  with  a 
sufficient  Watch  Box  to  ye  same  —  all  with  Hewn  Timber.  And  that  your  Hon- 
ours in  your  wonted  goodness  would  subsist  your  memorialists  whilst  erecting 
said  Block-house  and  grant  them  such  a  number  of  men  to  mantle  ye  same 
(During  their  perilous  season)  as  your  Honours  in  your  great  wisdom  shall  see 

best  and  as  in  Duty  bound  shall  ever  pray. 

Thomas  Train. 

Attached  to  the  above  petition  is  the  following  subscription  paper, 
all  the  names  upon  which  are  men  of  the  "Bay."  Joseph  Hawley 
of  this  list,  who  then  owned  house  lot  47,  on  which  now  stands  the 
Post-ofiice  and  bank  block  of  the  town,  was  at  that  time  the  most 
important  man  in  Northampton;  and  John  Moffat  was  a  painter 
in  Boston,  who  sold  in  17G0  his  house  lot  46,  on  whose  front  the 
Congregational  Church  now  stands,  to  William  Horsford  for  twenty 
shillings.  William  Horsford  also  owned  in  1765  the  next  lot  west, 
44,  on  which  the  president's  house  now  stands ;  and  Josiah  Horsford 
the  next,  still  west,  42,  on  which  the  Whitmans  lived  for  three- 
fourths  of  the  present  century. 


WEST   HOOSAC. 


409 


Fort  Massachusetts,  May  ye  10,  1756. 
We  the  subscribers  do  promise  to  pay  unto  Any  Person  or  persons  the  several 
siuns  subscribed  if  they  will  undertake  and  finish  a  sufficient  fort  on  the  Square 
in  the  West  Township  at  llusack  so  called  at  the  compleat  finishing  said  fort  — 
the  Dimentions  are  as  followeth  viz.  said  fort  to  be  80  feet  square  with  two 
mounts  each  20  feet  square,  the  said  Fort  to  be  built  of  hewn  timber  and  a  suf- 
ficient Watch  Box  —  and  we  the  subscribers  do  promise  to  pay  the  several  sums 
subscribed  or  to  work  till  we  have  Compleated  the  Superscription,  as  witness 
our  hands  — 


Isaac  Wvman 

6-0-0 

Thomas  Train 

3-0-0 

Ben  Symonds 

3-0-0 

Elisha  Higgins 

1-10-0 

William  Meacham 

3-0-0 

William  Train 

1-10-0 

Tyras  Pratt 

1-6-8 

Joseph  Hawley 

0-18-0 

Gad  Ciiapin 

3-0-0 

Jonathan  Meacham 

2-0-0 

John  Wells 

3-0-0 

Derick  Webb 

0-1-10 

Noah  Phatt 

1-6-8 

John  Moffat 

3-0-0 

Saml  Taylor 

3-0-0 

No  response  appears  to  have  been  made  to  this  petition,  with  its 
liberal  pecuniary  offer  of  £35  12s.  4d.  Meanwhile  there  were 
rumors  here  of  an  enemy  approaching  from  the  northwest.  The 
blockhouse  had  no  artillery  at  all,  and  had  but  ten  men  as  a  garri- 
son. Early  in  June,  Chidester  went  to  Boston  again,  and  took  with 
him  the  two  petitions  that  follow,  whose  contents  and  signatures, 
though  they  have  a  decided  Connecticut  flavor  as  over  against  Massa- 
chusetts, have  also  in  both  respects  a  spirit  of  compromise. 

To  his  Excellency  William  Shirley  Esq.  Capt  General,  &c,  and  to  the  Honble  his 
Majesty's  Council,  and  the  Honourable  House  of  Representatives  in  General 
Court  Assembled. 

The  Petition  of  the  Proprietors  of  the  West  Hoosuck  Humbly  sheweth, 
That  whereas  ten  of  the  Proprietors  of  West  Hoosuck  have  obtained  Liberty 
from  the  Honble  Court  to  build  a  Fort  in  sd  township  with  the  Incouragement 
of  the  Pay  and  Subsistence  of  the  Province  as  Soldiers,  and  as  there  is  allowed 
forty  men  for  the  Defence  of  the  western  fronteers  at  fort  Massachusetts  and 
West  Hoosuck,  fort  Massachusetts  is  a  Considerable  Part  of  it  fell  down  and  it 
is  Daly  expected  the  rest  will  fall  —  and  Concluding  the  Province  will  P^ither 
Rebuild  that  fort  agin  or  Bild  some  other  for  the  Defence  of  the  fronteer,  your 
Petitioners  Humbly  Prays  that  Massachusetts  fort  may  not  be  Rebuilt  but  that 
we  may  Have  the  Liberty  of  Erecting  a  fort  in  our  township  that  shall  answer 
the  (same)  intent  of  the  Government  as  that,  and  that  we  may  have  the  artillery 
and  the  seame  strength  allowed  as  was  there  —  and  inasmuch  as  those  ten  of  our 
Proprietors  Have  already  ben  at  great  cost  in  Erecting  a  block-house  in  town, 
and  Have  Don  it  in  such  a  manner  as  with  some  addition  will  accomadate  the 
whole  propriety,  your  Petitioners  Humbly  Praieth  that  we  may  Have  the  Like 
Encouragement  allowed  us  as  those  ten  Have,  and  we  will  forthwith  join  those 
ten,  and  by  adding  other  work  to  the  fort  allready  Built  make  it  a  sufficient  fort 


410  ORIGINS    IN    WILLI AMSTOWN. 

to  answer  the  intent  of  the  Government  as  a  fort  instead  of  Hoosuck  fort,  which 
will  at  once  Build  up  this  town  &  will  be  as  much  Defence  to  the  Government 
and  for  less  Charge,  the  Determination  of  which  your  Pettrs  shall  wait  and  as 
in  Duty  bound  shall  ever  Pray  — 

JosiAH  Dean  Elisha  Higgins 

Samuel  Kellogg  Seth  Kent 

Nehemiah  Smedley  Josiah  Horsford 

Jonathan  Kylborne  Jesse  Sawyer 

SoLOxMON  Buel  Elnathan  Ashmun 

Elisha  Chapin  Tyras  Pratt 

Noah  Pratt  Enos  Hudson 

Gideon  Warrin 

June  9th  1756  —  presented.     Referred  to  ye  next  Sitting. 

Petition  of  William  Chidester. 

May  it  please  your  Honor,  ^^^^«^^'  J^^^  1^'  ^^^^' 

Whereas  there  are  now  two  small  swivel  Guns  in  Fort  Massachusetts  unim- 
proved by  said  Garrison  who  are  otherwise  supplied  with  Artillery,  and  the  same 
would  be  of  Singular  Service  at  the  Block-house  at  Hoosuck  where  they  are 
destitute  of  any  artillery.  This  is  to  pray  the  Favor  of  your  Honours  regard  to 
our  circumstances  in  Exigency  as  to  give  Orders  that  the  same  may  be  removed 
from  thence  to  said  Block-house  at  Hoosuck,  with  ammunition  for  the  Improve- 
ment of  said  Swivel  Guns  in  case  of  need.  Or  otherwise  supplyed  as  your 
Honour  shall  judge  necessary  at  this  time  of  Danger.     And  your  Petitioner  as 

in  duty  bound  shall  ever  pray  &c  -1,^  r^ 

^     "^  William  Chidester 

To  the  Honourable  Spencer  Phipps  Esq.  Lt  Govr  &  Commander  in  Chiefe  of  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

Chidester  returned  from  Boston,  without  much,  if  any,  encourage- 
ment from  high  quarters,  to  his  blockhouse  and  few  faithful  com- 
panions at  West  Hoosac.  Before  he  arrived,  perhaps  the  very  day 
he  started,  at  any  rate  on  June  11,  a  series  of  hostile  operations  by 
French  and  Indians  were  begun  on  the  Hoosac,  which  cost  the  lives 
of  many  of  its  brave  defenders,  and  made  the  campaign  of  1756 
a  gloomy  one  in  New  England,  only  surpassed  by  the  deeper  glooms 
of  1757.  It  had  long  been  the  custom  to  keep  small  scouting 
parties  in  motion  from  fort  to  fort,  from  the  Connecticut  to  the 
Hoosac,  and  down  that  river  to  the  Hudson,  and  then  back  again. 
To  the  scattered  garrisons,  this  was  the  main  source  of  news  from 
the  eastward  as  well  as  from  Canada.  Sometimes  only  two  soldiers 
would  make  these  reconnoissances,  tramping  and  watching  after  the 
Indian  fashion.  Benjamin  King  and  William  Meacham  had  been 
sent  by  Captain  Wyman  down  the  Hoosac  on  such  an  errand,  and, 
returning,  fell  into  an  ambuscade  only  about  three-quarters  of   a 


WEST   HOOSAC.  411 

mile  from  the  fort,  and  both  were  killed.  This  was  June  11.  King 
was  from  Palmer;  and  his  body  lies  in  the  old  burying-ground  there, 
with  a  still  legible  inscription  on  the  slate-stone  monument  at  his 
grave.  Meacham  was  from  New  Salem,  and  was  own  brother  to 
Jonathan,  who  played  a  pretty  conspicuous  role  here  for  many  years 
both  in  things  civil  and  ecclesiastical.  The  brothers  were  own 
cousins  to  James  Meacham,  who  was  not,  like  them,  in  the  battle  of 
Lake  George,  but  who  became  a  soldier  on  that  ground  a  few  weeks 
liiter,  and  wrought  in  that  capacity  on  Fort  William  Henry. 

Fifteen  days  after  this,  a  detachment  of  thirteen  soldiers  under 
Lieutenant  Grant,  from  the  main  army  of  General  Winslow,  then 
encamped  at  Half  Moon  on  the  North  Kiver,  were  on  their  way  to 
Fort  Massacliusetts,  when  they  were  surprised  by  the  enemy  in  the 
present  town  of  Hoosac,  about  thirteen  miles  below  the  fort;  eight 
of  their  number  were  killed  outright,  and  the  remaining  five  cap- 
tured. The  next  day.  Ensign  Barnard  was  sent  from  the  fort  by 
Captain  Wyman,  with  a  small  party,  to  reconnoitre  the  ground,  and, 
if  possible,  to  bury  the  dead,  when  he  found,  on  approaching  tlie 
place  where  the  dead  bodies  lay  in  the  road,  a  large  body  of  Indians 
in  ambuscade  ready  to  pounce  upon  the  party.  Barnard  warily 
withdrew  his  men,  and  made  good  his  retreat  to  the  fort.  Hearing 
of  the  circumstances,  General  Winslow  detached  Captain  Butter- 
field  with  a  strong  body  from  Half  Moon,  who  took  possession  of 
the  ground  and  buried  the  slain. 

July*  11,  as  Chidester  and  his  son  James  and  Captain  Elisha  Cha- 
pin  were  looking  for  some  strayed  cows  along  Hemlock  Brook  at 
some  little  distance  from  their  fort  on  the  hillside  above  the  brook, 
an  Indian  volley  killed  the  two  Chidesters,  and  wounded  Chapin, 
who  was  seized,  carried  off  about  sixty  rods,  and  killed  and  scalped. 
This  was  that  Chapin  of  "Chickobee,"  who  was  characterized  as 
follows  in  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams's  will,  drawn  the  year  before  : 
"  I  give  and  devise  and  remit  to  the  poor,  distressed,  and  improvi- 
dent Captain  Elisha  Chapin,  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds,  to  be 
deducted  out  of  the  bond  given  jointly  by  Moses  Graves,  and  said 
Elisha  Chapin ;  the  said  hundred  pounds  to  be  remitted  out  of  said 
Chapin's  part"  Chapin  had  some  good  and  generous  qualities. 
He  had  commanded  Fort  Massachusetts  for  a  time  in  1754,  and  had 
acquired  the  reputation  of  a  brave  officer.  This  surprise  occurred 
about  sunset.  The  Indians  then  pressed  up  the  hill,  opened  fire 
upon  the  blockhouse,  killed  the  cattle  in  the  vicinity,  and  soon  after 
retreated  into  the  woods.  Nobody  dared,  apparently,  to  carry  the 
news  at  once  to  the  other  fort ;  and  it  was  only  on  the  second  day 


412  ORIGINS  IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

from  the  attack,  that ''  Captain  Wymau  sent  twenty  men  to  search  for 
the  body  of  Captain  Chapin,  who  found  him,  and  buried  him  in  a 
decent  manner,  and  returned  with  his  family  to  Fort  Massachusetts." 
It  was  about  this  time,  both  before  and  after  the  death  of  Chapin 
and  the  Chidesters,  nearly  two  years  in  all,  that  Seth  Hudson  was 
acting  as  surgeon  at  the  two  forts,  as  well  as  in  other  public  capaci- 
ties ;  and  his  original  bill  for  medical  services,  presented  to  the 
General  Court  and  approved  by  a  committee  of  which  J.  Wendell 
was  chairman,  is  now  in  possession  of  the  excellent  antiquarian, 
Fisher  Howe,  of  Boston.  He  has  kindly  loaned  it  for  use  in  the 
present  instance.  The  heading  of  this  bill  entire,  and  some  of  the 
items  in  detail,  the  reader  will  certainly  be  glad  to  see.  The  whole 
bill  would  be  here  reproduced  verhatim  et  literatim,  were  it  not  for 
the  fact  that  the  doctor  deems  it  incumbent  on  him  not  only  to 
specify  the  names  of  the  soldiers  treated,  but  also,  in  abbreviated 
medical  terms,  the  general  treatment  followed,  and  the  medicines 
administered.  These  are  difficult  to  decipher,  and,  in  the  present 
state  of  medical  science  and  of  the  apothecaries'  art,  are  not  impor- 
tant, especially  as  Hudson  was  always  more  soldier  than  surgeon. 
The  heading  is  as  follows :  — 

Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  Seth  Hudson  Dr. 
for  Medicines  &c  administered  to  the  Souldiers 
at  Fort  Massachusetts,  at  the  Blockhouse  at 
West  hoosuck,  and  others  Souldiers  in  the  Province 
Servince,  from  June  12,  1755  to  April  1,  1757. 

About  one-half  of  the  soldiers  named  in  this  bill  as  treated  by 
him,  were  among  the  earliest  proprietors  of  West  Hoosac.  The 
names  are  as  follows :  — 

John  Crosby  Edmond  Townsend  [Town?] 

Gad  Chapm  Joseph  Bush 

Noah  Pratt  Adington  Gardner 

Samuel  Calhoun  Derick  Webb 

Joseph  Soodwick  [Southwick]  James  Butterfield 

Jos.  Birchard  Lemuel  Lyman 

Ebenezer  Graves  Tyrus  Pratt 

Thomas  Train  Elijah  Shelding  [Sheldon] 

Job  Spafford  Samuel  Smith 

Jacob  Pattison  James  Man 

Abram  Bass  Benj.  Simonds 

Jesse  Graves  Joseph  Lovel 

Geo :  Willson  William  Horseford 

Noah  Brooks  John  Horseford 

Silas  Pratt 


WEST   HOOSAC.  413 

For  "  Bleeding  "  he  seems  always  to  have  charged  a  sixpence.  The 
largest  single  charge  in  this  bill  is  on  account  of  Benjamin  Simonds : 
^'  Dressings  and  &c  from  S'^  to  IS'**  Nov.  1755,  £1.  16.  6."  The  next 
June  he  treats  Simonds  again,  bleeding  him  and  administering 
spirits  of  nitre  and  (apparently)  St.  Croix  rum  and  one  other 
restorative,  £0  14s.  6d.  The  entire  bill  amounts  to  £11  5s.  lOd.  It 
was  allowed  and  certified  in  Boston,  April  16, 1757.  The  bill  bears, 
at  the  bottom,  Hudson's  own  autograph,  a  handwriting  much  infe- 
rior to  that  in  the  bill  itself,  which  is  elegant.  The  Horsfords  and 
Pratts  and  Derick  Webb  (twice)  and  Thomas  Train  and  Ebenezer 
Graves,  and  other  names  familiar,  all  figure  in  this  bill.  To  jot 
down  the  ailings  of  "  Benj.  Simonds,"  and  the  sums  he  cost  the 
General  Court  for  surgeon's  service,  gives  the  writer  a  queer  sensa- 
tion, while  the  Colonel's  original  portrait  taken  at  seventy,  in  the 
flush  and  fulness  of  wholesome  old  age,  looks  down  upon  him  from 
the  wall  of  his  study. 

Seth  Hudson  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  West  Hoosac 
fort  on  Chidester's  death,  and  considerable  accessions  of  men 
were  received  there  at  various  times  during  the  next  two  years. 
Ammunition  and  subsistence  were  supplied  from  the  older  fort, 
and  the  settling  of  the  town  went  forward  somewhat;  but  the 
principal  body  of  the  settlers  felt  themselves  aggrieved  at  what 
they  considered  the  niggardly  supplies  of  men  and  provisions  re- 
ceived from  the  commander  of  Fort  Massachusetts.  The  house- 
holders were  evidently  more  or  less  divided  into  a  party  of  the 
^'Bay,"  and  a  party  of  Connecticut;  and,  what  was  much  the 
same,  into  those  who  favored  the  pretensions  of  the  eastern  fort, 
and  those  who  deemed  the  western  the  better  place  of  defence. 
Of  course,  local  pride  and  security  entered,  as  elements,  into  the 
dissension.  Jan.  11,  1757,  twenty-one  of  the  householders  pre- 
sented to  the  Legislature  at  Boston,  through  a  device  which  they 
themselves  explain,  a  petition  for  the  redress  of  their  grievances, 
as  follows :  — 


To  His  Honour  Spencer  Phipps  Esq  Lieut  Grovr  &c,  The  Honourable  His  Majesty's 
Council,  and  the  Honble  House  of  Representatives  in  Gen.  Court  Convened 
at  Boston 

Petition  of  a  number  of  the  Proprietors  of  West  Hoosuck  in  behalf  of 
ourselves  and  divers  others  of  the  Proprietors  of  West  Hoosuck  Humbly 
Sheweth : 

That  your  Honours  Petitioners  Have  Built  a  Sufficient  Block-house  in  said 
township  agreeable  to  the  orders  of  the  Government  which  will  be  of  Special 


414  ORIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Service  in  order  to  bring  forward  a  Settlement  in  said  place  if  we  can  but  Sup- 
port our  Hold  which  we  trust  we  Could  Well  Do,  Had  we  but  a  little  more 
Strength  and  a  Sufficient  Quantity  of  Stores  within  our  walls.  But  since  we 
are  allowed  but  Ten  men  and  all  our  stores  to  fitch  from  fort  massachusetts  or 
to  subsist  our  Selves  without  any  allowance  from  the  Government  the  matter  is 
somewhat  Precarious  —  for  during  the  Perilous  Season  the  Sumer  Past  we  with 
our  teams  was  under  a  Necessity  of  taking  one  Part  of  them  and  to  turn  out 
and  go  to  fort  massachusetts  once  in  14  days  for  our  Subsistence  —  Nor  could  we 
prevail  with  Capt  Wyman  to  Let  us  Have  any  more  than  14  Days  allowance 
at  a  time  and  then  stay  until  that  was  allmost  gon  before  He  would  Let  us 
Have  any  more  —  so  that  many  times  we  had  Had  not  a  Days  allowance  in  the 
fort  at  a  time  when  we  had  Reason  to  think  we  should  be  attacked  by  the  Enemy 
Daly  by  the  frequent  discoveries  we  made  of  them. — We  have  made  applica- 
tion to  Major  Williams  as  we  under  Stood  He  was  ordered  by  the  Government 
to  Subsist  us,  &  likewise  to  Col  Israel  Williams  and  to  the  Comassary  General, 
But  all  to  no  purpose  as  we  apprehend,  for  the  Last  Stores  we  went  for  we 
Could  not  Get  but  14  Days  allowance,  and  a  Number  of  us  Have  not  Had  any 
bread  for  three  weeks  past,  only  what  we  are  forced  to  Provide  for  our  Selves. 
Your  Poor  Petitioners  Humbly  Prays  that  your  Honours  in  your  great  Wisdom 
&  goodness  would  Consider  our  Distrest  Circumstances,  and  if  your  Honrs  in 
great  wisdom  can  See  fitt  we  Pray  that  we  may  be  allowed  twenty  more  men  to 
be  added  to  our  Number,  as  we  are  the  most  remoat  and  most  Exposed  of  any 
Place  in  the  Government,  and  that  we  yr  Honrs  Petitioners  that  are  not  already 
in  the  pay  and  Subsistence  of  the  government  may  be  some  of  those  that  may 
be  put  in,  and  that  we  may  be  allowed  the  Liberty  of  Subsisting  our  Selves  and 
be  allowed  therefor  the  Same  Consideration  that  is  allowed  the  Comasary  for 
Hoosuck,  for  as  there  is  a  number  of  us  Have  our  familys  Hear  we  must  Provide 
for  them,  and  with  a  little  more  expense  we  could  Subsist  our  Selves  also,  and 
could  we  but  obtain  leave  therefor  it  woold  Be  a  great  Incouragement  Settlers  to 
come  for  it  would  Provide  a  sufficient  Store  of  Provision  in  the  Winter  Season, 
so  that  we  might  not  be  layed  under  any  obligation  of  turning  out  in  the  Perilous 
Season  —  furthermore  our  allowance  is  but  Small  and  not  Sufficient  to  live  on, 
for  we  receive  but  five  lbs  and  a  half  of  flour  for  Seven  Days  allowance  of  Bread 
and  six  pounds  and  2  ounces  of  pork  pr  week  and  six  gills  of  rum  for  Seven  days 
and  half  a  pint  of  pease  pr  Day  wine  measure,  which  is  the  Whole  that  we  get 
as  allowance,  and  if  any  man  is  gon  from  the  fort  on  what  ocasion  So  Ever  He 
Hires  His  Duty  Done  and  looses  His  Subsistance,  for  notwithstanding  a  mans 
Doing  His  Duty  Capt  Wyman  stops  all  his  allowance  so  many  Days  as  He  is 
absent,  and  we  By  no  means  might  be  allowed  to  make  Known  our  Circumstances 
to  the  Honourable  Court  but  our  officers  Wholy  refused  us  that  Liberty,  but 
now  at  Last  we  have  obtained  a  furlofe  [furlough]  for  one  man,  he  not  knowing 
our  Design,  but  notwithstanding  his  furlo  He  must  Hire  his  Duty  Don  at  the 
fort  and  Loose  His  Subsistance.  We  furthermore  Pray  that  we  might  Have  an 
officer  amongst  our  Selves  one  that  would  Do  us  Justice  and  lett  us  Have  what  is 
allowed  by  the  government  and  not  put  it  in  to  his  own  pocket,  thus  your  Honrs 
petitioners  Humbly  beg  that  your  Honours  would  do  for  us  as  in  your  great 
wisdom  &  goodness  you  see  Best,  and  your  petitioners  as  in  Duty  bound  shall 
ever  pray  — 


WEST   HOOSAC. 


415 


N  B    All  the  assertions  in  the  Bove  written  Petition  Can  and  may  be  proved 
by  able  witness  at  the  Desire  or  by  order  of  the  Honrble  Court  — 


Samuel  Kellogg 
Nehemiaii  Smedly 
Jonathan  Kilborn 
Solomon  Buell 
Setii  Kent 

ElISIIA    HlGGINS 

JosiAH  Dean  Jb 
Elnatiian  a  sum  in 
Noah  Pratt 
Jabez  Warrin 
Jesse  Sawyer 


Seth  Hudson 
William  Horsford 
Isaac  Vanarenem 
JosiAii  Horsford 
John  Horsford 
Isaac  Searl 
Tybas  Pratt 
Gideon  Warrin 
William  Chidesteb  Junk 
Archelaus  Temple 


Fully  one-half  of  these  signatures  are  names  new  to  the  record 
up  to  this  time.  This  proves  that  a  considerable  number  of  new 
settlers  came  in  during  1756,  and  these  mostly  from  Connecticut, 
notwithstanding  the  lack  of  all  military  successes  to  the  westward 
that  year.  The  next  year,  1757,  was  destined  to  witness  horrible 
military  disasters  at  Lake  George,  which  are  only  indirectly  con- 
nected with  our  story.  The  Legislature  received  rather  coolly  the 
West  Hoosac  petition  but  just  now  quoted,  as  is  shown  by  their 
nTwwt'v  to  it,  as  follows  :  — 

In  House  Reps  Jan'y  11,  1757  — 

Head  and  Ordered,  that  Mr.  Lyman  and  Capt  Richardson  with  such  as  the 
Honble  Board  shall  join  be  a  Committee  to  consider  this  Petition,  to  repair  to 
Hoosuck  lo  examine  ye  state  of  ye  forts  there,  and  consider  whether  it  be  most 
expedient  to  Repair  Fort  Massachusetts  &  to  Keep  a  Garrison  there  and  at  the 
Block-house,  or  to  build  anew  elsewhere,  &  that  the  Comtee  inquire  into  the 
Facts  alleged  in  the  Petition  &  hear  ye  parties,  and  are  hereby  impowered  to 
take  Evidences  relative  thereto  on  oath,  and  report. 

Also  Voted,  That  the  Ten  men  stationed  at  West  Hoosuck,  as  within  men- 
tioned, be  allowed  to  Billet  themselves  at  ye  charge  of  the  Province  until  the 
further  order  of  this  Court,  provided  they  do  not  charge  more  than  five  shillings 
and  four  pence  pr  week  for  each  man. 

Sent  up  for  Concurrence 

T.  Hubbard  Spkr 
In  Council  11  Jany  1757. 
Read  &  Concurred  &  James  Minot  Esq  is  joined  in  the  affair. 

A.  Oliver,  Secy 
Consented  to  S.  Phipps  — 

For  some  unexplained  reason,  though  it  is  easy  enough  to  guess  at 
it,  the  committee  thus  appointed  failed  to  act  in  the  premises,  where- 
upon Seth  Hudson,  in  behalf  of  the  petitioners,  presented  the  fol- 
lowing on  April  22  :  — 


416  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Province  of  the  )  To  the  Honble  his  majesty's  Council  and  the  Honble  House 
Massachusetts  Bay  S  ot  Representatives. 

The  Petition  of  Seth  Hudson,  Humbly  Sheweth 

Whereas  Josiah  Horsford,  and  others,  Proprietors  and  Inhabitants  of  West 
Hoosuck,  on  the  8th  day  of  Jany  last  presented  a  memorial  and  Petition  to  this 
Honble  Court,  representing  their  grievances,  and  praying  relief,  and  the  Court 
was  pleased,  on  the  11th  of  Jany,  to  grant  us  the  liberty  of  Billeting  ourselves, 
and  also  to  appoint  a  Committee  to  repair  to  West  Hoosuck,  and  examine  the 
truth  of  our  Complaint,  but  it  hath  so  happened  that  the  Committee  hath  not 
yet  been  there  — 

Your  Petitioner  humbly  prays  ;  That  the  Committee  appointed,  or  any  other 
Committee,  be  directed  to  repair  to  West  Hoosuck,  and  view  our  situation  and 
circumstances,  which  when  justly  represented  to  your  honours,  will  we  doubt 
not,  meet  with  due  encouragement,  as  it  is  the  most  exposed  of  any  upon  the 
western  Frontiers,  and  the  properest  place  to  make  a  stand  against  the  Enemy  — 
Your  Petitioner  as  in  duty  bound  shall  pray  &c 

Seth  Hudson 
Commanding  Officer  at  West  Hoosuck 
Boston  22d  April  1757 

In  Council  April  25,  1757 
Read  and  ordered  that  Timothy  Woodbridge  Esq,  of  Stockbridge  with  such  as 
the  Honble  House  shall  joyn  be  a  Comtee  to  take  the  Petition  above  referred  to 
into  Consideration,  Repair  to  Hoosuck  to  Examine  the  state  of  the  Forts  there, 
and  Consider  whether  it  be  most  Expedient  to  Repair  Port  Massachusetts,  to 
keep  a  Garrison  there  and  at  the  Block-house,  or  to  build  Elsewhere  ;  That  the 
sd  Comtee  inquire  into  the  Pacts  alledg'd,  hear  the  Parties,  and  they  are  hereby 
Impowered  to  take  Evidence  relative  thereto  on  oath, 

Sent  down  for  Concurrence 

A.  Oliver  Secy 
In  the  House  of  Reps  April  25,  1757 

Read  and  Concurred,  and  Coll.  Morey  &  Capt.  Livermore  are  Joined  in  the 
^^^^^  T.  Hubbard  S'k'r 

The  new  legislative  committee  displayed  the  alacrity  becoming  to 
all  the  circumstances.  AYoodbridge,  the  chairman,  had  himself  been 
a  frontiersman  for  many  years  at  Stockbridge,  and  knew  how  to  con- 
strue the  feelings  and  needs  of  the  West  Hoosac  men.  Woodbridge 
and  his  two  associates  at  once  "  repaired  "  to  the  western  frontier,  and 
examined  full}^  into  the  state  of  affairs  there,  studied  the  lay  of  the 
land  in  the  whole  region,  talked  with  all  parties  and  heard  their 
complaints,  and  in  little  more  than  a  month  presented  a  full  report 
to  the  General  Court  at  Boston.  In  its  general  tenor,  it  was  much 
more  favorable  to  the  West  Hoosac  settlers  and  their  claims  than 
anything  before  officially  exhibited  in  their  behalf.  The  court,  how- 
ever, took  no  action  upon  it  for  more  than  six  months.     Other  mat- 


WEST   HOOSAC.  417 

ters  were  more  pressing.  Montcalm's  capture  of  Fort  William 
Henry  at  Lake  George  on  August  9,  and  the  massacre  of  large  num- 
bers of  the  garrison  the  next  day,  though  prisoners  of  war,  by 
Indians  infuriated  by  rum  and  revenge,  kept  the  thoughts  of  Massa- 
chusetts busy  elsewhere  for  that  summer  and  autumn. 

The  following  deposition  of  the  two  Warren  brothers  explains 
itself,  and  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  some  of  the  privations  and  hard- 
ships and  hazards  incident  to  the  settlement  of  West  Hoosac. 

The  deposition  of  Jabez  and  Gideon  Warren  of  full  and  lawful!  age  propri- 
etors and  settlers  in  the  Township  of  West  Hoosac.  Testifie  and  say  that  in  the 
Latter  end  of  Aug*  1754  when  the  Enemy  fell  upon  and  Destroyed  what  is  called 
the  Dutch  Iloosuck.  The  Inhabitants  of  West  Hoosuck  Fled  for  shelter  to  the 
Fort  Massachusetts  when  the  said  Inhabitants  arrived  at  said  fort  with  their 
families  they  found  many  of  the  Dutch  who  had  Escaped  the  Enemy  and  fled 
there  also.  Which  so  cumbered  the  fort  that  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  we 
subsisted. 

But  hearing  that  Capt.  Ephraim  Williams  was  Coming  to  the  fort  with  orders 
to  relieve  the  Inhabitants  of  West  Hoosuck  we  patiently  waited  his  arrival. 
But  when  he  came  he  refused  to  give  us  any  relief  saying  he  had  orders  from 
Co'i  Williams  [Col.  Israel  of  Hatfield]  not  to  take  any  of  the  Town  Inhabitants 
into  the  service  only  Hudson  Simonds  and  Meacham  and  not  to  take  Hudson  nor 
Simonds  unless  they  would  carry  of  [off]  their  families.  The  distressed  pro- 
prietors earnestly  intreated  that  they  might  be  favored  and  put  into  the  service 
alledging  that  they  could  reasonably  expect  the  favour  of  the  Goverment  for 
they  had  spent  all  they  had  to  Carry  on  a  Settlement.  Capt  Curtis  Mr.  Chides- 
ter  and  others  desired  favour  might  be  showed  under  our  miserable  Circum- 
.stances  but  was  denied  and  ordered  away  with  our  families  tho  we  desired  the 
Liberty  of  building  without  the  fort  yet  could  not  obtain  the  request  altho  many 
from  the  duch  had  it  granted  them  and  even  allowed  to  live  in  the  fort  and  in 
the  very  room  where  the  Government  stores  were  kept,  and  others  was  allowed 
to  come  to  fort  with  their  families  soon  afterward  and  altho  the  fort  was  not  at 
that  time  supplied  with  its  quoto  of  men  yet  the  distressed  proprietors  could  not 
be  put  into  service  when  those  who  were  no  proprietors  nor  under  such  needy 
Circumstances  were  admitted  and  even  one  from  another  Government.  Further 
your  deponents  say  not.-  ^^.^^^^^    Jxbez  Worbin. 

GlDEOX    WORRIN. 

March  30  1757  the  above  was  solemnly  sworn  to  before  Tim^  Woodbridge 
Justice  Peace. 

On  the  same  day,  and  at  the  same  place,  one  of  the  above,  namely, 
Jabez  Warren,  together  with  William  Horsford,  took  "  solemn  oath  " 
to  the  following. 

The  testimony  of  Jabez  Warren  and  William  Horsford  of  Hoosuck  West 
Township  of  full  and  lawfull  age  who  Testifie  and  say  that  in  April  1756  when 
Serg*  William  Chidester  came  from  Boston  with  orders  to  take  the  Command  of 


418  ORIGINS   IN    WILLI AMSTOWN. 

the  fort  west  Hoosuck  and  for  the  Commissary  for  fort  Massachusetts  to  supply- 
said  West  fort  with  proper  stores  said  Commissary  directed  Mr.  Chidester  to 
receive  the  same  of  Capt.  Wyman  at  Fort  Massachusetts.  But  we  never  have 
been  able  from  that  time  to  this  to  obtain  more  than  fourteen  days  pr  man 
allowied  at  a  time  Except  twice  we  have  been  allowed  one  months  provision  for 
said  fort,  at  all  other  times  out  of  the  few  men  we  have  we  have  been  obliged 
to  travil  four  miles  once  every  fortnight  at  the  peril  of  our  lives  to  fetch  our  pro- 
visions which  keeps  us  in  perpetual  danger  and  difficulty.  And  that  the  said 
Capt.  Wyman  has  constantly  kept  back  every  mans  allowance  when  absent  altho 
the  absent  Soldier  hires  his  duty  done.  And  after  Serg'  Chidester  was  killed  the 
soldiers  of  said  West  fort  being  apprehensive  from  many  reasons  they  should  be 
ill  used  begged  the  favour  of  Lieut  Barnard  (who  commanded  at  said  fort)  that 
they  might  lay  the  state  of  their  Case  before  the  Great  and  General  Court  and 
be  directed  by  them  but  our  request  was  perremtory  refused  and  none  of  the 
soldiers  could  have  Liberty  to  leave  the  fort  but  upon  a  promise  that  they  would 
go  no  further  than  Hatfield. 

And  when  the  Government  orders  came  for  the  Soldiers  to  billet  themselves 
there  was  not  stores  in  said  fort  for  each  mans  allowance  one  week.  Further 
one  of  the  deponents  says  (viz)  Jabez  Warren  that  met  with  many  discourage- 
ments in  building  said  fort  for  the  guard  that  was  sent  by  Capt.  Wyman  would 
guard  none  but  while  the  peopje  were  at  labour  at  the  fort  and  refused  to  do  any 
other  duty  and  would  not  put  a  hand  to  help  up  with  a  stick  of  timber  tho 
we  were  few  and  our  timber  heavy  and  declared  that  to  be  their  orders  not 
to  help  us  altho  we  offered  them  pay  and  sometimes  the  Guard  left  us  entirely 
when  greatly  exposed.  Further  your  deponents  saith  not.  Stockbridge  March 
30'^  1757.     [Not  like  the  preceding  in  Timothy  Woodbridge's  own  hand.] 

In  the  meantime,  even  before  the  committee  reported  in  June, 
Seth  Hudson,  feeling  his  responsibility  as  the  commanding  officer  at 
the  fort,  sent  down  a  petition  that  some  artillery  might  be  allowed 
there,  and  also  some  services  of  a  chaplain.  One  distinction  of  Seth 
Hudson  is,  that  he  was  by  several  years  the  last  survivor  of  those 
original  property-holders  at  West  Hoosac ;  interest  attaches  to  him 
on  many  grounds ;  and  we  can  perhaps  gain  a  glimpse  of  some  of 
his  personal  qualities  from  the  words  and  arrangement  of  this 
petition. 

Province  of  the  > 

Mass  Bav       \    "^^  ^^®  Honble  his  Majesty's  Council 

The  petition  of  Seth  Hudson  of  West  Hoosuck,  in  behalf  of  the  Inhabitants 
there  —  Humbly  Sheweth  : 

That  the  Block-house  at  W.  Hoosuck  is,  by  the  continued  labors  of  the  Inhab- 
itants made  very  strong,  and  greatly  improved  by  additional  works,  so  as  to 
be  the  strongest  Fort  on  the  Western  Frontier,  well  situated  for  a  Barrier,  and 
will  probably  save  in  a  short  time,  great  charge  to  the  Government  by  its  being 
in  a  Township  of  the  finest  land  in  the  Province,  which  will  soon  fill  with  People, 
many  of  the  Proprietors  being  in  Connecticut,  and  others  from  that  Colony 
being  desirous  of  settling  there ;  but  we  are  wholly  without  artillery, 


WEST   HOOSAC.  419 

They  therefore  humbly  pray  your  Honours  would  grant  such  a  part  of  the 
artillery  from  Fort  Massachusetts,  with  Powder,  Shott,  &  Shells,  with  other 
necessarys,  as  may  be  suitable  for  defending  the  Block-house.  And  if  a  Chap- 
lain should  be  appointed  this  summer  for  Fort  Mass.  we  beg  we  may  likewise 
have  the  privilege  of  his  preaching  with  ils,  a  favour  we  have  not  hitherto 
enjoyed,  tho  but  four  miles  distant  from  Fort  Massachusetts. 

Your  Petitioner  as  in  Duty  bound,  shall  ever  Pray  &c 

Seth  Hudson 
Commanding  Officer  of  West  Hoosuck 
Presented.     May  1757 
The' artillery  in  Fort  Massa  are 
3 — i  Pounders 
1— field  piece 
2 — Swivels 
2 — Cohorn  mortars  — 

In  official  reply  to  this  request,  one  of  the  three  four-poundets, 
and  the  two  swivels,  named  in  the  above  memorandum,  were  sent 
over  to  the  blockhouse.  The  following  is  the  prompt  report  of 
the  Woodbridge  committee,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  West  Hoosac 
matters :  — 

The  Comtee  appointed  to  repair  to  Hoo.suck  to  examine  the  state  of  the  forts 
there  and  to  consider  the  complaints  contained  in  a  petition  Exhibited  by  Sundry 
persons  of  West  Hoosuck, 

Are  of  the  opinion  that  the  fort  Called  the  Massachusetts  being  placed  and 
built  where  it  is  was  owing  to  the  want  of  a  better  acquaintance  of  the  state, 
Situation  and  Circumstances  of  that  part  of  the  province. 

The  Comtee  Humbly  conceive  that  the  great  ends  and  designs  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  being  at  the  Expense  of  fortifying  and  maintaining  a  garrison  there 
was  to  promote  and  bring  forward  settlements  in  that  expos'd  &  unsettled  part 
of  the  province,  and  to  be  a  protection  to  such  as  would  bring  forward  Settle- 
ments, and  in  some  measure  a  defence  to  the  Settlements  below,  bj'  diverting 
discovouring  annoying  &  giving  intelligence  of  the  approach  of  the  Enemy. 
And  if  those  things  were  the  purjDose  of  the  Government  the  Comtee  are  of 
opinion  that  the  said  fort  is  not  so  Suitably  and  conveniently  situated  to  answer 
those  Ends  as  might  be  in  some  other  place.  For  by  the  best  information  it 
appears  that  the  enemies  chief  gangway  to  the  western  frontiers  is  about  the 
west  part  of  the  west  Township.  The  Comtee  upon  a  carefull  Examination  of 
tlie  Condition  of  the  said  fort  find  it  much  decayed,  but  still  in  such  condition  as 
may  answer  for  a  while  the  purpo.ses  of  a  garrison  without  cost  to  repair  it 

The  Comtee  upon  a  view  of  the  Fort  or  block-house  Erected  in  the  west 
Township  find  it  a  place  of  considerable  strength  and  tolerable  situation,  and 
with  some  additional  building  and  properly  man'd  it  would  be  in  a  condition  of 
•  being  maintained  against  a  considerable  force.  And  altho  the  fortress  is  not 
built  on  the  Square  yet  it  is  so  near  that  it  will  accommodate  the  Settlers  almost 
as  well,  and  with  the  addition  of  Barracks  or  Stockades  from  the  block-house 
to  the  TOP  OK  TtiK  fM  >  .  ^••of•T  aix ..  v  Roix.  wjtli  a  mouut  at  ye  oiul  of  tlie  said 


420  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Barracks  or  Stockades  on  said  hill,  the  whole  will  be  as  well  situated  for 
defence  as  any  place  the  Comtee  could  discover. 

The  Comtee  having  Examined  into  the  grounds  of  the  Complaints  in  the  said 
petition  committed  to  their  Consideration  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  complaints 
Exhibited  in  Said  petition  are  well  supported  Excepting  the  charge  of  the  Sub- 
sistence being  withheld  on  all  occasions  when  any  soldier  is  absent  from  the  fort. 
For  it  appeared  to  the  Comtee  that  when  any  soldier  is  sent  on  an  express  his 
Subsistence  is  not  withheld.  The  Comtee  are  also  of  opinion  that  the  adding  of 
twenty  more  men  to  the  ten  at  the  block-house  or  fort  in  the  west  Township 
would  be  of  public  service,  as  well  as  very  beneficial  to  the  settlers. 
All  which  is  Humbly  submitted 

TiMO   WOODBRIDGE 

Samuel  Livermore 
Stockbridge  June  10.  1757  ^^^^^  ^^^^^ 

In  the  House  of  Rep's  January  10.  1758 
Read,  and  Voted,  That  this  report  be  accepted  so  far  as  it  relates  to  Fort 
Massachusetts  and  the  block-house  at  West  Hoosuck 

Sent  up  for  concurrence 

T.  Hubbard  Spkr 
In  Council  Jany  10.  1758 

Read  and  Concurred 

A.  Oliver  Secy 

That  part  of  the  Wooclbridge  committee's  report  which  related  to 
the  conduct  of  Captain  Wyman  in  his  capacity  as  commander  at 
Fort  Massachusetts,  to  Major  Elijah  Williams  as  commissary  at  the 
West,  and  to  Colonel  Israel  Williams  as  commander  of  the  o.ntire 
western  department,  together  with  the  copious  memorials  of  each 
of  these  officers  in  the  premises,  was  referred  to  a  new  committee 
to  make  further  and  more  thorough  examinations.  A  large  mass  of 
testimony  was  taken,  including  numerous  depositions,  in  behalf  of,, 
and  in  opposition  to,  the  complaints  of  the  petitioners,  which  papers, 
in  confusing  abundance,  are  now  in  the  secretary's  office  at  Bos- 
ton. Captain  Wyman,  on  the  whole,  came  out  of  the  investigation 
unscathed. 

In  connection  with  the  above  action  of  the  General  Court,  it  was 
also  voted  there,  — 

Whereas  the  House  are  informed  that  there  is  a  large  Quantity  of  Provisions 
provided  by  private  persons,  and  now  deposited  at  the  Block  House  at  West 
Hoosuck  which  may  be  had  for  the  Province  use  for  billeting  the  Ninety  men 
which  by  this  court  are  destined  for  that  place,  which,  if  procured,  will  prevent 
a  great  Charge  and  Hazard  to  the  Province  in  the  transporting  Provisions  in 
this  time  of  danger ;  therefore  the  Commissary-General  be  directed  to  contract 
with  the  proper  owners  for  said  Provisions,  provided  the  cost  shall  not  exceed 
five  shillings  and  four  pence  for  each  man  per  week  which  is  what  the  Inhab- 
itants at  that  Block  House  have  agreed  to  billet  themselves  for. 


WEST   HOOSAC.  421 

The  reference  in  the  foregoing  vote  to  the  "large  quantity  of 
provisions  provided  by  private  persons,  and  now  deposited  at  the 
Block  House  at  West  Hoosac,"  is  proof  at  once  of  the  remarkable 
original  fertility  of  the  lands  there,  and  of  the  industry  of  the  com- 
paratively few  landholders  there  in  clearing  up  and  subduing  their 
lots,  all  covered  with  heavy  growths  of  timber,  and  of  their  courage 
also  in  holding  their  ground  in  war-time  under  the  general  protec- 
tion of  the  two  forts,  and  accomplishing  so  much  with  many  inter- 
ruptions in  six  years'  time. 

The  military  campaign  of  1758,  to  the  northward,  participated 
in  by  a  number  of  the  settlers  and  soldiers  at  AVest  Hoosac,  and 
watched  with  deep  anxiety  by  the  rest,  was  hardly,  if  at  all,  less 
discouraging  to  them  than  that  of  the  preceding  year.  ^lontcalm 
gained  a  complete  victory  over  Abercroiiibie  at  Ticonderoga,  July  8, 
in  whicli  Lord  Howe,  a  great  favorite  in  New  England,  to  whose 
memory  Massachusetts  erected  a  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
was  killed,  when,  as  Major  Mante  says,  "the  soul  of  the  army 
seemed  to  expire  " ;  but  the  appointment  of  Jeffrey  Amherst  as  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  the  English  forces  in  America,  on  September  30, 
two  months  after  his  reduction  of  the  Fortress  of  Louisburg,  gave 
a  kind  of  presage  that  the  tide  of  success  was  about  to  turn.  Turn 
it  did  in  the  next  campaign.  The  pivotal  year  in  the  history  of 
America  in  the  eighteenth  century  was  1759.  The  surrender  of 
Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga  to  Amherst  in  person,  and  of  Quebec 
to  the  army  of  Wolfe,  September  13,  ended  the  dream  of  French 
ambition  in  America,  gave  quiet  and  content  to  every  English  garri- 
son and  settlement  on  this  continent,  and  opened  up  to  peaceful 
immigration  from  the  older  colonies  vast  stretches  of  fertile  lands 
both  north  and  south. 

From  the  moment  that  the  military  temper  and  resources  of 
General  Jeffrey  Amherst  were  understood  in  New  England,  let  us 
say  from  Sept.  30,  1758,  the  individual  importance  of  the  two  forts 
on  the  Hoosac  began  steadily  to  decline,  and  of  course  also  the 
bitterness  and  bickerings  between  them.  It  is  pleasant  to  note, 
that  the  last  official  request  of  the  commander  of  the  West  Hoosac 
Fort  was,  that  his  garrison  and  neighbors  might  share  in  the  priv- 
ilege of  hearing  the  preaching  of  the  chaplain  at  the  older  fort 
a  part  of  the  time.  Since  the  captivity  of  Chaplain  Norton  in  1746, 
such  an  official  had  rarely  visited  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  only  one 
entr^'  has  been  found  of  a  money  payment  made  to  a  chaplain  there ; 
during  the  season  of  1757,  the  subject  of  a  resident  chaplain  there 
was  a  good  deal  agitated,  both  locally  and  at  Boston;  and  very  early 


422  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

in  1758,  Eev.  Stephen  West  (Yale  College,  1755)  went  there  to 
reside,  and  stayed  till  November,  when  he  was  introduced  to  the 
church  in  Stockbridge,  where  he  continued  their  pastor  for  sixty 
years.  It  is  altogether  probable,  although  the  fact  is  not  of  record, 
that  he  preached  occasionally,  during  that  year  of  1758,  in  the  block- 
house, as  Seth  Hudson  had  requested. 

Nobody  in  New  England  failed  to  appreciate  the  battle  of 
Quebec,  Sept.  13,  1759.  Captain  Wyman  kept  up  the  show  of 
authority,  and  of  garrison  life  at  the  eastern  fort,  for  some  time 
longer.  He  is  known  to  have  lived  in  the  house  within  the  pickets, 
and  to  have  cultivated  the  land  reserved  for  the  use  of  the  fort. 
There  had  been  no  proprietors'  meeting  called  or  held  at  West 
Hoosac  for  six  years  and  six  months,  when  Wyman  was  requested 
to  call  one  Sept.  17,  1760,  as  still  being  nominally  proprietors'  clerk 
there.  It  is  noticeable  that  he  dated  this  call  "East  Hoosuck," 
and  not  any  longer  "Fort  Massachusetts";  and  the  proprietors 
were  summoned  to  meet  "  at  West  Hoosuck  Eort."  By  this  time, 
things  were  reversing  themselves  a  little,  along  the  river.  Wyman 
could  have  had  no  heart  in  this  meeting  which  he  perfunctorily 
called  and  attended.  He  kad  not  relished  the  charges  so  persis- 
tently made  against  him  in  his  military  capacity  by  his  co-propri- 
etors in  civil  life.  He  had  indeed  been  exonerated  for  the  most 
part  of  the  charges  preferred;  but  his  personal  interest  in  the  little 
western  hamlet  had  sensibly  declined.  He  kept  the  record  as  clerk 
for  the  last  time  at  this  meeting  of  the  proprietors  in  the  fall  of 
1760,  "at  West  Hoosuck  Fort.'^  William  Horsford  was  then  chosen 
clerk  in  his  place ;  and  we  read  in  the  Eegistry  of  Deeds,  that 
"Isaac  Wyman,  Gentleman  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  sold  to  Benj. 
Kellogg  of  Canaan,  Connecticut,  for  £140"  all  his  lands  in 
West  Hoosac  including  his  fine  house  lot  No.  2,  "November  13, 
1761."  Shortly  after  this,  Isaac  Wyman,  who  had  played  a  large 
part  here,  disappears  from  the  Hoosac  records  altogether.  He 
comes  into  sight  again  for  a  little  as  a  settler,  in  what  is  now  Keene, 
New  Hampshire,  and  on  the  organization  of  the  1st  New  Hamp- 
shire regiment  in  1775,  John  Stark,  Colonel,  appears  for  the  last 
time  the  name  of  "  Isaac  Wyman,  Lt.  Colonel." 

A  few  of  the  otherwise  homeless  soldiers  continued  to  linger 
around  the  old  fort  for  some  years.  In  1762,  the  General  Court 
sold  at  auction  the  entire  township  of  East  Hoosac,  and  Colonel 
Elisha  Jones,  of  Weston,  became  one  of  the  four  proprietors,  by  an 
arrangement  with  Nathan  Jones,  who  had  bidden  off  the  property 
in  June  for  £3200.     Weston  was  one  of  the  seats  of  the  Williams 


WEST   HOOSAC.  423 

family,  Rev.  William  Williams  having  been  a  minister  there  from 
1709  till  1760.  The  Jones  family  were,  doubtless,  drawn  towards 
East  Hoosac  by  their  relations  with  the  Williams  family.  Ephraim 
Williams,  the  founder,  was,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  first  land- 
holder in  the  east  township  by  grant  of  the  General  Court  in  1750. 
The  ten  acres  reserved  out  of  his  200  acres  enclosed  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts. Colonel  William  Williams,  the  father  of  Pittsfield,  and 
Mr.  Nathaniel  Williams,  almost  equally  the  father  of  Lanesboro, 
were  both  sons  of  the  Weston  minister;  and  Israel  Jones,  son  of 
Colonel  Elisha  Jones,  of  Weston,  after  a  short  residence  in  Pitts- 
field,  became  the  proprietor,  in  1766,  of  the  farm,  of  which  the  main 
part  was  the  broad  and  fertile  meadow  around  Fort  Massachusetts. 
By  that  time,  the  wooden  fort  had  fallen  into  utter  decay,  and  the 
exterior  pickets  had  mostly  rotted  otf  at  the  ground,  and  Farmer 
Israel  Jones  began  to  plough  over  and  around  the  rude  lines,  which 
process  he  kept  up  at  intervals  till  his  death  in  1829.  Clement 
Harrison,  then  of  Williamstown,  bought  the  farm  of  the  Jones 
heirs,  and  continued  to  cultivate  the  meadow,  and  to  plough  down 
the  little  terrace,  till  few  indications  of  the  site  of  the  old  fort  were 
left,  but  the  print  of  a  small  cellar  and  some  horse-radish  that  had 
been  planted  by  the  soldiers.  In  1852,  Mr.  Harrison  gave  permis- 
sion to  the  present  writer  to  remove  to  the  College  the  only  remain- 
ing headstone  from  the  little  burying-ground  of  the  fort,  which  had 
long  been  ploughed  over,  and  the  stone  (lying  on  the  ground)  was 
in  danger  of  becoming  illegible.  In  1858,  the  two  men  critically 
examined  the  ground  together,  with  reference  to  the  planting  of  an 
elm  tree  to  mark  the  exact  site  of  the  fort.  Mr.  Harrison  was  con- 
fident that  he  could  indicate  very  nearly  what  had  been  the  centre 
of  the  parade;  when  the  hole  was  dug  to  receive  the  tree,  many 
bits  of  brick,  and  other  fragments,  were  thrown  out.  A  small  party 
of  college  students  assisted  the  writer  to  plant  the  tree,  which,  how- 
ever, did  not  survive  the  following  winter;  with  his  own  hands,  in 
the  spring  of  1859,  the  writer  set  the  elm  which  is  now  growing  on 
the  spot,  and  is  represented  by  the  accompanying  cut  as  it  was 
in  1888. 

The  decadence  and  final  disappearance  of  West  Hoosac  Fort  was 
similar  in  its  course  to  that  of  the  other.  Besides  the  blockhouse, 
there  were  two  other  houses  within  the  pickets,  all  standing  on  the 
front  of  lots  6  and  8,  the  blockhouse  being  on  the  eastern  line  of 
the  third  house  lot  (6)  west  of  North  Street,  and  the  two  other 
houses  still  further  west,  on  the  declivity  towards  Hemlock  Brook. 
The  picket  line  was  twenty-eight  rods  along  the  Main  Street.      How 


424 


ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 


far  the  picket  lines  extended  northward,  and  consequently  how  much 
land  was  enclosed  by  them,  there  are  no  present  means  of  determin- 
ing; but  the  position  of  the  blockhouse  and  the  easterly  line  of  pick- 
ets can  be  determined  almost  exactly.  The  writer  has,  this  morning 
(April  25,  1892),  carefully  measured  with  a  rod  pole,  made  for  the 
purpose,  the  front  line  of  house  lot  4, —  fourteen  rods,  —  begin- 
ning at  the  southwest 
boundary  stone  of  the 
Kappa  Alpha  lot, 
which  is  the  front  of 
house  lot  2,  and  to 
the  east  line  of  house 
lot  6,  which  was  the 
east  line  of  the  West 
Hoosac  Fort,  and 
found  the  southeast 
corner  of  Chidester's 
house  lot  exactly  in 
line  with  a  fine,  large 
elm,  standing  on  what 
is  thought  to  be  the 
original  boundary  line 
between  Nos.  4  and 
6.  This  elm  is  eight 
or  ten  rods  north  of 
that  southeast  cor- 
ner of  No.  6.  The 
eastern  line  of  the 
old  blockhouse  was  in 
that  line.  That  elm 
is  likely  to  stand  for  a 
century  longer.  May 
it  become  as  lasting  a. 
mark  as  "Endicott's 
Tree  " !  A  magnificent 
house  in  Massachusetts  colonial  style  has  recently  been  built  on. 
the  front  of  house  lot  4,  by  H.  T.  Procter. 

As  the  war-clouds  gradually  dispersed  after  the  battle  of  Quebec, 
families  continued  to  live  in  the  houses  within  the  pickets  at  West 
Hoosac,  and  particularly  the  family  of  Silas  Pratt,  originally  of 
Worcester,  and  long  a  soldier  at  Port  Massachusetts,  and  afterwards 
one  of  the  garrison  at  the  west  fort  so  long  as  it  was  used  and  desig- 


PERRY'S    ELM. 

Planted  in  1859. 


WEST    HOOSAC.  425 

nated  as  such.  His  son  William  was  born  within  the  fort  in  1760. 
The  following  is  the  epitaph  in  the  "Lovat  burying-ground,"  just 
over  the  line,  in  Pownal :  — 

In  memory  of 

William  Pratt 

the  first  white  male  child  born  in 

WiLLIAMSTOWX  MaSS.    WHO    DIED   JaN.    16, 

1846,    IN    THE    86'"    YEAR    OF    HIS    AGE.       He    WAS    A 

MEMBER   OF   THE    MeTHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ChURCH   43 

YEARS  ;    HE    WAS    A    REVOLUTIONARY    PATRIOT  ; 

HE    ENLISTED    IN    1777,    AND   SERVED   THREE    YEARS. 

This  William  Pratt  was  a  drummer  in  the  Revolution,  and  saw 
the  execution  of  Major  Andre,  Oct.  2, 1780.  He  had  a  stiff  arm  and 
could  not  well  handle  a  musket.  He  had  an  early  pension  from  the 
United  States,  and  was  always  fond  of  telling  stories  of  what  he  had 
seen  in  the  service.  He  lived  all  his  life  on  the  northern  slope  of 
Northwest  Hill,  on  what  was  a  part  of  his  father's  extended  farm, 
which  is  the  first  farm  as  one  goes  over  the  Hill  and  over  the  line 
into  Pownal.  William stown  will  always  be  proud  of  her  first-born 
son,  and  of  his  birthplace  within  the  pickets  of  her  only  fort ;  for  he 
was  a  patriot  in  his  boyhood,  and  served  his  country  three  full 
years  in  the  field  before  he  reached  his  majority,  and  thereafter 
served  his  heavenly  Master  during  a  long  life.  He  left  his  rude 
house  and  small,  rough  lands  to  his  son  William,  who  also  lived  to 
old  age  in  and  upon  them,  and  from  conversations  with  whom  the 
writer  learned  some  of  these  facts.  For  example,  he  said  that  he  had 
often  heard  his  father,  and  his  Uncle  Silas,  also,  give  incidents,  by 
the  hour,  of  their  personal  experiences  in  the  War  of  Independence. 

In  the  same  burial-ground  is  extant  and  legible  the  epitaph  of 
this  Silas  Pratt,  Junior,  as  follows :  — 

In    MEMORY    OF    SiLAS    PrATT, 

WHO  DIED  April  2,  1830,  aged  70  years. 
He  was  an  honest  unpretending  man. 
He  has  gone  where  decay  or  death  may  not  come. 

He,  too,  had  a  United  States  pension  for  revolutionary  services, 
always  lived  near  his  father  on  Northwest  Hill,  and  the  two  were  in 
the  battle  of  Bennington  together.  The  father  used  to  say  that 
in  the  thick  of  the  fighting,  at  the  Tory  breastwork,  "I  waited 
behind  a  staddle  for  the  smoke  to  clear  away,  when  a  bullet  struck 
the  staddle,  and  then  I  let  fly  without  waiting  any  longer ! "  It  will 
be  remembered  that  Pownal  fell  north  of  Hazen^s  Line,  and  conse- 


426  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

queiitly  under  the  jurisdiction  of  New  Hampshire,  which  chartered 
the  township  in  1760,  and  settlements  commenced  from  this  side  in 
1762,  when  there  were  four  or  five  Dutch  families  there  claiming 
under  the  "Hoosac  Patent,"  granted  by  the  state  of  IS'ew  York. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  first  English  families  had  close  rela- 
tions with  Williamstown.  The  town  was  named  after  Governor 
Pownal,  of  Massachusetts.  In  the  Revolution  the  Pownal  men 
often  enlisted  in  Williamstown  companies,  and  served  under  Massa- 
chusetts officers.  Two  of  them  certainly  went  up  the  Kennebec 
with  Arnold.  Charles  Wright,  originally  from  Amherst,  an  enlisted 
man  in  Colonel  Israel  Williams's  regiment  for  the  northward  in 
1759,  who  had  received  a  license  from  the  Province  of  Massa- 
chusetts, a  year  or  two  later,  to  keep  a  tavern  opposite  Port 
Massachusetts,  where  Israel  Jones  afterwards  lived  and  died  (the 
^'Harrison  place"),  moved  his  family  and  his  tavern  down  the  river 
to  Pownal  in  1762,  after  the  migrations  to  Bennington  had  well  com- 
menced. The  Wrights,  Pratts,  Morgans,  Dunhams,  Xobles,  Cards, 
Gardners,  and  Seelyes,  among  the  very  first  settlers  of  Pownal,  were 
almost  equally  at  home  in  Williamstown. 

Williamstown  claims  Silas  Pratt,  the  elder,  as  one  of  her  most 
enterprising  and  persistent  promoters.  He  was  a  blacksmith  by 
trade.  He  owned,  first  and  last,  several  of  our  house  lots,  besides 
making  a  home  for  some  years  in  the  old  fort  on  No.  6 ;  and  he 
seems  to  have  sold  out  his  lands  here  in  time  to  migrate  to  Pownal 
in  1762,  and  to  be  there  among  the  very  first  settlers.  His  nearest 
neighbor  in  Pownal  was  Nehemiah  Williams.  As  early  as  1767, 
certainly,  this  neighbor,  whose  whole  course  in  life  was  much  like 
his  own,  had  bought  a  large  farm  next  east  to  his,  on  the  northern 
declivity  of  the  same  hill,  and  built  his  house  on  the  public  road 
(now  discontinued)  parallel  with  the  western  road  on  which  the 
Pratts  lived.  The  vestiges  of  this  house  are  still  to  be  seen  two 
rods  west  of  a  very  big  rock  by  the  old  roadside.  Here  he  brought 
up  a  family  whose  descendants  are  still  very  numerous  in  the  region 
round  about.  Our  William  Pratt  married  Eosanna  Williams,  who 
saw  from  her  father's  house,  in  1777,  Burgoyne's  men,  as  prisoners 
of  war,  fill  up  with  their  shiny  uniforms  and  equipments  the  road 
on  Pownal  Hill  opposite.  She  lived  to  be  very  old  in  her  husband's 
house  on  the  other  road,  and  used  to  relate  this  incident  of  her  girl- 
hood to  persons  who  lived  to  tell  those  still  living.  A  portion  of 
the  surrendered  army  of  Burgoyne  certainly  filed  down  Pownal  Hill 
that  autumn,  in  plain  sight  of  Nehemiah  Williams's  house. 

Olive  Williams  married  Silas  Pratt,  Junior;  and  Elsie  Williams 


WEST  HOOSAC.  427 

married  John  Smedley,  2d ;  and  Stephen  Williams,  the  eldest  son, 
a  shoemaker,  lived  in  the  corner  west  of  the  present  schoolhouse 
where  the  present  road  turns  north,  and  brought  up  a  family,  of 
which  Electa  married  Amos  Pratt,  and  Nehemiah  married  Sally 
Treadwell.  Van  Rennsalaer  Williams,  a  good  man,  worthy  of  mem- 
ory, son  of  these  last,  died  here  Jan.  15,  1887.  The  tradition  is 
manifold  and  wholly  credible,  that  while  the  first  Kehemiah  Wil- 
liams was  absent  from  home  in  Bennington  Battle,  one  child  lay 
dead  in  the  house,  and  another  dying ;  while  the  -wretched  mother, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Elsie  Gallup,  of  Rhode  Island,  heard 
distinctly  all  day  the  booming  of  the  cannon.  The  blood  of  old 
Silas  Pratt  and  of  old  Nehemiah  Williams  lias  been  greatly  com- 
mingled, and,  perhaps,  somewhat  degenerated,  in  the  many  genera- 
tions since  their  time.  Silas  Pratt,  Junior,  and  Olive  Williams  had, 
among  many  other  children,  Zadoc;  and  Zadoc's  oldest  son  was 
Stephen,  who  married  Margaret  Green,  daughter  of  Frederick 
Green,  a  family  famous  on  '*  the  Gore  "  in  the  olden  time.  Henry 
Green,  of  "  Green  Hollow  "  will  probably  step  upon  our  stage  in  a 
later  act.  Stephen  and  Margaret  were  the  parents  of  "  Steve  "  and 
"  Jerry,"  the  noteworthy  stage-drivers  and  story-tellers  of  our  own 
time.  Stevens  best  may  serve  as  a  sample  of  the  good  things  of 
both :  he  had  driven  to  the  railroad  station  a  not  over-bright  Wil- 
liamstown  boy  and  graduate,  who  was  just  starting  to  go  to  India  as 
a  missionary ;  as  the  train  rolled  off,  "  Steve  "  gravely  informed  the 
bystanders,  "  He  has  gone  to  teach  ignorance  to  the  heathen ! " 

To  come  back  now  to  the  West  Hoosac  Fort,  —  at  least  four  pro- 
prietors' meetings  were  held  within  its  rude  walls  of  hewn  timber 
in  the  years  1760  and  1761.  At  the  first  of  these,  held  Oct.  1,  1760, 
it  was 

Voted  as  f oilers  —  Vizt  —  (1)  Voted  and  Choose  Jabez  Worrin  moderator  for 
s'd  meeting  (2)  Voted  and  Choose  Will»?!  Horsford  proprietors  Clerk  (3)  Voted 
and  Choose  Josiah  Horsford  Treasurer.  (4)  Voted  and  Choose  Benj  p.  Simons 
Gideon  Worrin  and  Seth  Hudson  a  Commite  to  settel  with  the  Colector  and 
Treasurer  (5)  Voted  to  Clear  the  Streat  East  and  West  as  far  as  the  Town  lots 
Extend  and  North  and  South  from  Stone  Hill  to  the  River  —  (6)  Voted  and 
Choose  Jabez  Worrin  Sovare  (7)  Voted  to  hire  preaching  for  Six  months  Begin- 
ning at  the  first  of  May  next  —  the  8  artikel  [which  was  "To  bye  a  Law 
Book  "]  Dismist—  (9)  Voted  to  Rais  12  Shillings  on  Each  Right  to  Defray  the 
Chargeses. 

Some  comparatively  new  names  greet  us  in  this  new  record,  —  the 
first  official  record  of  the  proprietors  since  1754.  William  Horsford 
was.  chosen  fl^rk  in  place  of  Isaac  Wyman,  towards  whom  there 


428  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

were  already  signs  of  decided  hostility ;  and  Josiah  Horsf ord  was 
chosen  treasurer.  These  young  men  were  from  Canaan,  Connecti- 
cut. The  first  connection  of  this  family  with  West  Hoosac  dates 
from  Nov.  1, 1752,  when  Daniel  and  William  Horsford  bought  house 
lot  44,  for  £260  Connecticut  money  old  tenor,  of  Josiah  Dean,  Junior. 
In  the  original  drawing  of  lots,  Josiah  Dean,  Senior,  had  chanced  to 
get  this  choice  lot,  on  whose  front  now  stands  the  president's  house, 
directly  north  of  West  College.  The  younger  Dean  sold  it  to  the 
Horsfords,  father  and  son,  shortly  after,  and  the  son,  William,  bought 
out  the  father's  share  for  £26,  in  February,  1761.  Thenceforth  Wil- 
liam Horsford  made  this  fine  lot  his  home ;  built  upon  it  early  a 
good  framed  house,  whose  timbers  are  still  standing  in  a  two-story 
house  on  South  Street;  ten  children  were  born  here  to  William  and 
Esther  Smedley  Horsford,  of  which  the  eldest,  Esther,  born  May 
19, 1760,  was  the  second  female  child  born  in  the  hamlet ;  his  mother, 
called  in  the  record,  '^  Elizabeth  Horsford,  the  aged,"  died  here  in 
May,  1781 ;  and  his  wife,  Esther,  died  in  March,  1791,  aged  fifty- 
four,  not  long  after  which  the  property  passed  over  into  the  hands 
of  General  Samuel  Sloan,  who  built  upon  it  the  present  house,  an 
extraordinarily  fine  one  for  the  time.  William  Horsford  served  his 
generation  well. 

So  did  Josiah  Horsford,  his  brother,  whose  wife,  Jemima  Smedley, 
was  sister  to  William's  wife.  He  settled  down  next  to  his  brother 
on  house  lot  42,  which  he  bought  in  October,  1759,  of  John  Chamber- 
lain, of  Stockbridge,  for  £45.  He,  too,  built  a  good  house  just  west 
of  his  brother's,  which  is  still  the  central  part  of  what  became  long 
after  the  "Whitman  house,"  and  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by 
Dr.  L.  D.  Woodbridge.  He  had  nine  children  born  to  him,  1762-84. 
Eev.  Whitman  Welch,  the  first  minister  of  Williamstown,  sold  to 
Josiah  Horsford,  in  October,  1767,  "the  minister's  lot,"  so  called, 
£25.  This  lot,  house  lot  36,  was  originally  set  apart  to  be  given  in 
fee  simple  to  the  first  minister.  This  is  the  "  Mansion  House  "  lot, 
lying  first  east  of  North  Street.  Horsford  also  owned  at  different 
times,  house  lot  40,  next  west  of  his  own,  whose  front  has  long  been 
occupied  by  the  house  of  the  late  B.  F.  Mather ;  and  house  lot  46, 
on  which  the  Congregational  Church  now  stands.  There  is  extant 
an  order  of  Josiah  Horsford,  per  son  Ambrose,  for  sling,  on  J.  P. 
and  T.  Whitman,  Aug.  3,  1803.  As  the  Whitmans  came  here  from 
Hartford  in  1797,  and  bought  Horsford' s  premises  when  they  first 
came,  there  is  a  slight  indication  of  decay  in  Horsford's  circum- 
stances in  his  old  age.  But  his  credit  seems  to  have  been  good  at 
"the  store."     John  Horsford  and  Daniel,  undoubtedly  brothers  of 


WEST   HOOSAC.  429 

William  and  Josiah,  were  settlers  here  very  early,  though  they  never 
became  prominent.  John  and  Daniel  bought  of  Ephraim  Williams, 
Junior,  house  lot  10,  db* 30,  April  14, 1753.  John  Horsford, "  Bloomer," 
bought  house  lot  9,  of  Seth  Hudson,  "  Gent."  Indeed,  all  the  Hors- 
fords  bought  and  sold  land  a  good  deal,  as,  indeed,  did  most  of  the 
early  proprietors. 

William  and  Josiah  Horsford,  by  locating  permanently  on  the 
second  eminence,  and  by  becoming  influential  men  in  the  ^'Pro- 
priety," as  it  was  then  called,  undoubtedly  did  something  to  draw 
actual  settlements  towards  the  east.  The  first  centre  of  dwellings 
and  of  proprietary  business  was  in  the  valley  of  Hemlock  Brook, 
sometimes  called  in  the  records  at  that  time  "  Hudson  "  Brook,  from 
Seth  Hudson,  whose  house,  on  No.  9  (pretty  close  down  to  the  brook 
on  the  south  tier  of  lots),  held  the  first  proprietors'  meeting  in  1753; 
when  the  proprietors  met  several  times  during  1760  and  1761  in  the 
blockhouse,  it  was  coming  east  nearly  to  the  summit  of  the  third 
eminence,  but  not  quite  upon  the  "Square,"  where  at  length  the 
centre  of  business  and  of  assembly  rested  for  a  century. 

The  most  important  vote  in  this  meeting  of  1760  was,  "  To  clear 
the  street  east  and  west  as  far  as  the  town  lots  extend,  and  north 
and  south  from  Stone  Hill  to  the  River."  The  "river"  means  the 
Hoosac  at  what  we  call  "Moody  Bridge,"  and  the  term  "  Stone  Hill" 
in  this  connection  proves  that  designation  to  have  been  coeval  with 
the  laying  out  of  the  house  lots  in  1750.  It  has  been  the  uniform 
designation  ever  since  of  that  striking  feature  of  our  landscape.  It 
is,  perhaps,  needless  to  write  that  a  vote  to  clear  the  street  was  not 
equivalent  to  clearing  it.  To  clear  it  with  the  then  present  means 
and  numbers  was  a  herculean,  an  impossible  task.  The  street  east 
and  west  was  almost  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  was  laid  out  fifteen  rods 
wide  the  entire  length,  ran  over  four  quite  considerable  elevations 
with  the  intervening  valleys;  on  at  least  two  of  these  elevations  (the 
first  and  second  reckoning  from  the  east)  limestone  rocks  projected 
from  the  general  surface  from  ten  to  twenty  feet,  the  hollows  between 
the  heights  were  wet  and  Hemlock  Brook  ran  low  between  precipi- 
tous banks,  and  first-growth  forest  trees  of  large  size  covered  the 
greater  part  of  this  large  space  of  rough  ground.  The  street  north 
and  south,  though  longer,  had  been  laid  out  much  narrower,  and  ran, 
on  the  whole,  over  smoother  ground.  There  were,  however,  three 
decided,  though  broad,  elevations  along  this  route,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  "  Square,"  itself  one  of  the  eminences  of  the  other  street. 
The  county  of  Berkshire,  incorporated  the  next  year,  1761,  practi- 
cally "cleared"  tliis  nortli  and  south  street  for  its  "County  Road," 


430  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

which  coincided  for  this  distance  with  the  West  Hoosac  lay-out  of 
1750.  Roads  were  the  great  burden  and  expense  of  the  little  pro- 
priety until  it  became  a  town  in  1765.  It  showed,  however,  great 
enterprise  and  persistency  in  this  regard.  "  Water  Street "  was  laid 
out  and  made  passable  in  1761;  and  it  was  voted  on  the  19th  of 
April,  1762,  '^  To  clear  a  road  to  the  East  town  for  a  cart  to  get 
along,"  and  also  (same  day),  "To  clear  a  road  through  this  town 
towards  Franiingham  [Lanesboro]  for  comfortable  carting." 

Jabez  Warren  was  chosen  moderator  of  the  first  proprietors'  meet- 
ing, after  the  close  of  the  French  War,  marked  by  the  surrender  of 
Quebec,  and  also  at  the  same  time  surveyor  for  the  "Propriety." 
He  was  a  husbandman  from  Brimfield,  and  sold  land  there  in 
March,  1751 ;  but  he  had  been  in  the  military  service  in  the  line  of 
forts  over  the  mountain,  from  Northfield  to  the  Hoosac,  during 
nearly  the  whole  war.  He  was  a  corporal  in  Coleraine  in  1748,  and 
afterwards  served  both  in  Fort  Massachusetts  and  in  West  Hoosac 
Fort.  Gideon  Warren,  perhaps  a  brother  of  Jabez,  and  both,  very 
likely,  related  to  David  Warren,  who  was  carried  captive  to  Canada 
from  Massachusetts  Fort  in  1746,  was  chosen,  at  this  first-renewed 
proprietors'  meeting,  one  of  a  committee,  Benjamin  Simonds  and 
Seth  Hudson  being  the  other  members,  "  to  settel  with  the  Colector 
and  Treasurer."  These  Warrens  grant  but  scanty  glimpses  of  them- 
selves to  the  modern  investigator,  but  enough  to  excite  his  curios- 
ity to  learn  more.  Gideon  Warren  owned,  very  early,  first-division 
fifty-acre  lot  30,  which,  with  the  windings  of  the  lower  Green  River 
through  it,  occupied  the  southeast  corner  of  the  town  plat,  which 
space  would  otherwise  have  been  laid  out  into  five  house  lots  like 
the  rest.  Warren,  a  yeoman,  sold  to  Samuel  Payn,  of  Dutchess 
County,  Kew  York,  carpenter,  "  two  acres  of  Green  River,  part  of  a 
lot  known  as  ^o.  30,"  with  the  privilege  of  flowing  the  river  bank 
"  as  hie  up  as  ye  top  of  ye  upper  falls,"  "  and  also  a  strip  of  land  two 
rods  wide  by  the  west  side  of  said  river,  beginning  at  the  north  side 
of  land  T  sold  to  said  Payn,  and  running  north  by  the  river  to  the 
mouth  of  the  brook  [Phebe's  Brook],  and  up  the  hill  to  the  lot  now 
enclosed,  and  so  out  to  the  main  road  or  Highway,  to  be  a  highway 
for  the  use  of  the  town."  Isaac  Stratton  and  Daniel  Stratton  sign, 
as  witnesses,  this  deed  for  the  first  opening  of  "  Water  St.,"  June 
1,  1761. 

Three  years  after  this  opening  of  Water  Street  into  Main  Street, 
Gideon  Warren  sold  off  eleven  acres  more  from  his  fifty-acre  lot 
No.  30,  to  James  Meacham,  who  had  recently  established  himself  on 
fifty-acre  lot  No.  7,  directly  south  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  the 


WEST   HOOSAC.  431 

house  lots.  This  brought  the  Meacharas  into  Payn's  new  road, 
along  Green  River  and  up  the  hill  into  Main  Street,  —  a  road  the 
Meachams  have  been  travelling  ever  since.  James  Meacham,  a 
great-grandson  of  the  original  James,  still  owns  the  ancestral  acres. 
Elkanah  Parris  and  Josiah  Horsford  sign,  as  witnesses,  this  deed 
of  alienation  from  Warren  to  Meacham.  But  Gideon  Warren  did 
not  get  rooted  here,  as  did  the  Meachams  and  the  Horsfords.  He 
was  swept  on,  with  others,  by  a  strong  current,  to  the  northward, 
into  Vermont ;  and  we  find  Warren  proprietors'  clerk  in  Pittsford, 
in  March,  1771. 

But  both  the  Warrens  had  considerable  more  to  do  in  West 
Hoosac  before  they  should  be  suffered  to  pass  on.  In  the  second 
legal  proprietors'  meeting,  after  the  French  War  was  over,  "  att  the 
Place  Called  the  fort  in  West  Hoosuck,"  Nov.  20,  1760,  Jabez  War- 
ren was  again  chosen  moderator  and  also  one  of  the  three  assessors 
(the  others  being  Thomas  Dunton  and  Benjamin  Simonds),  the 
three  being  also  authorized  "  to  Sell  the  Land  of  those  Proprietors 
who  are  Delinquit  in  Paying  their  Rates."  Gideon  Warren,  too, 
and  Thomas  Train  were  chosen  at  this  meeting  "to  Hier  a  Good 
orthodox  Preacher  for  s'd  Propriete."  The  chief  purpose  of  the 
meeting  was  to  settle  for  the  work  already  done  in  the  clearing  of 
the  Main  Street,  and  to  provide  means  for  resuming  that  work  in 
earnest  the  next  spring.  They  voted  to  accept  Jabez  Warren's 
account,  viz. :  "  Seventy  Six  Days  works  of  men  in  s'd  Highways  in 
West  Hoosuck  at  three  Shillings  a  Day  and  fourteen  Days  Work  of 
Oxen  at  one  Shilling  and  Sixpence  a  Day  in  s'd  Highways  also  a 
Plow  one  Shilling  and  Six  Pence ; "  and  they  also  voted  "  to  Raise 
a  tax  of  Eight  Shilling  on  Each  Proprietor's  Right  to  defray  the 
Xecessari  Charge  in  s'd  Propriete." 

The  two  proprietors'  names  encountered  in  the  record  of  this  meet- 
ing, with  which  we  are  not  already  somewhat  familiar,  are  Thomas 
Train  and  Thomas  Dunton.  Train's  story  has  the  trail  of  mystery 
alx)ut  it  from  beginning  to  end.  If  ever  romancer  to  the  manor  born 
should  seek  for  a  theme  amid  the  origins  of  his  beautiful  town,  all  the 
elements  of  a  powerful  story  are  found  in  the  little  that  is  known 
of  Thomas  Train.  He  was  of  Weston,  which  was  a  part  of  Water- 
town,  right  in  the  thick  of  the  Williams  family  and  influence.  If 
the  genealogical  tables  betray  us  not,  he  was  a  great-grandson  of 
John  Train,  who  came  to  Watertown  in  1635,  in  the  Susan  and 
Ellen.  Thomas  Train,  of  Watertown,  who  died  in  1739,  aged 
eighty-six,  may  have  been  his  grandfather.  He  was  born  in  August, 
1727.     In  1751,  when  he  was  twenty-four  years  old,  he  was  published 


432  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

to  be  married  witli  Abigail  Viles,  but  for  reasons  unknown  to  us  lie 
did  not  marry  her,  for  she  married  a  certain  Jonas  Barnard  the  next 
year.  Thereafter,  Train  acted  in  certain  respects  like  a  disappointed 
man  bereft  of  hopes.  Before  long,  we  find  him  an  enlisted  soldier 
in  the  garrison  of  Fort  Massachusetts.  When  the  house  lots  in  the 
west  township  were  offered  to  that  garrison,  fifteen  of  them  pur- 
chased the  right  to  draw  for  choices  at  one  time,  and  the  state 
accepted,  at  Ephraim  Williams's  instance,  the  evidences  of  their 
soldiers'  wages  due,  as  payments  made  for  their  lots.  Train  drew 
house  lot  No.  30,  which  is  the  lot  on  which  Judge  Danforth  now 
lives,  and  on  which  his  father  lived  before  him. 

Not  long  after,  Train  became  possessed  of  house  lot  No.  4,  which 
was  the  lot  next  east  of  the  fort,  of  which  Train  did  not  entertain 
a  good  opinion,  as  we  have  already  seen.  He  sold  house  lot  4  to 
Dr.  Jacob  Meack,  in  October,  176§,  for  £40.  He  bought  and  sold 
lots  more  or  less,  like  the  rest,  but  he  does  not  seem  to  have  settled 
down  in  one  place  to  try  to  find  a  home  ;  like  many  another,  in 
similar  circumstances,  he  had,  doubtless,  resolved  never  to  marry. 
He  seems  to  have  been  thrown  in  a  good  deal  with  Benjamin 
Simonds,  our  old  Canada  captive  of  1746-47,  especially  after  the 
latter  was  married  in  Northampton,  to  Mary  Davis,  April  23,  1752, 
and  brought  his  wife  to  West  Hoosac,  and  settled  down  on  house 
lot  22.  Train's  own  original  lot  was  house  lot  30,  the  fourth  to  the 
west  in  the  same  tier.  As  Simonds  has  already  been,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be  a  considerable  figure  in  our  story,  it  is,  perhaps,  worth 
while  to  note  in  passing,  that  this  marriage  was  performed  by 
Joseph  Hawley,  Esq.,  himself  the  original  proprietor  of  house 
lot  47,  and  that  the  celebration  of  the  rite  by  the  magistrate,  rather 
than  the  minister,  was  more  or  less  related  with  the  bitter  quarrel 
at  that  time  going  on  between  Jonathan  Edwards  and  his  late 
parishioners  in  Northampton. 

It  is  a  strong  tradition  in  the  Meacham  and  Simonds  families, 
transmitted  to  present  times  by  their  children,  that  this  husband 
and  wife  were  the  eighteenth  family  to  settle  on  the  West  Hoosac 
house  lots,  and  that,  in  the  military  troubles  that  soon  came  upon 
the  hamlet,  this  family  often  found  a  shelter  or  a  temporary  home 
in  the  old  fort  or  blockhouse  on  house  lot  No.  6,  the  ruins  of  which 
remained  in  situ  and  in  sight  until  the  opening  of  the  present 
century. 

April  8,  1753,  a  child  was  born  to  these  parents,  a  daughter 
named  Eachel,  the  first  child  born  in  the  propriety,  nor  was  there  a 
second  for  seven  years  according  to  tradition,  which  must  be  Avrong 


WEST   HOOSAC.  433 

in  this  particular,  because  the  record  of  births  in  the  old  ''  Proprie- 
tors' Book  "  is  distinct  and  unbroken,  as  follows :  — 

Benjamin  Simonds  and  Mary  his  wife,  — 

Rachel,  bom  April  b,  i70;>. 
Justin,  born  Feb.  17,  1755. 
Sarali,  bom  July  8,  1757. 
Marcy,  bom  Dec.  2,  1769. 

Then  follows  the  record  of  the  birth  of  six  other  children  from 
17G2  to  1773,  a  stretch  of  time  during  which  many  other  families  in 
Williamstown  were  blessed  with  children,  of  which  the  first,  accord- 
ing to  the  record,  was  that  of  William  Horsford,  whose  first  child, 
Esther,  was  born  May  19,  17G0.  Then  follows  the  birth  of  eight 
children  in  that  family  till  1779.  The  mother,  Esther  Horsford, 
died  March  1,  1791 ;  and  this  interesting  item  concludes  that  list, 
"Elizabeth  Horsford  the  aged  Died  May  28'^  1781."  She  was  the 
mother  of  William  and  Josiah  Horsford,  of  Canaan,  Connecticut. 
Owing  to  the  almost  purely  military  origin  of  West  Hoosac,  very 
few  parents  of  the  first  settlers  accompanied  or  followed  their 
children  hither. 

But  Rachel  Simonds,  the  first-born  child  in  the  place,  —  as  such 
drawing  the  attention  and  exciting  the  interest  of  all  the  hardy  set- 
tlers, especially  as  she  in  some  sense  belonged  to  the  public,  living 
in  the  people's  own  fort,  at  least  a  part  of  the  time  till  1760,  —  was 
growing  up  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  isolation  from  young 
men,  and  also  probably  of  peculiar  intimacy  with  Thomas  Train, 
who  was  twenty-four  years  her  senior.  At  any  rate,  when  ahe  was 
nineteen  years  old,  early  in  January,  1772,  they  were  married,  and 
went  to  housekeeping  on  the  south  slope  of  Townsend  Hill,  in  a 
small  house  whose  cellar  is  perfectly  visible  to  this  day,  and  is 
marked  by  a  rugged  elm  already  of  considerable  size,  and  likely  to 
endure  for  a  century  to  come.  This  house  stood  on  second-division 
fifty -acre  lot  63,  which  was  bought  by  Jonathan  Train,  probably  a 
brother  of  Thomas  Train,  of  Benjamin  Simonds,  whose  house  lot  3 
drew  this  63  in  the  regular  order.  Here,  at  all  events,  was  born  a 
daughter  to  Thomas  Train  and  Rachel  Simonds,  Oct.  15,  1772.  As 
Rachel  Simonds  was  the  first  daughter  of  the  town  (1753),  so, 
emphatically,  was  Sarah  Train  the  first  granddaughter  of  the 
town  (1772). 

But  before  this  child  was  born,  and  before  the  mother  was  twenty 
years  old,  Thomas  Train  had  gone  off  to  Virginia,  to  secure  a  new 
home  for  himself  and  family.     Wliy  Williamstown  did  not  satisfy 


434  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

him,  what  there  was  in  Virginia  to  attract  him,  we  shall  never 
know ;  after  obtaining  a  good  title  to  some  lands  in  this  oldest  of 
our  commonwealths,  and  starting  to  return  to  the  North,  Train  was 
seized  with  his  mortal  sickness,  and  lies  buried  no  one  knows  where ; 
the  fact  of  the  death,  and  probably  the  place  of  it,  were  communi- 
cated to  his  friends  not  very  long  afterwards ;  and  after  the  Eevo- 
lutionary  War  was  over,  and  Virginia  land-titles  were  settling  into 
permanent  record,  there  was  an  official  communication  from  the 
South  to  his  family  here  in  relation  to  the  land,  but  nothing  further 
was  ever  done  or  known  about  it.  Mrs.  Thomas  Train  became,  in 
a  very  few  years,  Mrs.  Benjamin  Skinner, — a  very  proper  marriage 
in  every  respect  to  a  man  but  three  years  older  than  herself,  —  and 
Sarah  Train  was  brought  up  with  Deacon  Skinner's  children,  until 
she,  too,  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  Avas  married  to  AVilliam  Blair  in. 
1791.  She  had  many  children  of  her  own,  and  died  here  June  26, 
1864,  in  her  ninety-second  year;  a  mother  in  Israel. 

Thomas  Dunton  was  from  Western,  now  Warren,  Massachusetts. 
So  far  as  can  be  known,  his  was  the  first  family  to  settle  directly 
on  the  bank  of  the  Hoosac  River,  and  his  house  was  near  the  Noble 
Bridge,  and  he  must  have  reached  it  from  the  Main  Street,  by  a 
path  corresponding,  in  general,  with  the  present  Cole  Avenue.  For 
a  number  of  years,  Dunton  owned  house  lot  13,  and  sold  to  promi- 
nent parties  the  outlots  drawn  in  succession  by  this  house  lot.  For 
example,  he  sold  to  Daniel  Burbank,  also  from  Western,  the  second- 
division  fifty-acre  lot  56,  October,  1763,  which  Burbank  afterwards 
bravely  defended  in  the  battle  of  Bennington.  Burbank's  first 
house  was  a  framed  building  of  one  room.  He  soon  doubled  his 
farm,  by  buying  the  adjoining  fifty-acre  lot  57,  half  a  mile  from 
South  Williamstown  on  the  road  to  New  Ashford,  and  there  his 
family  resided  well  into  the  present  century.  Dr.  Asa  Burbank, 
his  son,  was  a  graduate  of  the  College  in  1797,  a  tutor,  and  a  pro- 
fessor in  the  Berkshire  Medical  School ;  and  the  other  son,  Samuel, 
at  the  instance  of  his  mother  while  Bennington  battle  was  going 
forward,  put  his  ear  to  the  ground,  and  heard  successive  discharges 
of  cannon.  Daniel  Burbank  was  then  Lieutenant  in  the  military 
company  of  South  Williamstown;  and  to  his  neighbors,  who 
croAvded  around  on  the  return,  and  wanted  to  know  if  he  felt  afraid 
during  the  fight,  he  answered,  ''  After  they  had  fired  once,  and 
we  had  fired  once,  I  was  no  more  afraid  on  the  battle-field  than 
I  am  on  the  potato  field  ! " 

Thomas  Dunton  drew  also  in  virtue  of  his  house  lot  13,  100-acre 
lot  23,  which  he  sold  to  Hezekiah  Brown,  of  Sharon,  Connecticut,  in 


WEST   HOOSAC.  435 

1767 ;  two  years  later  Brown  sold  the  same  to  Joseph  Deming,  of 
Weathersfield,  Connecticut,  who,  with  his  two  sons,  Aaron  and  Titus, 
purchased  also  the  adjoining  100-acre  lot  24,  which  two  furnished  a 
home  to  the  Deming  family  for  fully  one  hundred  years.  The  tra- 
dition in  the  family  was,  that  the  200  acres  cost  them  at  the  rate  of 
eight  shillings  an  acre.  The  100-acre  lot  25,  next  south  of  24  as 
that  is  south  of  23,  extends  to  the  New  Ashford  line ;  and  through 
all  three  flows  down  the  Ashford  Brook  to  its  junction  with  the 
Hancock  Brook  at  South  Williamstown  ;  and  the  public  road  to  Pitts- 
field  follows  up  the  brook,  and  bisects  all  three  of  these  lots.  Joseph 
Deming,  bom  in  the  year  1708,  was  about  sixty-two  years  old  when 
he  came  here,  and  died  in  1783 ;  his  son,  Aaron,  born  in  February, 
1744,  died  in  March,  1837,  aged  ninety-three  years.  Aaron's  son. 
Captain  Joseph,  with  two  unmarried  sisters,  lived  till  his  eightieth 
year  in  the  same  house  which  his  father  had  built,  and  Captain 
Joseph's  son.  Nelson,  an  excellent  man,  was  the  last  of  that  name 
and  line  in  Williamstown.  Titus  Deming,  who  left  a  posterity  as 
numerous  as  did  Aaron,  though  all  of  both  lines  are  now  gone 
from  this  town,  established  his  homestead  just  where  the  two  roads 
bifurcating  at  "  Taylor's  Crotch "  come  together  again  two  miles 
and  a  half  further  south.  He  had  four  sons,  of  whom  Francis 
inherited  the  farm,  whose  son,  Richard  Titus,  was  graduated  at 
Williams  in  1852;  Moses,  who  is  generally  referred  to  as  "Moses 
the  Mormon,"  and  who  died  in  1873;  and  ]\Iartin,  born  in  1792, 
whose  son,  Eli  Rix,  was  adopted  by  the  good  Deacon  Beers,  other- 
wise childless,  whose  farm  was  100-acre  lot  26,  which  touched  the 
other  Deming  lots  on  two  sides,  and  which,  when  inherited  by 
Rix  Deming,  brought  all  the  Deming  lands  into  contiguity.  Rix 
Deming  married  Harty  Johnson,  a  gifted  daughter  of  one  of  the 
old  families  of  South  Williamstown;  and  they  migrated  about 
1880  to  Lawrence,  Kansas,  where  they  are  living  at  the  present 
writing. 


Whereas  Hequisi  Hath  Ben  made  to  me  the  Subscriber  by  a  Sofisient  Number 
of  Proprietors  to  Issue  out  a  Warrant  for  Calling  a  Proprietors  meeting  to  act 
on  the  articiles  as  follow  (viz)  Uy  To  Chuse  a  moderator  for  s'd  meeting. 
21y  To  Chuse  a  Surveyor  for  the  Proprietors  of  West  Hoosuck.  Sly  To  Chuse 
a  Corametre  to  lay  out  a  Common  Rhoad  or  Private  Way  to  Convean  the 
Intended  Place  of  a  mil  or  mils  on  Green  River.  41y  To  act  on  all  the  fore- 
mention  articiles  Which  meeting  is  to  be  on  tuesday  ye  fourteenth  Day  of  July 
Next  at  the  Place  Called  the  fort  att  the  House  of  David  Robart  in  West  Hoosuck 
att  four  o'clock  in  the  after  Noon.  West  Hoosuck,  June  ye  30  Ad  1761  Test 
William  Horsford  Proprietors  Clerk. 


436  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

The  term  "the  fort,"  as  used  in  these  minutes  and  in  common 
talk  at  that  time,  included  everything  within  the  pickets  or  stockade ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  blockhouse  that  stood  on  the  eastern  line  of  house 
lot  6,  and  two  houses,  one  on  6  and  the  other  on  8,  pretty  near  to 
each  other.  Soldiers  lodged  in  any  one  of  these,  with  or  without 
their  families,  were  said  to  live  in  "  the  fort."  Silas  Pratt  was  one 
of  these  dwellers,  and  here  his  son,  William,  was  born  in  1760  ;  Ben- 
jamin Simonds  lived  here  off  and  on  according  as  the  times  were 
perilous,  but  whether  any  one  of  his  four  children  born  in  West 
Hoosac  before  1760  were  born  in  the  fort,  or  all  were  born  in  his 
own  house  on  house  lot  22,  cannot  now  be  determined ;  and  accord- 
ing to  this  minute  of  June,  1761,  David  Roberts  was  one  of  the 
dwellers  within  the  enclosure.  Richard  Stratton  was  chosen  mod- 
erator of  the  meeting  thus  warned ;  Gideon  Warren  was  chosen  sur- 
veyor for  the  proprietors  ;  and  Richard  Stratton,  Thomas  Dunton, 
and  Josiah  Horsford,  were  chosen  a  committee  to  lay  out  the  road 
to  the  intended  place  for  a  mill,  that  is  to  say.  Water  Street.  The 
return  of  this  committee  was  rendered  on  the  first  day  of  August, 
1761.  This  was  the  first  road  laid  out  by  the  proprietors.  It  was 
laid  out  two  rods  wide.  The  first  half  of  it  from  the  south,  "Begin- 
ning at  the  North  Side  of  Samuel  Payen's  land  on  the  West  side  of 
the  above  s'd  Rever,"  was  near  to  and  parallel  with  Green  River, 
then  it  mounted  "  to  the  top  of  the  Hill  to  the  East  Side  of  Gedion 
Warrin  Land  and  by  the  s'd  line  upon  s'd  Warrin  Land  to  the  main 
Rhoad."  Of  ten  trees  marked  by  this  survey  for  the  line  of  this 
road,  eight  were  hemlocks,  showing  the  prevailing  timber  along  the 
lower  Green  River. 

The  name  of  Richard  Stratton  appears  for  the  first  time  officially 
in  the  minutes  but  just  now  quoted.  He  was  moderator  of  that 
meeting,  and  chairman  of  its  most  important  committee.  His  acces- 
sion to  the  little  settlement  in  the  spring  of  1760,  bringing  with  him 
from  Western  (now  Warren)  a  family  of  eight  children,  proved  in 
the  sequel  to  be  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  the  town.  He  was 
a  man  of  probity  and  of  property.  He  was  a  Baptist,  and  came  to 
be  called  "Deacon,"  although  there  was  hardly  another  person  of 
that  religious  sect  in  West  Hoosac  for  a  number  of  years  after  he 
came ;  and  although  three  of  his  sons  and  two  of  his  daughters 
became  prominent  members  of  the  Congregational  church  here. 
Ichabod  Stratton  came  hither  some  time  after  his  brother  Richard, 
but  presently  went  away  again;  and  David  Stratton,  John  Stratton, 
and  Joel  Stratton  were  fathers  of  families  here  in  the  last  quarter 
of  the  last  century,  although  not  closely  related  to  Richard.     The 


WEST  HOOSAC.  437 

latter  bought  of  Moses  Graves  house  lot  54  for  £50,  June  3,  1760. 
Unquestionably  there  was  a  "  regulation "  house  upon  that  lot  at 
that  time,  and  Stratton  moved  his  family  into  it  upon  his  arrival; 
the  price  of  the  lot  proves  the  presence  of  the  house,  because  five 
months  afterwards  Stratton  bought  the  adjoining  house  lot  56,  which 
was  every  way  as  good  as  land,  and  on  which  Stratton  proceeded 
shortly  to  build  the  first  two-story  house  in  the  hamlet,  which  house 
is  still  standing  substantially  unchanged  (1892),  for  only  £12. 
Sixteen  months  after  the  second  purchase,  he  bought  the  next 
adjoining  house  lot  58,  together  with  thirteen  acres  of  beautiful  land 
to  the  north  of  that  lot,  for  £34,  tlio  price  showing  that  there  could 
have  been  then  no  house  on  58. 

Xow  it  is  certain  that,  in  April,  1762,  Richard  Stratton  owned 
the  three  contiguous  house  lots  just  referred  to,  all  of  them  as  level 
as  a  barn  floor,  perhaps  the  best  lots  out  of  the  seventeen  constitut- 
ing the  northeast  quarter  of  the  entire  house-lot  plat.  Directly 
across  Main  Street  from  the  front  of  58  was  the  then  new  opening 
into  Water  Street,  and  to  its  prospective  and  promised  mills  on 
Green  River.  What  was  it,  then,  that  led  Stratton  to  prefer  the 
front  of  56,  on  which  to  build  a  little  later  his  own  expensive  resi- 
dence ?  The  reasons  can  only  be  guessed  at  at  this  late  day ;  but 
even  guesses  on  reasonable  grounds,  by  and  for  the  only  parties 
legally  entitled  to  that  privilege,  —  namely,  Yankees, — may  prove  not 
unacceptable.  The  present  owner  of  56,  James  M.  Waterman,  who 
has  both  owned  and  occupied  the  Stratton  premises  since  1860,  and 
who,  during  much  the  larger  part  of  this  interval,  has  been  the  senior 
selectman  of  Williamstown,  told  the  writer  yesterday,  that  the  nat- 
ural site  of  the  house,  which  is  understood  to  be  on  the  very  line  of 
Main  Street,  is  considerably  higher  than  the  corresponding  fronts  of 

54  and  58  Then  the  house  already  built  on  54  could  shelter  the 
family,  while  the  young  men  should  be  provided  for  with  permanent 
homes,  and  the  father  could  determine  the  most  eligible  place  on 
which  to  build  for  himself.  In  1765  the  father  had  bought  also 
house  lot  52,  the  lot  next  west  of  54,  whose  front  came  snug  up  to 
the  foot  of  "Consumption  Hill,"  afterwards  so  called. 

In  September,  1766,  Richard  Stratton  both  sells  and  gives  to 
Isaac  Stratton,  "  both  husbandmen,"  for  £7,  "  together  with  that 
parental  love  and  affection  which  I  have  and  do  bair  to  him  the  said 
Isaac  Stratton,  my  well-beloved  son,"  the  two  fifty-acre  lots  53  and 

55  of  the  second  division,  and  "  the  pine  lot  No.  30  in  the  north 
part  of  said  Williamstown."  Isaac  was  his  eldest  son,  and  was  born 
Nov.  25,  1739.     He  was  nearly  twenty-ono  when  the  family  came  to 


438  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Williamstowii,  and  fully  twenty-six  when  he  took  title  at  South 
Williamstown.  But  he  had  been  at  work,  the  very  first  settler 
there,  for  three  or  four  years  before  he  took  title,  on  the  spot  of  53 
that  has  been  a  tavern  almost  ever  since.  He  lived  to  play  a  great 
part  in  the  civil  history  of  the  town,  and  in  the  hazards  and  suc- 
cesses of  the  Eevolutionary  War ;  and  he  died  April  3,  1789,  aged 
fifty  years.  He  was  alone  in  what  is  now  the  village  at  the  south 
part  for  a  considerable  time  ;  but  Daniel  Burbank,  also  from  Western, 
became  the  second  settler  and  his  nearest  neighbor  about  half  a  mile 
south  on  the  New  Ashford  road.  The  way  in  which  Burbank  got 
hold  of  his  farm  illustrates  a  method  of  purchase  more  or  less  pre- 
vailing at  that  time.  He  bought  of  David  Koberts,  carpenter,  one 
half  of  two  fifty-acre  lots  drawn  by  house  lot  14,  No.  40  of  the  first 
division,  and  No.  57  of  the  second  division,  for  £15,  in  December, 
1761.  Just  two  years  later  he  bought  of  Benjamin  Simonds  the 
other  half  of  57,  paying  him  for  it  Ms  half  of  No.  40.  In  the  mean 
time,  Burbank  had  bought  for  £23  the  entire  lot  56  of  the  second 
division,  adjoining  Isaac  Stratton's  lot  55.  So  Burbank  made  up  his 
farm  at  the  south  part.  He  was  the  first  to  clear  up  and  plough 
those  fertile  acres.  Let  it  be  called  the  "  Burbank  farm ''  forever. 
Nine  children,  the  eldest,  Samuel,  were  born  to  Daniel  and  Mary 
Burbank,  1766-86. 

Isaac  Stratton's  wife  was  Mary  Fox.  Their  children  were  not  so 
numerous  as  the  Burbank  children,  but  they  were  earlier  born,  1762- 
75.  A  bridge  over  the  Hancock  Brook  just  before  its  junction  with 
the  xishford  Brook,  the  two  constituting  thenceforth  the  Green  River, 
was  built  close  by  Stratton's  first  house,  to  accommodate  him  and 
Burbank  before  any  bridge  was  put  over  Green  Eiver  at  the  eastern 
end  of  the  north-village  plat.  Stratton  afterwards  built  another 
house  across  the  brook  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  Ashford  road, 
on  which  he  left  a  lasting  memorial  of  himself.  The  house  is  still 
standing  in  good  repair.  It  is  of  two  stories,  and  of  large  size. 
On  the  chimney  any  one  may  read  to  this  day,  "I.  S.  1785." 
This  house  stands  on  lot  No.  54,  the  middle  part  of  his  farm,  and 
across  the  road  a  little  further  to  the  east,  and  near  the  junction  of 
the  two  brooks,  is  the  first  and  only  "  God's  acre  "  for  the  south  part, 
on  his  own  land ;  and  on  a  substantial  tombstone  there  we  may  read, 
"Isaac  Stratton  Esq.  died  April  3,  1789,  aged  50."  We  shall 
encounter  this  good  man's  name  and  deed  in  striking  scenes  before 
our  task  is  done.  His  widow  married  Rev.  Clark  Rogers,  and  died 
March  20,  1812.     She  is  buried  by  the  side  of  her  first  husband. 

It  seems  to  be  impossible  to  fix  from  extant  data  the  exact  year  in 


WEST    HOOSAC. 


439 


which  Richard  Stratton  built  the  existing  "Stratton  house."  It 
cannot  have  been  far  from  1765.  In  a  list  of  the  holders  of  house 
lots  for  that  year,  in  reference  to  another  drawing  of  outlots,  his 
original  purchase,  house  lot  54,  is  put  down  to  his  son,  Ebenezer 
Stratton,  then  twenty  years  old ;  while  in  his  own  name  stand 
Xos.  52  and  7.  In  that  year  and  the  next,  he  seems  to  have  been 
dividing  up  his  lands  freely  among  his  adult  children.  Isaac,  the 
eldest,  had  been  already  generously  provided  for  at  the  south  part, 
although  the  legal  title  did  not  pass  over  to  the  son  until  September, 


DEACON    EBENEZER   STRATTON'S   HOUSE. 


17G0.  in  the  same  month  and  year,  Richard  Stratton  sells  and  gives 
to  his  son,  Daniel  Stratton,  then  twenty-three  years  old,  for  £5  and 
for  love,  etc.,  the  two  meadow  lots  26  and  27  so  far  as  they  lie  "  on 
the  north  side  of  the  stream  of  the  river,"  and  also  the  first-division 
fifty-acre  lot  51  (adjoining  these  meadow  lots  to  the  north),  and  also 
the  oak  lots  14  and  27.  Thus  was  laid  out  in  a  deed  of  gift  from 
Richard  Stratton  to  Daniel,  with  just  sufficient  pecuniary  consider- 
ation to  make  it  legal,  what  has  been  known  for  more  than  a  century, 
and  is  still  known,  as  the  "Bridges  farm,"  from  Jonathan  Bridges, 
originally  from  Colchester,  Connecticut,  and  from  his  son  Samuel 
Bridges,  his  grandson  Edwin  Bridges,  his  great-graiidson  Charles  E. 
Bridges,  the    present   owner,  in  succession.      The    last-named   has 


440  ORIGINS    IN    WILLI AMSTOWN. 

lately  sold  parts  of  these  lands  to  the  Fitchburg  Railroad  for  station 
and  switching  purposes. 

The  next  February,  Richard  Stratton,  "  from  parental  affection," 
etc.,  sold  his  "well-beloved  son,  Ebenezer,"  the  adjoining  fifty-acre 
lots  of  the  first  division  54  and  33,  except  ten  acres  of  the  north- 
east corner  of  33,  also  pine  lot  45,  and  all  that  part  of  meadow  lot 
53  east  of  Green  River.  All  these  parcels  were  contiguous  land  not 
far  from  the  eastern  end  of  the  village  plat,  and  constituted  what 
was  commonly  called  the  "  Stratton  lot "  ;  and  the  town  of  A¥illiams- 
town,  in  1891,  legally  named  the  road  that  was  laid  out  "to  con- 
vean"  this  farm  "Stratton  road."  Ebenezer  Stratton  was  then 
twenty-two  years  old.  He  led  an  extremely  useful  life  thereafter  on 
that  farm,  till  his  death  in  1814.  We  shall  run  across  him  later. 
One  of  the  latter's  sons,  Rev.  Ebenezer  Harrison  Stratton  (Williams 
College,  '28),  was  still  living  in  1892  in  Branchport,  New  York. 

In  June,  1766,  Richard  Stratton  sold  to  William  Foster,  black- 
smith, 100-acre  lot  15,  drawn  by  house  lot  7,  "  lying  on  or  near  Tay- 
lor's Crotch  Brook,"  £20.  That  brook  is  what  we  call  the  "  Hopper 
Brook,"  and  its  junction  with  Green  River  was  long  called  Tay- 
lor's Crotch,  from  Samuel  Taylor,  of  Charlemont,  who  first  built 
mills  there,  where  they  have  continued  ever  since.  This  William 
Foster  married  Richard  Stratton's  eldest  daughter,  Ruth,  who  was 
born  in  February,  1747.  There  are  persons  still  living  in  town  who 
remember  "  Aunt  Ruth  Foster,"  as  she  lived  in  her  old  age  and  pov- 
erty with  her  nephew,  Cyrus  Stratton,  son  of  Deacon  Ebenezer  Strat- 
ton, and  as  at  last  she  was  assisted  by  the  town.  Richard  Stratton's 
second  daughter,  Lucy,  born  July,  1753,  married  Seth  Luce  from 
Western,  who  bought  100-acre  lot  Ko.  3  in  May,  1768,  a  rough 
lot  well  up  on  the  side  of  Mount  Prospect.  Luce  was  a  "joyner" 
by  trade.  His  lot  is  still  called  the  "  Luce  lot "  ;  but  it  was  sold  to 
the  Smedleys  about  1812,  and  continued  in  their  possession  more 
than  half  a  century.  Ten  children  were  born  to  these  parents  before 
they  left  the  town,  and  were  dismissed  from  the  church,  which  both 
joined  in  1780.  Luce  was  often  out  as  a  private  and  also  as  a  subor- 
dinate officer  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  as  the  muster-rolls  disclose  to 
this  day.  He  was  born  July  16,  1744,  of  JEbenezer  and  Sarah  Luce, 
and  had  brothers  Timothy  and  Ebenezer,  and  sister  Sarah.  Eben- 
ezer Luce,  whose  wife  was  Sarah  Stratton,  lived  for  a  time  in  Wil- 
liamstown,  and  both  united  with  the  church  here  by  letter  in  1780, 
but  they  left  no  such  impression  on  the  town  as  did  Seth  and  Lucy 
Luce.  The  sister,  Sarah  Luce,  married  Joseph  Byam,  of  whom  we 
shall  hear  more  by  and  by. 


WEST  HOOSAC.  441 

The  other  children  of  Richard  Stratton  do  not  concern  us  particu- 
larly ;  but  it  may  be  worth  the  noting,  that  Abner  was  born  Dec. 
20,  1751,  and  Rachel  and  Phebe,  twins,  were  born  in  August,  175G. 
It  is  more  to  the  point  to  observe,  that  the  three  house  lots,  of  which 
he  first  became  possessed,  and  on  the  middle  one  of  which  he  built 
his  own  fine  house,  were  the  only  lots  on  either  side  of  Main  Street 
east  of  Chapel  Hill  to  have  houses  built  on  them  of  much  pre- 
tension either  as  to  size  or  cost  until  the  opening  of  the  present 
century.  Two  possible  exceptions  to  this  statement  might  be  made 
as  to  houses  built  in  the  last  decade  of  the  last  century,  namely,  the 
brick  house  built  on  house  lot  63  by  Judah  Williams,  and  so  long 
occupied  by  the  Nobles  and  the  Coles  ;  and  the  house  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  Main  Street  built  by  Bissell  Sherman.  It  is  curious 
that  that  part  of  house  lot  57,  the  only  house  lot  that  runs  east  and 
west,  on  which  Bissell  Sherman  built  this  house,  had  been  bought  by 
Richard  Stratton  of  Joseph  Ballard,  of  Xew  Salem,  in  March,  1762  ; 
one-eighth  of  this  lot  had  been  sold  from  off  its  western  end  in 
January,  1758,  in  some  connection  with  the  opening  out  of  Water 
Street ;  and  the  remaining  seven-eighths  had  passed  through  several 
hands,  including  Ballard's  and  Stratton's,  when,  in  November,  1768, 
Jacob  Meack  sold  to  Ebenezer  Cooley  two  acres  from  off  the  east 
end,  reserving  a  roadway  one  rod  wide  *^  above  the  bank  from  the  log- 
way  northward  to  accommodate  the  mill  that  is  now  standing,  or 
mill  hereafter  to  be  built."  This  ^''one-rod  road"  is  "Pork  lane." 
Bissell  Sherman,  who  was  born  in  North  Kingston,  Rhode  Island^ 
Oct.  13,  1759,  the  very  day  the  news  of  Wolfe's  victory  at  Quebec 
reached  North  Kingston,  came  ultimately  to  own  by  much  the  most 
of  house  lot  57,  and  built  his  own  two-story  house  (still  standing) 
on  about  the  middle  point  of  it  in  1796.  The  L  part  of  this  house 
is  the  old  "  regulation  "  house  on  57,  and  is  at  least  thirty  years 
older  than  the  main.  It  is  characteristic  of  Bissell  Sherman,  who 
always  seized  the  main  chance,  that  when  the  carpenters  then  build- 
ing the  new  meeting-house  on  the  Square  got  short  of  lumber  at  one 
time  in  1796,  Sherman  hired  them  off  in  a  body  to  work  on  his  new 
house.     Under  the  circumstances  he  got  them  cheap. 

But  the  two  undoubtedly  fine  houses  in  this  quarter  of  the  town 
were  the  "  Day "  house  built  on  house  lot  54,  and  the  ^'  Noble " 
house  built  on  house  lot  58.  Daniel  Day  came  hither  from  Colches- 
ter not  far  from  1770,  an  enterprising  farmer,  and  established  him- 
self on  the  fine  lands  on  both  sides  of  the  line  between  Adams  and 
Williamstown,  just  south  of  the  Hoosac,  and  of  the  present  village 
of   Blackinton.     He   became   very   well-to-do,   and    raised  a   large 


442  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

family  of  nine  children.  He  was  generous,  also,  to  his  sister's 
children,  a  Mrs.  Baker  of  Vermont,  and  Mary  Baker  was  adopted 
by  him.  Some  time  before  the  close  of  the  century,  Day  purchased 
house  lot  54,  and  proceeded  to  build  on  it  what  was,  for  the  times 
and  circumstances,  an  elegant  dwelling,  so  elegant,  indeed,  that  it 
pecuniarily  ruined  him.  Much  of  its  ornamentation,  both  external 
and  internal,  was  brought  from  Boston;  and  when  his  daughter 
Sophia  was  married  in  its  jmrlor  to  James  Sherman  (Williams 
College,  1802),  she  was  dressed,  as  she  told  her  own  girls  in  her  old 
age,  "  Boston  girls  fashion"  —  white  satin  and  all  that.  The  father 
came  naturally  enough  into  financial  straits,  and  sold  his  house  and 
lot  to  Judge  Daniel  Dewey,  and  moved  his  family  to  Cazeuovia, 
New  York,  where  he  kept  a  tavern  for  some  time  on  the  public 
square.  Debts  threw  him  again  into  difficulties,  and  James  Sher- 
man (his  son-in-law)  took  the  first  mortgage  on  the  public  house, 
and  temporarily  relieved  him.  In  his  old  age,  he  used  to  make 
journeys  from  "the  West"  to  Williamstown  and  Colchester,  in  his 
own  old-fashioned  gig,  and  with  his  well-known  sorrel  horse.  He 
died  in  Eome,  New  York,  aged  eighty-four.  He  was  in  the  battle 
of  Bennington.  His  house  here  became  known  as  the  "Dewey" 
house,  and  three  generations  of  that  prominent  family  dwelt  in  it; 
and  it  is  now  the  home  of  one  of  the  Greek-letter  College  Societies. 
Its  entire  interior  was  burnt  in  1893,  and  elegantly  rebuilt  in  1894. 
Daniel  Day's  wife  was  Martha  Isham ;  both  united  with  the  church 
here  in  1806,  and  both  were  dismissed  to  the  church  in  Cazenovia. 
Mrs.  Day  was  sister  of  Mrs.  Colonel  Samuel  Tyler. 

The  "  Noble "  house,  on  58,  was  built  in  the  early  years  of  this 
•century  by  Daniel  Noble  (Williams  College,  1796),  a  son  of  David 
Noble,  one  of  the  early  settlers.  He  Avas  the  first  alumnus  of  the 
College  to  be  placed  on  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  he  was  the  treas- 
urer of  the  College  from  1814  till  his  death  in  1830.  He  was  a  law- 
yer of  ability,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Adams,  where  he  continued  till  1811,  when  he  returned  to  his  native 
place.  His  house  was  not  so  fine  as  the  Day  house,  nor  so  high 
between  joints  as  the  Sloan  house;  and  tradition  has  it  that  his 
daughters  cried  with  disappointment  when  they  first  saw  the  rooms, 
so  inferior  were  they  to  what  they  had  expected.  But  the  house 
was  a  strikingly  good  one,  and  was  occupied  by  the  Noble  family 
till  past  the  middle  of  the  century,  when  the  estate  was  purchased 
by  Joseph  White,  then  treasurer  of  the  College,  was  repaired  and 
enlarged  and  beautified  by  him,  and  is  still  occupied  by  his  family 
(1894).     At  the  present  time,  there  are  two  other  noticeably  fine 


WEST   HOOSAC.  443 

residences  on  the  plateau  constituting  the  eastern  end  of  our  vil- 
lage ;  namely,  that  built  by  the  late  Thomas  Mole,  and  improved  by 
its  present  owner,  James  White,  who  has  been  treasurer  of  the 
College  since  188G ;  and  the  one  of  a  quite  novel  pattern,  long  in 
process  of  construction,  by  Clarence  M.  Smith. 

To  return  now  to  the  struggling  proprietors  here  during  the 
autumn  of  1761,  we  find  from  the  minutes  of  a  meeting,  held  at  the 
place  called  "the  Fort,"  September  24,  of  which  Benjamin  Simonds 
was  moderator,  and  at  which  Kichard  Stratton  was  chosen  clerk  for 
the  proprietors,  that  they  had  fallen  into  difficulties  with  Isaac 
Wyman,  their  former  clerk ;  and  that  the  main  object  of  the  meet- 
ing was  to  choose  a  committee  "  to  sew  [sue]  the  Proprietors 
Records  Plan  and  Lift  out  of  the  Hands  of  Isaac  Wyman  the  former 
Clerk."  The  committee  chosen  for  this  purpose  were  Gideon  War- 
ren, Benjamin  Simonds,  and  Richard  Stratton.  Were  ever  the 
foundations  of  a  New  England  village  laid  without  a  quarrel  and 
a  lawsuit  ?  Among  other  votes  at  this  meeting,  was  one  to  pay 
Gideon  Warren  £2  os.,  and  Thomas  Train  12s.,  "  for  Going  after  a 
minister,"  and  another  one,  to  appoint  Josiah  Horsford  and  Samuel 
Kellogg  "  to  Hier  a  good  orthodox  Preachor," 

One  name  of  very  considerable  significance  in  the  early  history  of 
this  town,  occurs,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  Proprietors'  Record  just 
quoted,  —  that,  namely,  of  Samuel  Kellogg.  From  that  date  to 
this,  the  name  has  seldom  been  absent  from  the  current  records  of 
the  town  and  the  church  and  the  College.  This  Samuel  Kellogg, 
son  of  Benjamin,  was  born  in  Old  Hadley,  June  9,  1734.  He  came 
to  Williams  town  from  Canaan,  Connecticut,  where  resided  Benjamin 
Kellogg  and  Zebulon  Bobbins  and  others,  who  dabbled  a  great  deal 
in  real  estate  here,  but  never  came  to  be  permanent  residents. 
Ebenezer  Kellogg,  a  half-brother  of  this  Samuel,  and  who,  after  the 
death  of  his  wife  without  children,  made  Samuel's  house  his  home 
to  an  extreme  old  age;  Ebenezer  Kellogg  (Yale  College,  1810), 
who  was  professor  of  ancient  languages  in  the  College  from  1815 
till  1844,  and  who  had  no  children;  and  this  Samuel,  who  left  a 
large  posterity,  to  say  nothing  at  present  of  Charles  and  Nathaniel 
Kellogg,  brothers,  and  those  in  the  line  of  descent  from  them, — 
have  made  this  name  a  notable  one  here  in  every  generation,  and  in 
many  relations. 

It  is  noteworthy,  that  Samuel  Kellogg  received  his  first  appoint- 
ment at  the  hands  of  the  proprietors,  on  a  committee  to  hire  a  good 
Orthodox  minister,  because  the  New  England  Kelloggs,  who  believed 
themselves  to  be  of  Scotch  descent,  were  certainly  strict  Puritans .; 


444  ORIGINS   IN   AYILLIAMSTOWN. 

for  Old  Hadley,  where  this  particular  line  of  the  Kelloggs  in  the 
person  of  their  ancestor,  Joseph,  settled  at  the  very  outset,  namely, 
in  1660,  defended  and  concealed  the  English  regicides,  as  all  the 
world  knows ;  and  Benjamin  Kellogg,  father  of  our  Samuel,  born  in 
Hadley,  as  was  also  his  son,  married  into  the  family  of  Sedgwick, 
afterwards  so  distinguished  in  Berkshire,  who  were  certainly  in  the 
line  of  Major-General  Sedgwick,  of  Cromwell's  army.  Besides 
being  Puritan  Christians,  they  were  usu-ally  prosperous  farmers,  and 
many  of  them  were  made  deacons  in  their  respective  churches, 
selectmen,  and  minor  military  officers  in  His  Majesty's  colonial 
army.  It  is  altogether  probable  from  firm  traditions  in  the  family, 
although  not  provable,  as  in  the  case  of  Nehemiah  Smedley  and 
Josiah  and  William  Horsford,  that  Samuel  Kellogg  was  one  of  a 
party  of  quite  young  men  from  northwestern  Connecticut,  who 
came  to  the  Hoosac  to  look  out  future  homes  for  themselves  during 
the  lull  between  the  last  two  French  Wars,  quite  a  number  of  whom, 
later,  enlisted  in  a  military  company,  and  were  sent  by  their  colony 
to  garrison  West  Hoosac  Fort.  At  any  rate,  Kellogg  came  here  to 
stay,  and  became  a  proprietor  in  1761. 

Although  Kellogg  bought  and  sold  house  lots  and  other  lots  in 
different  parts  of  the  town,  particularly  house  lots  28  and  30,  now, 
and  long,  a  part  of  the  Danforth  estate,  he  selected  for  his  farm  and 
permanent  home  a  section  of  lands  in  the  eastern,  and  then  wholly 
unoccupied  part  of  the  West  Hoosac  lay-out.  The  reason  why  that 
part  had  been  so  long  neglected  was,  that  the  meadows  along  the 
Hoosac  where  it  enters  the  town,  and  for  some  distance  further,  were 
low  and  swampy,  and  the  higher  lands  sloping  down  to  these  from 
the  base  of  Saddle  Ball,  were  clayey  and  inclined  to  be  wet.  But 
the  higher  lands  were  naturally  occupied  first.  Kellogg  came  to 
own,  in  a  body,  three  of  the  fifty-acre  lots  of  the  first  division,  and 
several  meadow  lots,  which  here  lie  wholly  on  the  south  side  of  the 
stream.  He  paid  Oliver  Partridge,  of  Hatfield,  £25  for  No.  15,  one 
of  these  three  fifty-acre  lots,  in  October,  1766.  Benjamin  Simonds 
and  Oliver  Partridge,  Junior,  signed  this  deed,  as  witnesses.  His 
framed  house  of  two  stories,  still  standing  in  situ,  and  now  owned, 
with  the  farm,  by  Fred.  Gr.  Smedley  (Williams  College,  1864),  was 
built  on  No.  26,  of  the  same  division,  which  lay  north  of  the  road 
towards  the  river,  while  No.  15  and  the  rest  of  his  uplands  lay 
south  of  the  road  towards  the  mountain.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
his  first  house  was  built  on  the  higher  ground  south  of  the  road,  and 
that  his  clearings  were  first  made  there.  His  son,  Samuel,  born  in 
1766,  used  to  say  to  persons    still   living,  particularly  to  his  son, 


WEST   HOOSAC.  445 

Giles  B.  Kellogg  (Williams  College,  1829),  who  is  the  unquestion- 
able  authority  for  many  of  these  facts,  that  the  forest  was  uubroken 
when  his  father  began  there,  and  that,  when  he  himself  was  a  lad, 
all  that  part  of  the  farm  lying  between  the  house  and  the  river 
was  a  spruce  swamp,  and  the  only  way  he  could  get  through  it  was 
by  jumping  from  one  fallen  tree  to  another. 

The  public  roads  in  this  part  of  the  town,  as  they  were  early  built 
and  are  still  maintained,  tell  a  striking  tale  to  this  day  of  the  low- 
ness  of  the  land  on  the  south  of  the  Hoosac  in  this  quarter,  and  of 
the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  anything  like  a  straight  road  from  the 
east  end  of  our  village  to  Fort  Massachusetts.  As  soon  as  one 
crosses  the  bridge  over  Green  River  at  that  point,  the  road  bends 
immediately  to  the  right,  in  search  of  higher  land  for  itself  than 
any  furnished  by  the  Smedley  meadows.  After  climbing  the  slight 
hill  directly  south  of  the  Smedley  house,  the  Stratton  road  continues 
due  south  a  mile  and  a  half,  over  high  land,  till  it  turns  abruptly 
west,  and  strikes  the  Green  River  road  at  Blair's.  But,  pushing  on 
from  the  Stratton  road,  still  bending  south  in  order  to  keep  dry, 
the  Adams  road,  when  it  comes  opposite  the  Kellogg  place,  strikes 
the  Luce  road,  another  road  straight  south,  parallel  with  Stratton 
road,  "  convening,"  like  that,  many  of  the  fifty -acre  lots  of  the  first 
division,  and,  unlike  that,  in  connection  with  the  Paul  road  and  its 
continuation,  giving  a  southern  and  mainly  upland  way  to  North 
Adams.  All  these  roads  are  old  roads,  going  back  nearly  to  the 
beginning  of  West  Hoosac,  formerly  much  traversed,  now  mostly 
abandoned,  but  destined,  doubtless,  to  renovation  and  occupation. 

Samuel  Kellogg,  after  getting  his  home  farm  into  some  shape, 
possessed  himself  of  another,  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  southeast, 
reached  by  the  Luce  and  Paul  roads,  and  partly  over  the  line  in 
East  Hoosac.  It  was  afterwards  called  the  *'  Loveland  place,"  from 
a  man  of  that  name  who  lived  on  it  and  carried  on  a  part  of  it  on 
shares.  Kellogg  planted  two  apple-tree  orchards  on  this  place,  and 
reserved  on  it  a  fine  grove  of  sugar-maples,  and  used  the  rest,  as  did 
also  his  son  after  him,  as  pasturage  for  sheep  and  calves.  The  lot 
lay  at  the  foot  of  Saddle  Mountain.  Shortly  after  locating  his  home 
lots,  Samuel  Kellogg  found  a  wife  in  Chloe  Bacon,  daughter  of 
Daniel  Bacon,  blacksmith,  from  Middletown,  Connecticut,  who,  two 
years  after  this  marriage  (which  took  place  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1764),  located  himself  on  Nos.  61  and  63  of  the  first  fifty -acre 
division,  which  lay  on  the  l^lair  road,  and  could  be  reached  indiffer- 
ently by  the  Luce  road  or  by  Green  River  road.  A  son  of  this 
Daniel  Bacon,  with  the  same  name,  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Ben- 


446  OEIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

nington,  perhaps  standing  by  the  side  of  his  brother-in-law,  Samuel 
Kellogg,  or  by  the  side  of  his  father's  nearest  neighbor,  Absalom 
Blair ;  for  they  were  all  there  in  the  same  company,  commanded  by 
Captain  Nehemiah  Smedley.  The  information  is  direct  and  certain 
that  Samuel  Kellogg  was  an  active  patriot  throughout  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  that  he  went  to  Boston  several  times  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  and  on  other  business  also  pertaining  to  the 
colony.  He  was  an  enterprising  and  a  leading  man  both  in  church 
and  state.  His  name  and  that  of  his  wife  are  on  the  earliest  list  of 
church  members  that  has  come  down  to  us,  —  a  list  consisting  of 
sixty-one  members,  twenty-four  men  and  thirty-seven  women, — 
who  were  members  at  the  time  of  Eev.  Mr.  Swift's  settlement 
in  1779. 

Giles  Bacon  Kellogg,  still  living  in  extreme  age  and  infirmity  in 
Bennington,  though  his  professional  life  was  passed  in  Troy,  a 
grandson  of  Samuel  Kellogg,  and  one  who  enjoyed  exceptional 
opportunities  of  learning  about  his  grandfather,  wrote  as  follows 
concerning  him :  "  He  was  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  prior  to  and  dur- 
ing the  Revolution.  The  mention  of  his  being  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace  reminds  me  that  there  was  a  tradition  in  the  family  that 
while  he  was  Justice  a  gang  of  counterfeiters  of  money  was  arrested 
in  the  Hopper  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Saddle,  on  a  process  issued  by 
him,  who  were  betrayed  by  the  smoke  arising  from  their  fires.  I 
know  there  was  a  mysterious  chest,  kept  locked  or  nailed  up  in  the 
closet  of  the  southeast  chamber  of  our  house,  which  was  said  to 
contain  the  tools  taken  from  the  counterfeiters  and  delivered  to 
grandfather.  I  never  heard  what  became  of  the  counterfeiters,  nor 
know  what  became  of  the  tools."  It  may  be  added  that  this  tradi- 
tion of  the  counterfeiters  has  come  down  in  other  families,  also,  than 
the  Kelloggs,  particularly  the  Paul  family.  Alleged  incidents  con- 
nected with  their  trial  and  the  testimony  against  them  are  repeated 
to  this  day.  As  Mr.  Justice  Kellogg  died  Sept.  2,  1788,  when  he 
was  fifty-four  years  old,  and  as  the  first  American  silver  coins  were 
not  issued  till  1794,  this  story  of  the  Hopper  counterfeiters  is  con- 
siderably discredited  by  a  comparison  of  dates,  although  it  is  possi- 
ble they  may  have  tried  their  hands  to  imitate  the  English  shillings 
or  the  Pine-tree  shillings  of  the  Massachusetts  colony. 

Samuel  Kellogg  had  a  half-brother  named  Ebenezer,  considerably 
younger  than  himself,  Avho  lived  to  a  great  age,  who  made  his 
brother's  house  his  home  for  many  years,  who  outlived  him,  and 
who  communicated  to  Giles  B.  Kellogg  many  facts  of  the  earlier 
generations.     He,  too,  was  born  in  Hadley,  married  Filena  Fuller, 


WEST  HOOSAC.  447 

settled  somewhere  in  the  western  part  of  Massachusetts ;  but,  as  he 
had  no  children,  and  his  wife  died  early,  he  came,  naturally  enough, 
to  lead  the  somewhat  roving  life  that  Giles  B.  Kellogg  thus  de- 
scribes :  "  I  remember  him  well.  He  continued  at  father's  after 
grandfather  died,  and  remained  there  as  long  as  he  lived.  He  was 
a  man  of  no  ordinary  intelligence,  in  height  above  the  common  size, 
and  well  preserved  in  body  and  mind.  He  was  a  great  hunter  and 
fisherman,  and  claimed  to  be  a  skilful  root-doctor.  I  have  known 
him  to  leave  father's  house  and  be  absent  for  a  week  at  a  time  in 
the  woods  and  mountains,  hunting,  fishing,  and  searching  for  roots." 
Further  on  in  our  task  (if  life  be  spared),  we  shall  resume  some 
account  of  the  interesting  and  influential  Kellogg  family,  and  of  the 
pioneers  who  settled  beyond  them  on  the  eastern  lines  of  Williams- 
town  ;  but  now  we  must  go  back  to  the  strifes  and  struggles  and 
physical  difficulties  of  the  first  proprietors  of  West  Hoosac. 

March  ye  11  — 1762  —  whereas  application  is  made  unto  me  by  five  of  ye 
proprietors  of  this  township  for  calling  a  proprietors  meeting  they  are  therefore 
Notifyed  &  wamded  to  assembl  themselves  together  at  the  dwelling  house  of 
Mr.  Josiah  Horsford  in  s'd  town  on  monday  ye  29  of  this  instant  month  at  one 
of  ye  clock  in  y  nfitriKM.n  tluMi  and  there  to  act  on  or  consider  the  following 
articles  viz. 

The  action  on  these  on  that  day  was  as  follows :  — 

1.  Voted  &  Chose  Jonathan  meachem  moderator 

2  Voted  &  Chose  Nehemiah  Smedley  Surveyor  of  Highways 

3.  article  of  raising  money  to  hire  preaching  tryed  voted  in  ye  Nagative 

4.  Chose  for  a  commity  to  lay  a  road  or  renew  ye  road  already  allowed  through 

this  town  towards  fraimingham  Richard  Stratton  Jonathan  Meacham  Asa 
Johnson  commity 
6.   Voted  to  allow  the  following  accounts 

Mr.  allin  Curtises  account 2£  5s   Od 

thomas  train 080 

Ezekiel  foster 028 

micah  Herienton 054 

Islah  Horsford 128 

gideon  warrin 028 

William  Horsford 0    11      9 

Jonathan  meacham       040 

The  above  s'd  survaor  &  committy  under  oath 

Test  Richard  Stratton  proprit  Clark 

The  careful  reader  will  note,  at  this  point,  how  matters,  public 
and  private,  in  our  incipient  township,  are  working  steadily  towards 
the  eastward  in  the  local  sense.     No  doubt,  also,  in  the  moral  sense, 


448  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

West  Hoosac  was  striving  to  "orient  itself."  The  first  three  or 
four  proprietors'  meetings  were  held  in  the  very  valley  of  the  Hem- 
lock Brook.  The  next  three  or  four  were  held  within  the  palisades 
of  the  fort,  which  stood  considerably  to  the  east,  but  still  on  the 
upper  part  of  the  slope  leading  down  to  the  same  brook ;  but  now, 
by  a  long  leap  eastward,  the  proprietors  are  summoned  to  assemble 
at  the  house  of  "  Mr.  Josiah  Horsford,"  that  is,  on  house  lot  42,  that 
is,  on  the  western  slope  of  the  second  eminence,  to  crown  which 
West  College  was  built  thirty  years  later.  That  house  is  still 
standing,  —  the  small  nucleus  of  a  large  house  on  the  same  site,  — 
occupied  by  the  Whitmans  for  three-quarters  of  a  century,  and  now, 
after  many  alterations  and  additions,  owned  and  dwelled  in  by  Dr. 
L.  D.  Woodbridge. 

The  first  action  of  the  little  propriety,  in  distinct  and  avowed 
reference  to  a  neighboring  one,  is  the  vote  of  this  meeting,  in  March, 
1762,  to  lay  or  renew  a  road  through  this  town  "towards  fraim- 
ingham."  "  Fraimingham  "  is  Lanesboro.  Its  original  proprietors 
in  Framingham,  Middlesex  County,  voted,  in  1742,  to  call  their 
township  Richfield;  but  the  earliest  settlers,  a  dozen  years  later, 
called  the  place  Ncav  Framingham,  until  in  1765,  at  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  town,  the  General  Court  named  it  Lanesboro,  undoubt- 
edly at  the  instance  of  Francis  Bernard,  governor  of  Massachusetts 
1760-69,  out  of  compliment  to  the  "  lovely  Lanesborough,"  as  she 
was  called,  wife  of  the  Earl  of  Lanesborough,  who  was  extremely 
jealous  of  her,  while  both  had  much  influence  at  the  English  Court. 
Looked  at  from  one  point  of  view,  the  change  of  name  was  a  disad- 
vantage to  the  little  settlement  on  the  uppermost  Housatonic ;  for 
"Framingham"  is  a  contraction,  drawn  in  England,  of  the  old 
Saxon  words,  Fremdling  Hehn,  that  is,  Stranger's  Home.  There  is 
still  in  the  English  county  of  Suffolk  a  town  named  Framlingham,  in 
Norfolk  another  called  Framingham,  and  in  Northumberland  a  third 
denominated  Framlington, — which  is  of  the  same  derivation,  except 
that  the  old  German  "  ton  "  takes  the  place  in  the  compound  of  the 
equally  old  German  "heim";  and  the  good  old  English  name, 
brought  down  through  an  early  Massachusetts  town,  might  have 
stimulated,  had  it  been  continued,  some  historical  research  on  the 
part  of  some  Lanesboro  people,  as  well  as  have  comforted  new 
settlers  there  in  the  successive  decades. 

Two  or  three  new  names  encounter  us  in  the  old  record  of  the 
proprietors'  meeting  in  March,  1762.  Jonathan  Meacham  is  one  of 
these.  He  was  cousin  to  James  Meacham.  Both  were  from  New 
Salem.     Both  had  been  soldiers  in  the  last  French  War,  and  had 


WEST   HOOSAC.  449 

passed  through  this  town,  down  the  Hoosac,  on  their  way  to  Lake 
George  or  Crown  Point.  James  Meacham  was  a  "  centinel "  in 
Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight's  company,  hastily  mustered  after  the 
battle  of  Lake  George,  in  September,  1755.  Both  were  original 
members  of  the  church  in  Williamstown,  and  James  was  one  of  the 
two  original  deacons ;  but  there  were  these  differences :  except  on 
account  of  his  conspicuous  sympathy  and  co-operation  with  Shays's 
men  in  1787,  James's  character  and  conduct  appear  to  have  escaj^ed 
serious  animadversion  on  the  part  of  his  neighbors,  while  Jonathan 
came  under  the  censure  and  public  discipline  of  the  church  in  a 
manner  hereafter  to  be  described.  James  left  a  large  posterity, 
which  has  continued  to  be  identified  with  the  town  until  the  present 
time,  while,  so  far  as  the  record  goes,  Jonathan  left  none.  His 
wife,  Thankful  •  Rugg,  it  is  believed,  was  sister  to  James's  wife, 
Lucy  Rugg  ;  and  James  continued  all  his  life  upon  one  farm,  bought 
Aug.  5,  1761,  and  died  lamented,  in  his  own  house,  July  28,  1812. 
Jonathan  lived  in  several  different  parts  of  the  town,  and  finally  re- 
moved to  distant  parts,  it  is  not  known  whither,  but  undoubtedly  into 
Vermont,  which  drew  off  many  an  old  settler  after  the  Revolution. 

Both  the  Meachams  bought  lands  here  for  new  homes  before  they 
left  New  Salem,  their  old  home.  Jonathan's  first  purchase  was 
house  lot  43,  bought  of  Dr.  Seth  Hudson,  for  £o,  Oct.  2,  1760.  It 
had  been  then  several  times  bought  and  sold,  but  not  yet  builded  on. 
^Meacham's  deed  is  witnessed  by  Noah  Grant  and  Jedidiah  Smed- 
ley,  and  it  was  acknowledged  before  William  Brattle,  of  Boston. 
!Meacham  built  his  first  house  on  the  front  of  43,  and  very  near  its 
western  line,  of  which  fact  we  should  not  have  been  so  definitely 
informed,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  construction  of  a  tennis-court, 
in  1888,  on  the  spot,  which  disclosed  pieces  of  brick  and  other 
unmistakable  signs  of  an  old  house.  This  tennis-court  lay  a  little 
to  the  east  of  the  present  Chi  Psi  building,  which  itself  occupies 
the  front  of  house  lot  41,  close  up  to  its  eastern  line.  As  the 
builders  of  West  College,  in  1790,  found  it  impossible,  on  account  of 
the  underlying  limestone,  to  dig  a  well  in  its  near  neighborhood,  and 
as  Meacham's  house  was  only  a  dozen  rods  from  West  College,  it  is 
to  be  presumed  that  Meacham  was  obliged  to  bring  his  water  from 
some  distance,  probably  from  the  copious  spring  that  still  gushes  out 
near  the  foot  of  Spring  Street ;  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  further, 
that,  as  he  soon  came  to  own  house  lot  45  also,  he  built  the  house 
on  45  (quite  near  to  this  spring),  the  hearthstone  of  which  was 
discovered  in  1889,  while  digging  the  cellar  of  the  house  of  Pro- 
fessor Bliss  Perry.     This  hearthstone  is  now  in  Clark  Hall. 


450 


ORIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


Even  if  this  original  house  on  45  were  not  builded  by  Jonathan 
Meacham,  it  is  evident  enough  that  it  was  put  up  by  somebody 
there  for  the  sake  of  easy  access  to  this  spring;  because,  so  far, 
every  dwelling  on  the  house  lots  had  been  placed  on  their  fronts, 
directly  on  Main  Street,  on  the  one  side  or  the  other  ;  but  this  house 
on  45  was  located  about  seventy  rods  from  Main  Street,  and  as  near 
to  the  Walden  Spring,  which  is  on  house  lot  47,  as  it  could  be  placed 
on  house  lot  45.  But  even  this  moderate  proximity  to  the  spring 
did  not  ultimately  satisfy  Meacham,  provided  he  was  the  builder  of 
that  house ;  for  he  certainly  erected  afterwards,  on  house  lot  49,  at 
a  spot  still  further  from  Main  Street,  and  almost  on  the  very  edge 
of  the  College  Spring,  which  is  about  fifteen  rods  east  of  the  Wal- 


AUTHOR'S    HOUSE. 
Built  in  1872. 


den  Spring,  another  house,  the  cavity  of  whose  cellar  is  still  dis- 
cernible just  west  of  the  big  rock  there,  a  present  depression  that 
was  a  large  open  hole  a  fcAV  years  ago,  when  it  was  filled  in  to 
accommodate  the  students'  ball-field. 

Jonathan  Meacham  had  evidently  sterling  qualities  both  for  peace 
and  war,  but  was  as  evidently  restless  in  relation  to  his  home. 
After  living  some  time  by  the  College  Spring,  he  moved  upon  Bee 
Hill,  where  the  Hickocks  now  are,  and  have  been  for  more  than  a 
century.  He  was  often  out  during  the  Eevolutionary  War,  —  the 
last  date  that  has  been  noticed  Avas  in  October,  1780,  in  Captain 
Israel  Harris's  company  of  sixty-three  officers  and  men,  all  from 
Williamstown.     He  mortgaged  to  Albany  parties,  in  July,  1769,  his 


WEST   HOOSAC.  451 

house  lots  43  and  45,  to  secure  a  debt  of  £89,  New  York  money, 
whicli  was  paid  in  1772,  —  £102,  principal  and  interest.  Under 
date  of  Feb.  13,  1779,  in  the  tiist  entry  made  by  Kev.  Mr.  Swift,  in 
the  church-record  book,  occur  these  words,  "  Voted  that  Sampson 
Howe  and  Nathaniel  Sanford  be  a  Committee  to  wait  on  Jonathan 
Meacham  to  inquire  the  reason  of  his  absentini::  himself  from 
Communion." 

House  lot  43,  on  whicu  :>ircuiiani  built  his  tirsi  iiou.sf.  is  the  lot 
on  which  the  writer's  own  house  has  stood  since  1872,  which  is 
fairly  represented,  when  new,  by  the  annexed  wood-cut ;  the  eastern 
line  of  43  runs  along  by  the  lattice-work  under  the  piazza  of  the 
house ;  consequently  it  bisects  north  and  south  the  new  chemical 
laboratory,  which  was  finished  for  Professor  Mears  in  the  summer 
of  1892;  and  West  College,  while  it  stands  wholly  in  Main  Street, 
would  be  bisected  in  the  same  direction  by  the  continuation  of  the 
line  dividing  43  and  45.  On  the  last-named  lot,  directly  in  front  of 
the  writer's  house,  was  erected  the  same  summer,  by  John  B.  Gale 
{Williams  College,  1842),  a  dwelling  for  Professor  Spring.  The  north 
front  of  that  lot  has  been  cumbered  since  1847  by  a  small  college 
dormitory,  originally  with  two  recitation-rooms  on  the  lower  floor, 
in  one  of  which  Professor  I.  N.  Lincoln  and  in  the  other  Professor 
A.  L.  Perry  heard  their  first  college  recitations  at  the  same  hour  in 
September,  1853.  A  tolerable  picture  of  Kellogg  Hall,  with  Mount 
Williams  and  Bald  ^lountain  in  the  distance,  will  here  be  greeted, 
perhaps,  with  pleasure  by  many,  especially  as  its  speedy  demolition 
is  already  projected.  A  physical  laboratory  to  be  used  by  Professor 
Lefavour,  and  to  stand  wholly  on  45,  and  a  biological  laboratory  to 
be  occupied  by  Professor  S.  F.  Clarke,  and  to  stand  wholly  on  43, 
were  projected  and  erected  and  completed  by  the  bounty  of  Trustee 
Thompson. 

Asa  Johnson  was  another  name  first  met  with  in  the  "  Propriety  " 
record  of  1762.  He  came  here,  like  many  another  young  man,  from 
Canaan,  Connecticut ;  for  we  read  that  "  Asa  Johnson  and  Thankful, 
his  wife,  had  Hannah  born  in  Canaan,  29  Oct.  1760."  We  shall  have 
to  deal  with  many  Johnsons  in  the  course  of  this  our  task,  but  this 
Asa  seems  to  be  apart  from  the  rest,  with  no  signs  of  near  relation- 
ship, and  with  some  personal  qualities  discriminating  him  from 
them.  He  seems  to  have  settled  pretty  soon  after  he  came  on  first- 
division  fifty-acre  lot  37,  its  eastern  end  abutting  on  Green  River, 
and  its  western  running  up  on  Stone  Hill,  about  half-way  between 
James  Meacham's  and  Taylor's  Crotch ;  for  in  March,  1764,  he  sold 
to  Jacob  Brown  '•'  one  sartuiii  fiftv  acre  lot  37  that  I  now  live  on  with 


452 


ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


the  house  and  barn,"  etc.  He  sold,  the  year  before,  to  "White 
David  "  Johnson,  second-division  fifty-acre  lot  No.  7,  for  £19,  which 
White  David  cultivated  as  the  house  lot  of  "  Stone  Hill  Farm  "  till 
after  the  opening  of  this  century.  He  sold,  also  in  1764,  meadow 
lot  No.  1  for  £5,  "  said  meadow  lot  lyeth  joining  on  the  Township 
called  East  Hoosuck,"  to  "  Ephraim  Selah."  Notwithstanding  these 
and  other  sales  of  property,  including  one  to  Benjamin  Simonds  for 
£37  10s.,  Asa  Johnson  could  not  get  out  of  debt.  Albany  was  then 
the  chief  market  of  the  settlers  for  purchasing  supplies.     E-obert 


illli 

1 1  I  I  i 


KELLOGG    HALL. 

Built  in   1847. 

Henry  was  then  a  merchant  of  Albany.  Johnson  was  sued  by  Henry 
in  September,  1766,  and  judgment  found  against  him  in  £141  lis.  lie?, 
debt,  and  £3  7s.  costs.  Samuel  Kellogg  and  Eichard  Stratton  and 
Jonathan  Meacham  took  oath  to  appraise  the  real  estate  for  satisfy- 
ing this  execution. 

In  the  mean  time  Johnson  had  built  a  house  and  made  a  home  on 
the  county  road,  the  extension  of  the  North  Street  northward, 
between  house  lots  2  and  36,  a  six-rod  road  at  right  angles  to  Main 
Street,  and  from  the  northern  end  of  the  house  lots  (themselves 
bounded  there  by  a  two-rod  road,  which  was  never  completed  as 


WEST  HOOSAC.  453 

intended)  a  four-rod  road  running  north  to  the  river  and  beyond. 
Just  where  the  six-rod  road  contracted  to  the  four-rod  road,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  latter,  and  on  the  north  side  of  the  two-rod  road, 
two  acres  and  a  half  were  laid  out  in  October,  1762,  as  a  burying- 
ground  for  the  Propriety.  It  was  three-eighths  of  a  mile  north  of 
the  Square,  on  the  left  hand  of  the  road  leading  to  Bennington, 
on  the  southern  edge  of  first-division  fifty-acre  lot  35.  It  was  used 
for  some  years  as  a  burial-place,  both  before  and  after  the  formal 
bounding  of  the  lot  by  a  committee  consisting  of  Samuel  Kellogg 
and  Thomas  Dunton ;  in  the  warning  for  a  meeting  to  be  holden  on 
the  19th  of  April,  1762,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Josiah  Horsford,  the 
last  article  was,  "To  see  if  the  propriators  will  clear  any  more 
of  the  burying  place,  or  allow  Mr.  Johnson  anything  for  the  work 
he  has  done  in  the  burying  place,"  which  article  was  voted  to  be 
"  dropped  "  in  the  meeting  itself;  the  place  was  difficult  of  access,  on 
account  of  a  very  steep  pitch  in  the  clay  road  about  one-eighth  of  a 
mile  south  of  the  lot  35,  which  obstacle  to  travel  caused  long  after- 
wards the  abandonment  of  that  part  of  the  county  road  in  favor  of 
another  running  down  the  Hemlock  Brook,  and  coming  back  into  the 
old  road  about  fifty  rods  south  of  the  bridge  over  the  Hoosac;  and 
how  inaccessible  the  graveyard  was  from  the  west  by  the  narrow 
road  designed  to  flank  the  northern  ends  of  the  house  lots,  and  actu- 
ally flanking  them  to  this  day  about  half  of  the  way,  any  one  may 
see  by  looking  up  the  present  rocks  by  the  old  poplars  in  the  line  of 
the  Bulkley  road  east. 

In  the  warrant  for  the  next  meeting  is  found  the  article,  "To 
see  if  ye  propriators  will  alter  the  burying  yard  " ;  and  in  the  action 
on  the  same  is  found  the  clause,  "  Voted  to  alter  the  burying  yard." 
Then  comes  the  return  of  Kellogg  and  Dunton  :  — 

Whereas  We  the  Subscribers  being  chosen  a  commity  to  establish  the  bounds 
of  the  burying  place  and  we  have  bounded  the  Same  as  follows  beginning  at  a 
Stake  at  the  North  end  of  the  Six  Rods  Highway  where  the  four  Rods  Highway 
first  Enters  the  first  fifty  acre  Lot  Noin""  35  Ituning  thirteen  rods  and  the  third 
part  of  a  rod  North  on  the  west  side  of  S^  Highway  from  thence  thirty  rods  west 
to  a  Stake  &  Stones  from  thence  South  thirteen  rods  and  one  third  of  a  rod  to  a 
Stake  Standing  on  the  North  Side  of  the  two  rod  road  that  runs  at  the  North  end 
of  House  Ix)ts  from  thence  thirty  rods  east  on  the  North  Side  of  S*  Highway  to 
the  first  bounds  containing  two  acres  and  a  half  of  Land  bounded  this  26  —  day 
of  October— 1762. 

But  nothing  could  make  this  yard  for  the  dead  —  God's  acre  —  accep- 
table to  the  majority  of  the  proprietors.  It  was  too  inaccessible. 
Another  was  not  long  after  selected,  lying  upon  the  Main  Street,  just 


454  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

west  of  Hemlock  Brook,  which  has  continued  the  principal  cemetery 
of  the  town  till  the  present  time ;  and  many  of  the  bodies  laid  in 
the  first  ground  were  removed  to  this. 

Asa  Johnson  evidently  did  not  get  on  well  pecuniarily.  He  was 
still  in  debt  to  Eobert  Henry.  He  sold  off  to  William  Horsford,  for 
£9,  in  October,  1767,  ten  acres  more  of  his  fifty-acre  lot  35,  adjoin- 
ing the  burial-ground ;  and  in  1770  he  sold  off  the  rest,  and  migrated 
to  Vermont.  He  sold  to  Eobert  Henry,  "  merchant  of  Albany,"  for 
£45,  twelve  and  one-half  acres,  including  his  dwelling-house  and 
out-buildings.  The  plat  is  described  in  the  deed  as  "  bounded  north- 
erly on  land  of  said  Eobert  Henry,  westerly  on  William  Horsford's 
land,  southerly  on  the  burial  yard,  and  easterly  on  the  County  Eoad." 
Going  from  here  to  what  is  now  Eutland,  Vermont,  his  family  was 
one  of  the  first  four  white  families  in  that  town.  His  daughter, 
Chloe,  was  born  there,  Oct.  3,  1770,  the  third  white  child  born  in 
Eutland,  the  two  first  having  been  born  within  the  ten  days  preced- 
ing. His  house  here,  which  was  well  built,  stood  in  its  place  by  the 
old  road  for  a  century.  The  present  writer  remembers  it  well.  It 
was  occupied  successively  by  Solomon  Woolcot  and  Samuel  Tyler. 
The  old  road,  though  long  disused,  can  still  be  traced  most  of  the 
way  north  to  the  spot  where  the  new  one  joined  it ;  and  at  the  north- 
ern end  of  the  part  disused,  a  new  road  admirably  constructed  has 
lately  been  put  in  along  the  line  of  the  old  one,  to  his  own  elegant 
mansion  crowning  the  height  of  the  hill,  by  Eugene  M.  Jerome 
(Williams  College,  1867). 

The  years  1762  and  1763  were  pivotal  in  the  history  of  West 
Hoosac.  Not  far  from  twenty-five  young  men  were  actually  clearing 
up  their  lots,  and  fulfilling  the  other  conditions  prescribed  by  the 
General  Court,  under  which  the  lots  were  to  become  their  own  in 
fee  simple.  They  were  stalwart  young  men,  and  they  were  looking 
forward.  Those  actual  settlers  even,  who  had  had  a  past,  like  Isaac 
Wyman,  for  example,  and  still  more  those  prominent  men  to  the 
eastward,  who  had  bought  lots  on  speculation,  or  to  encourage  the 
settlement  as  a  barrier  against  French  and  Indians,  like  Oliver  Par- 
tridge, had,  by  this  time,  sold  out  and  withdrawn  from  the  field. 
Eichard  Stratton  is  almost  the  only  instance  of  an  elderly  man,  who 
had  come  and  come  to  stay,  —  to  cast  in  his  lot  for  good  or  ill  with 
the  actual  founders  of  a  town.  The  proprietors'  meetings  during 
these  two  years  were  frequent  and  significant.  The  debates  were 
earnest,  and  they  concerned  the  future.  They  related  mainly,  (1)  To 
clearing  out  and  making  passable  the  Main  Street  (especially  towards 
its   western   end),  and  the  two  streets  at  right   angles  with  this 


WEST   HOOSAC.  455 

leading  north  and  south  from  the  Square,  all  which  had  been  laid 
out  in  1750;  (2)  To  laying  out  new  streets  in  the  right  places, 
so  as  "to  convean"  the  purchasers  of  the  outlots  of  the  several 
classes ;  (3)  To  the  raising  of  money  by  local  taxation  for  these  and 
other  needful  ends;  (4)  To  the  procuring  and  maintenance  of  "a 
good  orthodox  minister";  and  (5)  To  getting  into  practicable  com- 
munication with  their  neighbors  both  to  the  east  and  south. 

We  will  now  give  a  few  votes,  as  specimens  merely,  under  each  of 
these  heads,  during  those  two  years.  We  will  also  in  this  connec- 
tion note  the  places  of  the  meetings,  and  the  names  of  any  proprietors 
mentioned,  who  became  prominent.  Two  of  these  meetings  were 
held  at  the  house  of  "Mr.  Benjamin  Simonds."  As  the  meetings  had 
been  pretty  constantly  working  their  way  to  the  eastward  of  Hem- 
lock Brook,  and  as  two  or  three  of  those  just  preceding  these  con- 
vened at  the  house  of  Josiah  Horsford  on  the  second  eminence,  this 
cannot  mean  that  the  proprietors  were  called  on  to  cross  that  brook 
and  climb  up  the  steep  pitch  to  the  west  of  it  to  Simonds's  house  on 
No.  22,  probably  then  the  farthest  house  to  the  west  on  Main  Street, 
and  certainly  further  west  than  any  meeting  was  held  before ;  and 
when  we  come  to  look  carefully,  we  find  that  Simonds  had  sold 
No.  22  to  Joshua  Simonds  in  1760,  and  had  begun  the  yegir  before 
to  buy  up  the  house  lots  on  the  south  side  of  Main  Street,  from 
Hemlock  Brook  up  to  the  level  of  the  Square,  —  buying  No.  5  in 
1759,  7  in  1762,  9  in  1762  also,  and  3  in  1764.  He  ultimately  placed 
his  own-built  house  on  No.  3,  in  which  he  kept  an  inn  for  several 
years,  the  site  of  the  present  elegant  house  of  Henry  Sabin ;  but  5 
and  7  and  9  each  had  its  house  in  1762,  and  the  proprietors  had  met 
more  than  once  with  Seth  Hudson  on  his  then  No.  9 ;  so  that,  these 
later  meetings  with  Simonds  were  certainly  east  of  the  brook,  and 
on  one  of  his  recent  purchases.  He  is  designated  as  an  "  innholder" 
in  December,  1763,  the  first  of  that  craft  in  West  Hoosac,  and  promi- 
nent as  such  for  many  years,  the  necessity  for  the  "  landlord  "  being 
the  current  now  beginning  to  set  strongly  from  Connecticut  into 
Vermont. 

••  Voted,  to  chuse  a  commity  to  remove  all  incumbrances  out  of 
the  main  street  croos  street  or  private  Roads  that  obstruct  common 
traveling."  "  Voted,  to  clear  or  dig  to  make  comfortable  passing  on 
the  west  end  of  ye  main  street "  [Danforth  Hill].  "  Voted,  to  clear 
a  road  through  this  town  towards  fraimingham  for  comfortable  cart- 
ing." "  Voted,  to  clear  a  road  to  the  east  town  for  a  cart  to  get 
along."  "  Voted,  to  clear  a  road  from  the  east  end  of  main  street 
by  wppb's  rpMrri"k  Webb's]  to  the  mouth  of  crreen  river."     "Voted, 


456  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

to  have  preaching  for  the  future."  "  Chose  thomas  dunton  asa  Jon- 
son  Samuel  Kellogg  commity  to  provide  a  minister."  "Voted,  to 
raise  twelve  shillings  on  each  propriators  rite  to  defray  the  charge 
of  preaching."  "  Voted,  asa  Jonson's  account  of  Nine  days  £3  12s. 
for  going  after  a  minister."  "  Voted  Samuel  Kelloggs  account  for 
going  for  a  minister  £3 14s."  "  Voted  to  give  mr  warner  a  call  to 
preach  on  probation  —  2  —  chose  Nehemiah  Smedley  Benjamin 
Simonds  Derick  weeb  commity  to  treat  with  mr  warner  or  provide 
another  minister  if  need  be."  ''  Voted  a  tax  of  one  pound  on  each 
rite"  (19  April,  1762).  "Voted  twelve  shillings  on  each  rite" 
(10  March,  1763). 

Several  of  the  proprietors  failed  to  respond  to  these  lawful  levies 
on  their  "rites,"  and  the  rights  were  accordingly  sold  at  public 
auction;  for  example,  Benjamin  Simonds  bought  house  lot  2,  for 
£4,  William  Horsford  bought  house  lot  4,  for  £4  12s.,  and  Isaac 
Searle  bought  house  lot  8,  for  £2.  Samuel  Kellogg  and  Zebulon 
Eobbins  were  other  purchasers  at  this  "  Publick  Vandue,"  as  Eich- 
ard  Stratton  announced  it,  he  continuing  to  be  proprietors'  clerk 
till  1765,  when  the  town  was  incorporated.  Lands  were  abundant 
in  West  Hoosac,  and  consequently  cheap.  Ever  after  the  date  last 
mentioned,  and  even  somewhat  before,  the  lands  of  Vermont  came 
into  competition  with  those  on  the  upper  Hoosac,  and  tended  to 
make  the  latter  cheaper  still.  All  kinds  of  timber  but  pine  were 
plenty  in  the  town,  and  the  proprietors  voted  themselves  the 
"liberty  to  cut  timber  on  the  undivided  land";  but  the  pines  were 
more  precious,  and  were  zealously  watched,  — "  voted  and  Chose 
Joseph  ballard  Josiah  Horsford  John  Smedley  commity  to  prose- 
cute those  men  that  have  cut  the  pine  timber  in  this  township  that 
have  No  rite  in  s-  township."  The  pines  were  localized  on  the 
northeastern  boundaries  of  the  town,  and  sixty-three  pine  lots  were 
soon  laid  out,  one  for  each  owner  of  a  house  lot ;  most  of  these  were 
on  Broad  Brook  or  near  it,  but  eight  of  them  may  be  said  to  have 
been  on  the  Hoosac,  Nos.  7  and  8  at  the  junction  of  the  brook 
and  river. 

Whether  it  was  as  a  member  of  the  committee  to  prosecute  tres- 
passes on  the  pine  lands,  or  in  the  exercise  of  native  Connecticut 
sagacity  as  a  private  person,  John  Smedley,  eldest  of  the  five 
brothers,  sons  of  Samuel,  of  Litchfield,  early  perceived  the  possibili- 
ties of  both  land  and  water  at  the  junction  of  Broad  Brook  and 
Hoosac  River.  There  were  two  pine  lots,  and  parts  of  five  meadow 
lots,  the  latter  partially  covered  with  pines  also,  in  the  north  angle 
between  the  streams.     He  had  noticed  a  considerable  fall  in  Broad 


WEST   HOOSAC.  457 

Brook,  just  above  the  point  where  the  bridge  now  crosses  it,  on  the 
road  to  Bennington ;  and  in  June,  1763,  he  asked,  in  due  and  legal 
form,  "  If  the  proprietors  will  grant  John  Smedley  liberty  to  Set  up 
a  Sawmill  upon  the  brook  called  broatl  brook  also  to  carry  the  water 
acrost  the  highway  on  his  own  cost  to  the  common  land  Lying  North 
of  the  meadow  Lots  nom?  thirty  nine  forty  and  forty  one  also  to  see 
if  tlie  proprietors  will  grant  to  the  S**  John  Smedley  two  acres  and 
an  half  between  S**  meadow  Lots  &  the  highway  that  goes  to  pow- 
nal  to  accommidate  S**  Sawmill  said  land  to  be  reducted  out  of  his 
next  draft  or  pitch  of  Land  also  to  chuse  a  commity  to  Lay  out 
8**  land  on  S*^  Smedleys  cost."  A  month  later,  the  proprietors 
"  voted  John  Smedley  liberty  to  build  a  Sawmill  on  broad  brook 
and  to  carry  the  water  acrost  the  highway  on  his  own  cost  also  two 
acres  and  an  half  of  land  to  acomidate  s**  Sawmill  S**  land  to  be 
Reducted  out  of  his  next  draft  or  pitch  of  Land  voted  Richard 
Sutton  derick  weeb  Jonathan  Meacham  commitee  to  Lay  out  the 
Land  to  accomidate  S*  mill  to  be  done  on  S**  Smedley's  cost." 

Here  we  have  the  interesting  history  of  the  second  (even  if  not 
the  first)  sawmill  in  this  township.  Probably  a  dam  had  been 
thrown  across  the  Green  River  by  this  time,  at  the  lowest  of  the 
three  falls,  at  tlie  east  end  of  the  southeastern  tier  of  house  lots, 
where  there  has  been  a  dam  ever  since,  to  which  access  was  early 
given  by  "Pork  lane,"  now  dignified  by  the  town  as  Bingham 
Street,  and  a  sawmill  located  there.  At  any  rate,  Smedley  soon  had 
his  mill  agoing  lively.  It  stood  right  on  the  bank  of  tlie  Hoosac, 
into  which  his  waste  water  fell  easy,  and  its  old  timbers  have  been 
seen  in  place  within  fifty  years  by  Ripley  Cole,  a  reputable  living 
citizen  of  the  White  Oaks ;  and  the  writer  himself  has  seen  im- 
mensely wide  pine  boards  sawn  at  this  mill,  with  which  Smedley 
sheathed  his  own  house,  built  on  the  bank  above,  along  which  now 
run  the  tracks  of  the  Fitchburg  Railroad.  Those  boards  were  then, 
doubtless,  a  century  old,  —  probably  more,  —  and  were  fastened  to 
the  studding  by  large,  hand-wrought  nails,  both  boards  and  nails 
wrenched  and  twisted  by  time  and  exposure.  This  house  is  figured 
on  Coffin's  map  of  Williamstown,  1843,  as  standing  on  pine  lot  No. 
7,  about  equidistant  from  the  Hoosac  and  the  Broad.  Smedley 
came  to  own  both  the  pine  lots  there,  parts  of  several  meadow  lots, 
and  what  he  himself  described  as  the  "common  land"  north  of  the 
latter.  He  carried  his  water  from  brook  to  mill,  about  eighty  rods, 
along  a  little  channel  dug  by  the  north  side  of  the  '^  highway,"  still 
visible  all  the  way,  till  it  came  near  a  steep  rise  then  and  now  in  the 
highway,  when,  as  authorized,  he  "crost  the  highway,"  and  took  his 


458  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

water  around  the  hill,  on  descending  ground,  to  his  primitive  mill- 
race  on  the  river.  The  sluiceway  across  the  road  is  just  where  it 
was  dug  130  years  ago,  and  a  little  water  still  drizzles  along  the 
entire  channel  and  across,  under  the  tiny  bridge,  and  disperses  itself 
in  the  green  meadow  on  the  south  of  the  road. 

As  it  was  with  the  pines,  so  also  was  it  with  the  white  oaks. 
They,  too,  were  localized.  They  were  wholly  in  the  northeast  cor- 
ner of  the  township,  wholly  north  of  the  Hoosac,  and  almost  wholly 
east  of  Broad  Brook.  There  were  almost  literally  none  in  the  other 
parts  of  the  town.  The  writer  has  heard  an  old  woodsman  declare 
that  there  was  not  a  single  white-oak  tree  within  three  miles  of 
Greylock.  Next  after  the  pine  lots,  —  which  was  the  sixth  division 
of  lands  among  the  proprietors  of  house  lots,  these  constituting 
the  first  division,  the  meadow  lots  the  second,  the  fifty-acre  lots  at 
the  North  Part  being  the  third,  at  the  South  Part  the  fourth,  and 
the  100-acre  lots  the  fifth,  —  the  sixty-three  oak  lots  were  laid  out. 
There  was  a  pretty  strong  desire  to  possess  one  or  more  of  these, 
■either  by  allotment  or  subsequent  purchase,  on  account  of  the  utility 
and  durability  of  white-oak  timber,  especially  for  the  sills  of  build- 
ings. There  is  good  evidence,  at  least  in  one  case,  of  such  timbers 
being  hauled,  for  such  use,  three  miles  or  more  into  the  Hopper. 
More  than  half  of  these  oak  lots  abut  on  the  western  line  of  the 
present  town  of  Clarksburg,  and  that  entire  line  is  covered  by  them ; 
and  the  rest  are  scattered  on  or  near  Broad  Brook,  and  between  or 
among  small  groups  of  the  pine  lots.  The  oak  lots  were  the  seventh 
division.  The  eighth  were  sixty-acre  lots.  The  ninth  and  last  were 
"  pitches,"  so-called,  each  owner  of  a  house  lot  being  authorized  to 
lay  out  for  himself,  on  any  of  the  still  undivided  lands,  thirty  acres, 
in  one  or  two  or  three  pieces,  as  he  chose.  Even  after  these  pitches 
were  all  located,  there  remained  in  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  mostly 
on  steep  slopes  of  mountains  in  the  south  and  west,  considerable 
patches  of  undivided  land.  These  were  afterwards  sold,  if  any  one 
wished  to  purchase,  by  the  Selectmen.  A  land-grabber  of  that 
period,  named  Ephraim  Seelye,  got  most  of  these  into  his  hands, 
and  then  peddled  them  out  to  a  profit.  He  owned  also,  at  one  time 
and  another,  wide  stretches  of  the  best  lands.  It  was  said  of  him, 
by  one  of  his  quick-witted  neighbors,  that,  had  he  been  in  the  place 
of  our  Lord  when  Satan  offered  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and 
the  glory  of  them,  he  would  have  exclaimed,  without  a  minute's 
hesitation,  "I'll  take  it,  I  will !  " 

All  that  northeast  corner  of  the  town  north  of  the  Hoosac,  and 
on  both  sides  of  the  Broad,  has  been  called,  time  out  of  mind,  the 


WEST   HOOSAC.  459 

"  White  Oaks."  It  is  a  happy  designation,  and  is  to  be  presumed 
coeval  with  the  settlement  of  the  town.  As  "  Broad  Brook "  is 
so  named  in  the  records  the  first  time  the  stream  is  referred  to,  and 
as  ''  Stone  Hill "  received  that  appellation  officially  as  early  as  1762, 
and  as  "  Green  River "  was  so  called  at  least  as  early  as  that,  it 
is  pleasant  to  remember  that  the  marked  things  here  that  needed 
naming,  the  things  close  at  hand  and  striking,  were  well  named 
at  the  very  first ;  because 


'  *  The  past  will  always  win 
A  glory  from  its  being  far  !  " 


The  "  Sand  Spring,"  which  is  the  jewel  of  the  White  Oaks,  and 
which  was  naturally  so  called  at  the  outset,  because  the  warmish 
water  gurgles  up  through  innumerable  little  hemispheres  of  sand, 
and  makes  the  bottom  of  the  spring,  to  one  gazing  down  through  the 
depth  of  clear  water,  look  like  a  gigantic  ant-hill,  itself  a  hemisphere 
made  up  of  countless  smaller  ones.  The  first  person  known  to  live 
on  the  Sand  Spring  lot,  which  was  a  pine  lot,  was  John  Smedley,  2d, 
who  married  Hepzibah  Philips  in  1786 ;  and  the  first  person  known 
to  claim  curative  properties  for  the  water,  provision  for  bathing  in 
which  was  very  early  made,  and  has  never  been  intermitted,  was  old 
Aaron  Smedley,  his  uncle,  born  March  9,  1750,  wlio,  though  a  land- 
owner at  one  time  in  Williamstown  like  all  his  brothers,  became  a 
sort  of  vagrant  hunter  in  Vermont,  and  whose  eczema  (as  he 
asserted)  was  always  helped  by  a  bath  in  the  Sand  Spring  water. 

The  population  in  that  part  of  the  town  was  as  respectable  at 
first,  and  perhaps  as  independent,  as  that  in  the  other  parts, 
although  much  of  the  land  there  is  stony,  and  more  is  sandy.  Old 
John  Smedley,  born  Jan.  4,  1731,  did  not  borrow  leave  to  dwell  in 
plenty  by  his  sawmill,  where  he  reared  a  family  of  eight  daughters ; 
Ephraim  Seelye,  with  a  choice  of  lands  of  his  own  in  every  quarter 
of  the  town,  fixed  his  permanent  home  at  the  junction  of  the  "  North 
Hoosac  road  "  with  the  "  Simonds  road,"  as  both  were  voted  to  be 
called  by  the  town  in  1891 ;  Benjamin  Simonds  himself,  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  left  his  "  inn  "  in  the  straggling  village, 
which  he  had  done  more  than  any  one  else  to  build  up,  and  built  a 
much  larger  hostelry  in  the  White  Oaks  on  what  is  now  named  the 
River-Bend  Farm,  where  he  lived  and  died,  rearing  his  seven 
daughters  to  match  those  of  his  neighbor  to  the  north,  John  Smed- 
ley; and  Jonathan  Bridges  from  Colchester,  Connecticut,  early 
bought  the  fine  farm  on  the  North  Hoosac  road,  still  owned  by  his 
great-grandson,  Charles  E.  Bridges,  and,  marrying  Prudence  Simonds, 


460  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

born  Dec.  4, 1763,  brought  up  a  family  that  has  brought  credit  to  the 
White  Oaks  ever  since.  His  youngest  daughter,  Lucy  Bridges  Smed- 
ley,  is  yet  living  in  town,  well  on  in  her  eighties,  and  well  estab- 
lished in  the  respect  and  affection  of  her  children  and  children's 
children. 

But  the  fact  is  well  known,  and  the  reasons  of  it  also,  that  a  very 
different  class  of  people  gradually  inserted  themselves  between  the 
hills  and  into  the  dells  of  the  White  Oaks.  Some  lands  were  very 
cheap  there,  and  others  in  the  rougher  districts  could  be  squatted  on 
with  impunity.  The  line  of  Vermont  borders  the  entire  district 
on  the  north,  and  the  line  of  New  York  is  only  a  little  way  to  the 
•west ;  and  it  was  easy  for  fugitives  from  debt,  and  from  petty  crimes 
too,  to  find  a  refuge  in  a  bordering  state,  and  in  physical  conditions 
so  favorable  to  temporary  concealment  and  permanent  harborage. 
Negro  slavery  vsras  not  legally  abolished  in  the  state  of  New  York 
until  1836.  Considerable  numbers  of  colored  people  from  that  state 
percolated  into  the  White  Oaks,  and  perpetuated  themselves  there. 
Indian-Dutch  families,  like  the  Orcombreits,  came  also.  All  sorts, 
and  colors,  and  conditions  crept  in;  low-downs  from  Massachusetts 
were  not  wanting :  these  all  intermarried,  or,  at  least,  intermingled  5 
and  the  result,  in  course  of  time,  was  a  very  curious  and  a  morally 
obstinate  state  of  society.  Begging  in  the  street,  and  thieving  every- 
where, became  hereditary  features  in  a  number  of  families.  The 
state  of  things  over  there  rested,  more  or  less,  on  the  conscience  of 
the  churches  over  here  in  every  generation  ;  various  religious  and 
educational  efforts  of  a  spasmodic  nature  were  made  from  time  to 
time  for  the  benefit  of  the  people.  About  1865,  Professor  Albert 
Hopkins  began  on  a  systematic  and  persistent  plan  for  the  moral 
elevation  of  the  White  Oaks,  by  means  of  a  local  church  and  Sunday- 
school,  in  the  execution  of  which,  and  in  its  continuation  since  his 
death,  the  brothers  Woodbridge  (Williams  College,  1872  and  1873) 
:and  the  family  of  the  late  B.  F.  Mather  have  been  prominent  and 
patiently  efficient,  and  great  good  has  been  accomplished ;  and,  while 
during  the  last  decade,  the  population  of  that  section  has  rapidly 
increased,  owing  to  the  operations  of  the  Fitchburg  Railroad  there, 
the  current  year  has  witnessed  the  hopeful  beginning  under  Metho- 
dist auspices  of  vigorous  religious  efforts,  of  which  the  ''  Clarke 
Chapel"  is  the  centre. 

Before  quitting  the  present  topic,  it  will  be  proper  to  refer  to  the 
"  Line  House,"  so-called,  the  last  house  in  the  White  Oaks,  as  one 
passes  into  Vermont  by  the  river  road.  The  division  line  between 
the  states,  which  is  Hazen's  Line  of  1741,  passes  directly  through 


WEST   HOOSAC.  461 

this  house.  It  is  a  convenient  site  for  a  house,  as  Rattlesnake 
Brook  flanks  the  place  at  short  distance,  furnishing  both  occupants 
and  travellers  abundant  water.  A  certain  Esquire  Ware  was  the 
first  known  dweller  and  tavern-keeper  there,  after  whom  the  brook 
was  sometimes  named  "  AVare's  Brook " ;  Ephraim  Seelye,  Junior, 
whose  wife  was  Ann  Bridges,  lived  there  a  long  time,  and  kept  a 
tavern,  as  did  also  *'  Vane  "  Danforth,  whose  strange  history  may 
confront  us  later;  and  Charles  D.  Sabin,  Jesse's  son,  died  there, 
Dec.  27,  1841,  aged  thirty-four.  On  account  of  the  house  being 
situated  in  two  states,  and  bearing,  at  least,  a  semi-public  character, 
it  was  an  early  and  frequent  resort  for  clandestine  marriages, — 
Mr.  Justice-of-the-Peace  Danforth  (for  one)  being  happy  to  sol- 
emnize that  rite  for  Massachusetts  parties  in  a  room  in  the  north 
end  of  the  house,  understood  to  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
state  of  Vermont,  whose  commission  as  Justice  he  bore.  Gradu- 
ally, for  this  and  other  reasons,  the  house  came  to  bear  a  question- 
able reputation.  Since  the  liquor  laws  of  Massachusetts  have  been 
stringent,  and,  of  course,  divergent  from  those  of  Vermont,  the 
pliice  has  been  noted  for  the  illegal  sale  of  intoxicants.  The  house, 
at  present,  carries  a  well-painted  and  sleek-repaired  exterior,  but 
passers-by,  rarely,  if  ever,  see  the  front  door  open,  and  those  who 
prize  character  and  good  name  most,  are  least  likely  to  be  seen  at 
the  back  door  by  day  or  night. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  as  we  study  the  present  paragraph,  that 
the  committee  of  the  General  Court,  laying  out  the  limits  of  the 
town  in  1749,  prepared  a  rude  plan  of  it,  as  did  also  the  committee 
of  1739,  and  the  proprietors,  from  the  first,  had  a  parchment  copy 
stretched  upon  a  bit  of  board,  on  which  a  few  of  the  main  roads 
were  provisionally  put  down,  but  the  proprietors  had  the  right, 
practically,  to  build  all  the  roads  as  and  where  they  chose.  Thus 
the  plan  contemplated  two  roads,  each  exactly  parallel  with  the 
Main  Street,  along  the  northern  and  southern  ends  of  the  house 
lots  ;  but  the  proprietors  only  built  one-half  of  the  proposed  road 
on  the  north,  and  none  at  all  on  the  south.  There  seems  to  have 
been  sketched  out  on  the  plan,  also,  a  road  from  Taylor's  Crotch  to 
the  old  Deming  place,  where  the  present  Potter  road  joins  the 
Ashford  road.  Richard  Stratton  and  Jonathan  Meacham  and  Asa 
Johnson  were  chosen.  May  15,  1762, 

a  commity  to  renew  the  road  towards  fraimingham  &  to  make  alteration  if  we 
thought  best  We  have  therefore  faithfully  attended  the  business  and  we  find 
according  to  the  best  of  our  Juderaent  the  Road  must  go  on  tlie  west  side  of 
Stone  Hill  we  begin  at  the  South  end  of  the  cross  Street  &,  Keep  tlie  Road  till  we 


462  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

come  to  the  Northwest  corner  of  the  lot  Nomb  9  fr'  divition  then  runing  almost 
west  acroos  a  corner  of  the  Lot  Nom^  41  and  then  a  little  way  near  South  in  the 
Lot  Nom'^  42  —  the  westerly  side  of  the  marked  trees  with  one  chop  in  the  mark 
&  on  common  Land  till  we  come  to  the  Northwest  corner  of  the  Lot  Nom'  46  — 
then  keep  the  Road  allowed  on  the  plan  by  that  Lot  then  Runing  near  Southeast 
the  east  side  of  the  marked  trees  as  afores^  acroos  the  Lots  Nom'  48  fr'  divition 
&  nom'^  7  second  di'*'  to  the  Northwest  corner  of  the  Lot  Nomr  8  second  divition. 
then  runing  the  same  course  acroos  the  Lots  Nom'  30  &  28  —  to  a  beach  tree 
the  Northwest  corner  of  the  Lot  Norn'  27,  Standing  on  the  former  Road  then 
Keep  that  Road  as  on  the  plan  to  the  Southwest  corner  of  the  Lot  Nom^^  53 
where  the  Road  comes  in  from  the  west  [Sloan  road]  then  runing  South  about 
one  degree  east  acrost  five  Lots  Nom'"^  54  —  55  —  56  —  57  —  58  and  so  by  the 
marked  trees  on  the  lane  of  land  that  Lyeth  along  there  till  we  come  to  the  old 
Road  and  we  think  it  not  best  to  Lay  it  any  farther  at  present. 

Thus  was  early  established  the  present  Stone  Hill  road,  and  no 
change  has  been  made  in  it  for  130  years,  except  that  a  little  part 
between  the  Woodcock  road  and  the  present  Hemlock  road  was 
discontinued  a  few  years  ago,  by  town  authority.  It  seems  likely, 
however,  to  be  reopened  again  shortly  by  the  same  authority.  Two 
roads,  in  general  parallel  with  this,  now  lead  from  the  north  village 
to  a  common  junction  in  the  centre  of  the  south  village;  namely, 
the  Green  River  road  on  the  east,  and  the  Hemlock  road  on  the 
Avest.  The  latter  was  built  about  1827,  under  the  supervision  of 
the  elder  Keyes  Danforth.  The  former  is  but  the  gradual  continu- 
ation up  the  Green  River  of  the  original  Water  Street,  from  Main 
Street  to  the  mill  privilege,  whose  story  has  been  given  already. 
When  this  committee  made  a  point,  in  1762,  of  "the  southwest 
corner  of  the  lot  number  53,  where  the  read  comes  in  from  the 
west,"  they  marked  the  site,  for  all  time,  of  the  village  of  South 
Williamstown,  a  small  spot  of  earth  that  has  played  its  part  well 
(as  we  shall  see)  from  that  time  to  this,  in  its  varied  relations. 

In  July,  1763,  the  proprietors  are  legally  warned  to  "  assemble 
themselves  together  at  the  place  called  the  Schoolhouse  in  said 
township."  This  is  the  first  reference  to  any  such  building.  It  is 
very  doubtful  whether  any  school  of  any  kind  had  yet  been  opened 
in  the  town.  There  are  votes  a  plenty  in  all  these  years  in  refer- 
ence to  getting  a  minister,  or  hiring  preaching,  or  paying  some  com- 
mittee or  other  for  "going  for"  a  minister;  but  no  vote  as  yet  about 
a  school-teacher,  or  till  now  about  a  place  for  a  school.  The  reason 
is  obvious :  the  children  to  the  first  settlers,  born  in  the  hamlet 
itself,  of  which  there  were  then  seven  or  eight,  five  of  whom  were 
Benjamin  Simonds's  children,  were  not  yet  of  school  age;  and  while 
a  few  of  these  settlers  brought  older  children  with  them,  born  else- 


WEST  HOOSAC.  463 

where,  most  of  them  were  young  men  bringing  hither  their  brides. 
About  this  time,  however,  new  proprietoi-s  came  in,  like  John  New- 
bre,  for  example,  who  lived  just  west  of  the  second  burying-ground, 
and  very  likely  some  of  these  had  children  requiring  school  privi- 
leges ;  and  at  any  rate,  we  may  fairly  infer  that  the  desire  to  pro- 
cure a  minister  while  there  was  no  place  for  him  to  preach  in, 
co-operated  with  the  now-felt  necessity  for  a  school,  to  cause  the 
erection  of  a  building  "called  the  Schoolhouse,"  which  might  serve 
(and  did  serve)  both  purposes.  It  is  almost  an  accidtMit  that  gives 
us  certain  knowledge  of  its  location  and  character. 

It  was  a  log  building  of  some  size,  and  stood  near  the  southwest 
corner  of  house  lot  36,  which  had  been  originally  reserved  for  the 
first  minister,  and  which  Whitman  Welch  sold,  in  1767,  to  Josiah 
Horsford,  for  £25;  and  its  location  on  the  minister's  lot,  though 
back  from  its  frontage  on  Main  Street,  where  it  might  be  supposed 
the  minister  would  wish  to  place  his  own  dwelling,  indicates  its 
purpose  as  a  preaching-place,  while  it  was  also  "  called  "  the  School- 
house.  With  one  exception,  when  they  met  at  the  house  of  William 
Horsford,  on  house  lot  44,  where  the  president's  house  now  stands, 
the  proprietors  uniformly  held  their  meetings  at  this  schoolhouse 
for  several  years ;  and  public  worship  was  held  in  it,  whenever 
there  was  any,  until  the  first  rude  meeting-house  was  built, 
30  X  40,  in  1768.  The  log  building  acquired  a  certain  sort  of  sanc- 
tity thereby,  which  was  never  wholly  lost  as  long  as  it  remained 
standing.  Its  location  was  on  Xortli  Street,  a  few  rods  back  from 
Main  Street,  and  in  all  probability  it  stood  between  the  present 
"  Laundry  "  of  the  Greylock  Hotel,  and  the  rear  of  the  main  struc- 
ture. It  may  probably  have  been  taken  down  on  the  erection  in 
front  of  its  site  of  the  original  "Mansion  House,"  which  was  burned 
down  in  October,  1871 ;  and  its  successor  as  a  schoolhouse  was  cer- 
tainly put  up  a  little  southwest  across  Main  Street  on  the  line 
between  house  lots  1  and  3,  and  quite  on  the  edge  of  the  street. 

A  circumstance  that  will  commemorate  forever  the  old  log  school- 
house  of  West  Hoosac  was  the  assembling  within  it  of  the  pious 
women  of  Williamstown  on  the  afternoon  of  Aug.  16,  1777,  to  pray 
for  the  safety  and  victory  of  their  fathers  and  brothers  and  kinsfolk 
in  the  battle  of  Bennington,  then  raging.  The  sharp  and  credible 
tradition  is,  that  there  were  not  men  enough  left  in  the  entire  town 
"to  put  out  a  fire."  The  boom  of  cannon  to  the  northward  was 
occasionally  heard  by  the  participants  while  the  meeting  was  in 
progress;  their  fears  were  deepened  by  the  sight  of  women  and 
children  in  wagons  and  on  foot,  with  their  little  valuables  snatched 


464  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

up,  hurrying  past  towards  places  of  safety  from  Bennington  and 
Pownal ;  and  their  hearts  were  filled  to  the  full  with  gratitude  when, 
in  the  edge  of  the  Saturday  evening,  a  swift  horseman,  said  to  have 
been  sent  by  Major  Isaac  Stratton,  of  South  Williamstown,  from  the 
field  of  fight,  rode  past  the  schoolhouse  into  the  anxious  hamlet,  an- 
nouncing a  great  victory,  and  so  breaking  up  a  unique  prayer-meeting 
that  had  lasted  for  hours  without  intermission.  These  simple  para- 
graphs are  being  written  Aug.  16,  1892.  It  falls  on  a  Tuesday,  115 
years  after  the  swift  revulsion  of  feeling  in  the  log  schoolhouse. 

The  moderators  of  the  various  meetings  of  the  proprietors,  from 
the  time  they  began  to  assemble  in  the  schoolhouse,  whence  on  one 
occasion  they  adjourned  to  the  house  of  Nehemiah  S medley  opposite 
across  the  "  Square  "  on  house  lot  No.  1,  were  William  Horsford, 
John  Newbre,  Samuel  Kellogg,  Josiah  Horsford,  Titus  Harrison, 
John  Smedley,  Ephraim  Seelye,  Samuel  Payn,  and  Richard  Stratton. 
The  last-named  continued  to  be  "Proprietor's  Clerk,"  and  as  such 
warned  out  all  the  meetings  and  authenticated  their  proceedings  by 
his  signature,  until  Dec.  3,  1763,  when  William  Horsford  was  chosen 
clerk,  and  continued  such  till  after  AVest  Hoosac  became  Williams- 
town  in  1765.  Some  of  the  votes  in  this  interval  are  of  special  inter- 
est: for  example  merely,  April  16,  1764,  "voted  to  build  a  bridge 
over  green  river  by  Isaac  Stratton  " ;  Sept.  27, 1764,  "  voted  to  build 
a  bridge  over  green  river  at  the  east  end  of  the  town  Street "  ;  same 
day,  "  voted  also  taylor's  crotch  and  ten  acres  of  land  for  the  privi- 
lege of  a  mill " ;  Dec.  3,  1764,  "  voted  Nine  Shillings  on  each  rite  to 
build  the  bridge  over  green  river  "  ;  March  6, 1765,  "  votted  there  be 
Nine  Shillings  of  money  Raised  on  Eaich  Proprietors  Eight  to  Soport 
the  Gospel "  ;  and  April  12,  1765,  "  Votted  that  the  Proprietors  will 
Eecawl  the  vote  that  Hath  Ben  Past  to  Sequester  the  Land  on  the 
North  Side  of  the  Greate  River  [Hoosac]  and  Lay  out  the  Same  in 
two  Divisions  and  Left  it  to  the  Dischression  of  the  Commetres  to 
Lay  out  the  Pine  Lots  as  they  Shall  think  Best  Votted  that  the 
Second  Division  of  Land  on  the  North  Side  of  the  Greate  River  Shall 
be  Sized  both  in  Quantity  and  Quallity." 

The  enterprising  proprietors  were  largely  occupied  during  the  two 
years  preceding  the  incorporation  of  the  town,  (1)  in  laying  out 
their  roads  "to  convean"  the  different  parts  of  the  town  and  the 
successive  divisions  of  their  lands ;  (2)  in  selecting  and  surveying 
and  distributing  the  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  divisions,  namely,  the 
100-acre  lots,  the  pine  lots,  and  the  oak  lots,  each  drawn  in  sixty- 
three  parts ;  (3)  in  determining  what  portions  (if  any)  of  their 
territory  "  to  sequestor "  for  the  common  use  of  the  proprietors ; 


WEST   HOOSAC.  465 

(4)  in  sending  some  one  or  more  of  their  number  on  repeated,  and 
for  the  most  part  futile,  missions  "  to  hier  a  minister,"  though  they 
negatived  a  proix>sition  to  call  "  Mr.  Strickland  on  probation  " ;  and 
lastly,  (5)  in  selling  off  at  "  publick  vandue  "  for  what  they  could 
get  the  lots  on  which  the  legally  assessed  "  rates  "  had  not  been  paid. 
For  instance,  March  10,  1763,  Benjamin  Simonds  bought  in  this  way 
house  lot  No.  2,  for  £4: ;  William  Horsford  bought  house  lot  4,  for 
£4  12s. ;  Isaac  Searle  bought  house  lot  No.  8,  for  £2 ;  same  bid  off 
second-division  tifty-acre  lot,  "  drew  in  favour  of  house  lot  No.  30," 
for  £2  5s.;  and  Samuel  Kellogg  bought  half  of  tirst-ilivision  fifty- 
acre  lot  No.  27,  for  £1  4s. 

The  money  accounts  passed  upon  at  nearly  every  meeting  of  the 
proprietors,  which  were  not  otherwise  valid  for  collection,  are  at  this 
late  day  curious  and  instructive.  Let  us  note  those  validated  in 
public  meeting  May  21,  1765,  remembering  that  the  colonial  pound 
was  just  three-fourths  of  the  English  pound,  namely,  $3.63. 

£   s   d 

Richard  Stratton  to  10  Days  Laying  out  Land 1  10  0 

William  Horsford  to  Billiting  Mr.  Hubbel  one  week 0    0  0 

Ephraira  Seelye  9  Days  Laying  out  Land 170 

Samuel  Smedley  Billiting  the  Surveyor  [Hubbel]  Six  Days      ....  0    6  2 

Jonathan  Meaicham  Eight  Days  and  a  half  Laying  out  Land  ....  1     5  6 

Jonathan  Kilborn  to  2  list  of  Assessment 040 

Josiah  Horsford  to  8  Days  Laying  out  Land 140 

Asa  Johnson  to  Laying  out  Land  2  Days  and  a  Half 0     7  6 

Samuel  Kellogg  5  Days  Laying  out  Land 1150 

John  Newbre  to  Billitting  the  Surveyor  8  Days  and  a  Half 0    7  6 

Samuel  Kellogg  one  Kate  Bill  and  2  Notifycations 0    4  0 

Titus  Harrison  to  keeping  Mr.  HubbePs  horse  three  weeks  &c.     ...  1     1  0 

Nehemiah  Smedley  going  after  a  Surveyor 078 

Nehemiah  Smedl'y  Laying  out  Roads 046 

John  Newbre  accompt  for  keeping  a  minister's  horse  one  week  also  a 

Plough  in  the  Highways 0     4  0 

We  will  now  leave  the  "  Proprietors,"  technically  so  called,  with 
their  manly  deeds  and  ill-spelled  words,  for  a  little  time,  premising, 
however,  that  the  incorporation  by  the  General  Court  at  Boston,  of 
the  town  of  Williamstown,  in  due  form,  by  no  means  submerged  the 
proprietors  as  an  organization  keeping  themselves  especially  in 
charge  of  the  unsold  and  undivided  lands  of  the  town,  and  for  a 
good  while,  also,  of  the  places  of  public  worship.  Indeed,  the 
proprietors,  as  a  "Propriety,"  only  went  out  with  the  century. 
They  went  out,  little  by  little,  as  the  town  came,  gradually,  to 
assume  the  entire  functions  of  government.     James  H.  Meacham, 


466  ORIGINS   IX   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

son  to   James  Meacham,  was  the  last   proprietors'  clerk,  and  was 
sworn  in  as  follows  :  — 

Berkshire  Ss  4  Ded  1792. 
Then  personally  appeared  James  H.  Meacham  who  was  duly  chosen  Proprie- 
tors Clerk  of  the  Township  of  Williamstown  by  the  proprietors  of  the  same  and 
made  a  solemn  oath  that  in  performing  the  duties  of  the  said  office  he  would  do 
it  faithfully  and  impartially,  according  to  his  best  skill  and  abilities. 

Before  W«  Towner,  Just.  Peace. 

The  last  legal  meeting  of  the  proprietors  was  summoned  at  the 
house  of  Deacon  James  Meacham,  on  the  23d  of  December,  1800, 
and  was  wholly  concerned  with  certain  pitches  and  remnants  of  lands 
in  various  parts  of  the  town ;  and  adjourned,  to  meet  at  the  same 
place,  March  2, 1801,  and  then  again  to  the  second  Monday  in  April, 
1802 ;  and  then  and  there  "  Voted  and  desolved  the  meeting,"  — 
which  never  reconvened. 


CHAPTER   V. 

WILLIAMSTOWN. 

"He  had  observed  the  progress  and  decay 
Of  many  minds,  of  minds  and  bodies  too ; 
The  history  of  many  families  ; 

How  they  had  prospered  ;  how  they  were  o'ertlirown 
By  passion  or  mischance,  or  such  misrule 
Among  the  unthinking  masters  of  the  earth 
As  makes  the  nations  groan." 

—  Wordsworth. 

Before  we  quit  for  good  our  now  familiar  and  significant  and 
euphonious  name  of  "  ^Vest  Hoosac,"  and  accustom  ourselves  to  the 
more  commonplace,  and  yet  most  appropriate,  and,  in  1765,  legalized 
designation  of  ''  Williamstown,"  it  will  be  i)roper  to  quote,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  earlier  name,  the  unmatched  authority  of  Mr.  Secretary 
Trumbull,  of  Hartford :  "  Hoosac  belongs  to  the  territory,  from 
which — as  is  the  case  with  many  Indian  names  in  New  England  — 
it  was  transferred  by  the  settlers  to  the  river.  It  designates  the  place 
or  region  which,  to  the  Mohicans  of  the  valley  of  the  Hudson,  was 
*  far-off '  or  *  beyond '  the  mountains.  In  '  Housatonuc,'  we  have  the 
term  for  *  mountain '  expressed ;  wauss'-auk  (*  beyond-place ')  and 
wauss'-atene-auk  (the  *  beyond-mountain-place ')  indicate  nearly  the 
composition  and  the  relation  of  the  two  names." 

It  will  be  well  also,  before  we  proceed  further  on  our  quest,  to 
remind  ourselves  that  a  committee  of  the  General  Court  at  Boston 
laid  out  the  exterior  lines  of  AVest  Hoosac  in  the  early  autumn  of 
1749,  and  that  another  committee  from  the  same  authority,  in  the 
spring  of  1750,  laid  out  sixty-three  house  lots  "of  ten  or  twelve  acres 
each,"  in  the  northerly  part  of  the  township  between  the  Hoosac 
and  Green  rivers,  and  near  to  their  junction.  With  one  exception, 
these  house  lots  abutted  on  a  wide  street  one  and  three-eighths  miles 
in  length,  whose  bearing,  by  the  solar  meridian,  is  K.  50°  41'  W. 
The  exception  is  house  lot  57,  which  Jfanks  the  Main  Street  at  its 
eastern  end,  and  is  both  shorter  and  wider  than  the  others,  whose 
normal  length  is  120  rods,  and  width  thirteen  and  one-third  rods, 
making  an  area  of  just  ten  acres ;   but  the  actual  average  area  of 

467 


468 


ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 


the  sixty-three  lots  is  nearly  eleven  acres.  These  lots  are  divided  in 
number,  nearly  equally,  by  a  Cross  Street  at  right  angles  to  the  Main 
Street,  whose  bearing,  by  the  solar  meridian,  is  IST.  16°  46'  E. 

These  lots,  each  one  carrying  with  it  a  prospective  valid  title  to 
one  sixty-third  part  of  the  rest  of  the  lands  of  the  township,  with 
a  reservation  of  three  of  them  for  public  purposes,  had  been  sold, 
in  the  course  of  a  couple  of  years  or  so,  with  some  difficulty,  by 
the  commonwealth,  to  forty-six  proprietors,  only  about  one-third  of 
whom  became  actual  settlers.     Before  1765,  the  rest,  and  even  most 


THE   SMEDLEY    HOUSE   ON    NO.    I. 

The  Original  "Regulation"  House  was  built  into  the  "  Ganribrel-Roofed  "  House,  which  was  taken 

down  about  1880. 

of  these,  had  sold  out  their  rights  to  other  parties.  We  have  a  com- 
plete list  of  the  original  purchasers,  and  a  complete  list  of  the  legal 
owners  in  the  year  just  named,  and  only  two  names  are  common  in 
the  two  lists.  These  house  lots,  -however,  had  aggregated,  in  the 
interval,  into  fewer  hands.  Eight  persons  now  held  thirty-seven  of 
these  lots.  To  take  Nos.  1  and  2,  both  on  the  ^'Square,"  as  specimens 
of  the  way  in  which  nearly  all  of  them  rapidly  changed  hands  in  the 
land  speculations  of  the  time,  we  find  that  Samuel  Brown,  Junior, 
one  of  the  principal  founders  of  Stockbridge,  bought  ISTo.  1  about  as 
soon  as  the  lots  were  exposed  for  sale ;  he  sold  it  to  Ezekiel  Hinds, 
then  "  resident "  of  Fort  Massachusetts ;  but  soldier  Hinds,  appar- 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  469 

ently,  bought  to  sell;  for,  on  the  31st  October,  1752,  he  sold  the 
lot  to  Samuel  Smedley,  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  for  £27,  Smedley 
appearing  as  "  husbandman  "  in  the  deed,  which  was  acknowledged 
"  coram  Joseph  Dwight  J.  P.,"  in  Stockbridge.  Samuel  Smedley 
having  died  in  the  interval,  the  lot  was  deeded  over  by  Esther  (his 
widow)  and  John  (his  eldest  son),  to  Nehemiah  Smedley,  all  of 
Litchfield,  for  £27  21,s.,  ^[arcli,  1758,  the  deed  acknowledged  the 
same  day  before  Thomas  Harrison,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  of  Litch- 
field. Benjamin  Woodruff  and  Jedidiah  Smedley  sign  as  witnesses. 
All  these  Smedleys  write  a  fair  hand,  and  Nehemiah,  who  began  tu 
clear  up  the  lot  for  his  father  in  1753,  built  the  first  house  on  it,  and 
occupied  the  lot,  in  dead  earnest,  for  more  than  twenty  years.  The 
young  orcliard  that  he  planted  on  it  was  in  full  bearing  in  17G5. 

Lieutenant  Isaac  Wyman,  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  was  the  original 
purchaser  of  No.  2.  We  have  seen  that  he  did  his  best  to  bring 
forward  the  settlement  in  its  earliest  days,  apparently  alternating  his 
residence  between  Fort  Massachusetts  and  his  "  regulation  "  house 
on  No.  2 ;  he  was  the  last  commander  at  that  fort,  and  cultivated  the 
land  within  the  pickets  even  after  the  fort  was  dismantled ;  on 
grounds  very  imperfectly  understood  at  this  late  day,  he  quarrelled 
with  the  other  settlers  and  they  with  him,  —  the  bone  of  contention 
was  undoubtedly  the  West  Hoosac  Fort,  the  rival  of  the  older  estab- 
lishment,— and  he  withdrew  not  without  a  mutual  bitterness  ;  and  he 
sold  his  lot,  with  several  other  lots  drawn  by  it,  for  £140,  to  Benja- 
min Kellogg,  Nov.  13, 1761;  and  when  the  new  holder  failed  to  pay  off 
the  dues  legally  assessed  on  it,  it  was  sold  at  public  auction  to  Benja- 
min Simonds  for  £4,  who  held  it  (with  six  other  house  lots)  in  1765, 

The  names  of  the  holders  of  the  house  lots,  when  the  town  of 
WillianistowTi  wns  incorporated,  are  as  follows:  — 

Nehemiah  Smedley.  Benjamin  Simonds. 

Mus.  David  Roberts.  Richard  Stratton. 

Benjamin  Cowles.  Eimikaim  Seelye. 

JosiAH  Horsford.  Samuel  Payn. 

Thomas  Dcnton.  Samuel  Kellogg. 

William  Horsford.  Asa  Johnson. 

Elisha  Higgins.  William  Wells. 

Eli  Cowles.  Samuel  Smedley. 

John  Smedley.  Jonathan  Kilijorn. 

Titus  Harrison.  Daniel  Stratton. 

Jonathan  Meacham.  Jedidiah  Smedley. 

ICHABOD    SOUTIIWICK.  ISAAC    WyMAN. 

Derick  Webb.  Stephen  Davis. 

Elkanah  Paris.  Ebenezer  Stratton. 


470  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Besides  these  twenty-eight,  who  owned  house  lots  in  1765,  there 
were  then  just  about  as  many  more  who  had  located  on  outlots  in 
different  parts  of  the  town,  as  these  had  been  successively  divided 
off  to  the  respective  holders  of  house  lots,  in  accordance  Avith  the 
original  plan  of  the  settlement.  The  following  twenty-six  names, 
together  with  those  just  given,  comprise  all  the  landowners  and  citi- 
zens of  position  at  the  organization  of  the  town.  These  fifty-four 
men  may  be  called,  in  strict  justice,  the  actual  Founders  or  Wil- 
LiAMSTOWN.  A  few  worthy  names  besides  these,  like  Allen  Curtiss 
for  one,  had  labored  faithfully  in  the  very  beginnings,  and  had 
retired  from  the  grounds  ;  and  a  few  of  these,  like  Joseph  Ballard 
and  Seth  Hudson,  may  not  have  been  residents  in  1765 ;  but  the  first 
town-meeting  was  held  July  15,  1765,  and  from  the  "  List "  of  that 
year  it  appears  that  the  taxable  polls  were  only  fifty-nine.  Only 
about  578  acres  were  then  under  cultivation  in  the  town,  as  appears 
from  the  listed  tax  of  £426  at  fifteen  shillings  per  "  improved  "  acre. 
Isaac  Searle  and  Nehemiah  Smedley  were  the  only  proprietors  taxed 
for  money  at  interest,  the  former  for  £700  and  the  latter  for  £126. 
These  are  the  names  :  — 

James  Meacham.  Isaac  Stratton. 

John  Newbre.  James  Kellogg. 

Samuel  Taylor.  Gideon  Warren. 

Isaac  Searle.  Joseph  Tallmadge. 

Samuel  Clarke.  Nathan  Wheeler. 

JosiAH  Wright.  Daniel  Burbank. 

Robert  McMastei^.  Moses  Rich. 

Seth  Hudson.  John  McMaster. 

Bartholomew  AVoodcock.  David  Johnson. 

Jesse  Southwick.  Tho3ias  Roe. 

John  Horsford.  Thomas  Train. 

Joseph  Ballard.  Elisha  Baker. 

Samuel  Sloan.  Ebenezer  Cooley. 

The  town  boasted  at  its  inception  of  fifty-seven  yoke  of  oxen,  just 
about  one  yoke  to  each  head  of  a  family ;  of  eighty-three  sheep ;  two 
dairies  possessed  six  cows  each,  and  two  others  four;  and  the  four 
largest  flocks  of  sheep  counted  eighteen,  fourteen,  thirteen,  eleven. 

Now,  it  is  to  be  noticed,  that  these  men  had  not  been  at  any 
time  wholly  absorbed  in  the  pressing  cares  to  provide  a  new  home 
and  maintenance  for  their  families  in  what  was  then  strictly  a  wil- 
derness. Even  after  they  heard  the  news  in  the  late  autumn  of 
1759  of  General  Wolfe's  great  victory  at  Quebec,  they  knew  well 
enough  there  would  be  no  more  French  and  Indian  wars.      They 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  471 

knew  that  Fort  Massachusetts  and  West  Hoosac  Fort  had  now  lost 
their  significance,  though  fully  manned  up  to  that  time.  With  the 
feeling  of  security  and  stability  thereby  induced,  and  a  consequent 
resolution  to  make  a  permanent  home  for  themselves  and  their  chil- 
dren in  a  beautiful  and  healthful  and  fertile  spot,  there  recurred 
continually  the  desires  and  efforts  to  secure  and  maintain  religious 
and  educational  opportunities.  They  built  their  log  schoolhouse, 
which  was  to  serve  for  the  present  for  preaching  also.  May  21, 1765, 
they  "  votted  and  Chose  Benjamin  Simonds  a  Commetree  to  Geet  a 
Coppy  of  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams  sur-will  out  of  the  Probate  Office 
in  the  County  of  Hamshier  "  ;  and  a  little  later  3s.  id.  were  paid  to 
said  Simonds  for  a  copy  of  the  will.  In  less  than  a  month  later, 
among  the  causes  stated  in  the  warrant  for  the  next  meeting  of  the 
proprietors  was  this,  "  To  chuse  a  Commetree  on  the  affair  of  Colonel 
Ephraim  Williams  Willing  Land  or  money  to  ward  a  free  school  in 
West  Hoosuck  and  said  Commetree  to  prosecute  the  same."  At  the 
meeting,  however,  it  was  voted  "  to  dismiss  the  articiel." 

In  truth,  the  question  of  a  minister  was  the  more  pressing.  They 
came  up  to  it  boldly  again  and  again.  They  had  had  hard  luck, 
and  been  at  much  expense,  even  to  get  a  suitable  man  to  try  for  a 
settlement.  In  two  cases,  where  the  candidate  was  willing,  the 
constituency  disapproved  of  him.  At  last  a  young  man  from  New 
Milford,  Connecticut,  named  Whitman  Welch,  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College  in  1762,  seemed  to  meet  the  views  of  all  parties  concerned. 
In  the  legal  call  for  a  meeting  "  att  the  School  House,"  on  July  26, 
1765,  these  points  are  stated :  — 

l*t   To  See  if  the  Proprietors  will  Give  Mr.  Whitman  Welch  a  Call  to  the  work  of 

the  ministry  in  this  Town 
2»y  To  See  What  Settlement  they  will  Give  Him 
3»y  To  See  What  Sallary  they  will  Give  Him 
4'y  To  Chuse  a  Commetree  to  give  mr  Welch  a  Call 

To  these  queries  the  meeting  in  question  promptly  responded :  — 

l»t  Voted  and  a  Greed  to  Give  mr  Whitman  Welch  a  Call  to  the  work  of  the 
minlstrj'  in  this  Town 

2iy  Voted  to  Give  mr  Welch  Eighty  Pound  Settlement  Lawfull  money  one  Half 
to  be  paid  the  first  year  the  other  Half  to  be  Paid  Second  year 

3'y  Voted  to  Give  mr  Welch  for  his  Sallary  Seventy  Pounds  a  year  forty  Pounds 
the  first  year  and  forty  Pounds  the  Second  year  then  to  rise  three  pounds 
yearly  till  it  comes  to  Seventy  Pounds  and  the  use  of  the  ministry  House 
Lot  Exclusive  of  the  Remainder  of  the  wright 

4^y  Voted  and  chose  Samuel  Kellogg  Benjamin  Simonds  James  Meacham  Com- 
metree men  to  treete  with  mr  Welch  Concerning  His  Settleing  in  this  Town 


472  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

Williams  Town  October  22^  1765  att  a  meeting  of  the  Proprietors  Lawfully 

Warned  and  Held  att  the  House  of  Deacon  Richard  Stratton  in  Said 

township 
!»*    Votted  and  chose  Samuel  Payen  Moderator  for  Said  meeting 
2'y  Votted  and  chose  Richard  Stratton  Josiah  Horsford  and  William  Horsford  a 

Commetree  to  Provide  for  the  ordination 
3iy  Votted  that  they  will  Raise  money  to  Defray  the  Charges  of  the  ordination 

Votted  to  Raise  three  Shillings  on  Eaich  Proproprietors  Right  to  Defray 

the  charges  of  the  ordination 

4iy  Votted  Samuel  Kellogg  for  going  to  the  Association 9s  0 

William  Horsford  for  Keeping  a  horse  for  Mr,  Welch 2s  0 

The  next  meeting  of  the  proprietors,  on  Jan.  14,  1766, 

Voted  Richard  Stratton  Expence  of  the  ordination  Vittels  and  Horse   Keep- 
ing      £5    2    8 

Josiah  Horsford  to  Providing  for  the  ordination 13    0 

William  Horsford  to  Providing  for  the  ordination 7    4 

Thus  came  to  Williamstown  its  first,  and,  all  things  considered, 
its  most  attractive,  minister.  His  term  of  service  was  ten  years, 
and  was  cut  short  by  a  series  of  romantic  and  patriotic  incidents, 
which  will  draw  our  attention  and  sympathy  in  a  subsequent  chap- 
ter. He  was  a  native  of  Milford,  Connecticut ;  but,  as  his  father 
died  early,  the  care  of  his  education  devolved  on  an  uncle,  with 
whom  he  went  to  reside  in  New  Milford.  Not  far  from  the  time  of 
his  settlement  here,  he  married  Marvin  Gaylord,  daughter  of  Deacon 
Gaylord,  of  New  Milford ;  and  she,  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
in  1776,  returned  thither  with  two  or  three  children  born  here,  and 
married  there  again,  and  lived  to  an  extreme  old  age. 

Professor  Ebenezer  Kellogg,  writing,  in  1829,  for  Field's  Berkshire 
County,  and  deriving  his  information,  in  all  probability,  from  Deacon 
Levi  Smedley,  born  here  in  1764,  gave  the  following  careful  and  vivid 
description  of  Rev.  Whitman  Welch :  "  He  was  a  man  of  intelli- 
gence and  activity,  attentive  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  serious 
and  earnest  in  the  performance  of  them.  His  religious  opinions 
seem  to  have  agreed  with  those  of  the  clergy  of  that  day,  that  are 
now  spoken  of  as  approaching  to  Arminianism.  He  always  wrote 
his  sermons,  and  delivered  them  with  animation  and  propriety  of 
manner.  He  was  social  in  his  habits,  fond  of  conversation,  in  which 
he  was  often  sportive  and  shrewd,  and  sometimes,  perhaps,  too  gay 
and  jocose.  In  person  he  was  rather  short  and  light.  He  was  fond 
of  athletic  exercises,  and  excelled  in  them  whenever  the  manners  of 
the  day  allowed  him  to  join  in  them." 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  473 

Unfortunately  the  records  of  the  church  during  his  ministry  have 
not  been  preserved,  nor  is  it  certainly  known  when  the  church  was 
formed,  what  persons  first  constituted  it,  how  many  belonged  to  it  at 
the  close  of  his  ministry  in  1775.  The  likelihood  is,  that  the  church 
was  first  gathered  at  the  time  of  his  ordination,  for  there  is  no  hint 
of  any  such  organization  previous  to  that,  all  the  motions  towards 
getting  a  minister  were  made  in  the  proprietors'  meetings,  and  some 
of  the  men  prominent  in  the  entire  quest  are  now  known  never  to 
have  been  public  professors  of  religion;  and  that  the  number  of 
members  was  small  at  the  outset  is  proven  by  the  facts,  (1)  that 
fourteen  years  after  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Welch,  when  Rev.  Seth 
Swift  was  ordained,  the  members  amounted  to  but  sixty-one, — 
thirty-six  of  these  women,  —  and  (2)  in  1768,  when  the  ratable 
|X)lls  wei-e  102,  the  "  voters  by  law,"  that  is,  legal  church-members, 
were  only  twenty.  In  truth,  there  is  no  historical  basis  for  the 
claim,  often  made  and  reiterated,  that  Williamstown  had  a  specially 
religious  origin,  and  ever  maintained  a  peculiarly  religious  character. 
This  is  neither  true  of  the  town,  nor  of  the  College.  Though  pre- 
sumably and  certainly  Christian  men,  neither  Benjamin  Simonds 
nor  Nehemiah  Smedley,  the  two  most  prominent  citizens  of  West 
Hoosac  from  its  beginning,  and  of  Williamstown  for  its  first  twenty 
years,  were  ever  church-members.  Next  to  these  two,  Richard 
Stratton,  who  was  the  most  influential  settler  during  the  same  inter- 
val of  time,  was  a  Baptist,  and  was  usually  called  "Deacon." 
Though  older  than  Smedley  and  Simonds,  he  was  better  educated 
than  they,  and  was  a  long  time  clerk  of  the  proprietors,  and  built 
the  first  two-story  house  in  the  hamlet,  which  is  still  standing 
intact ;  but  he  was  not  a  "  voter  by  law,"  because  he  did  not  belong 
to  the  "standing  order."  His  two  sons,  nevertheless,  Isaac  and 
Ebenezer,  were  orthodox  Congregationalists  here,  and  the  latter 
was  chosen  Deacon  in  1784  and  held  the  office  till  his  death  in 
1814.  As  late  as  1791,  the  town  refused  "  to  incorporate  Matthew 
Dunning  and  fourteen  others  into  a  Baptist  society,"  according  to 
their  petition ;  the  next  year,  however,  "  Isaac  Holmes  was  chosen 
ty thing-man  for  the  Baptist  society  in  this  town."  Without  dis- 
paraging the  religious  motives  or  unanimity  of  the  early  settlers, 
it  must  yet  be  borne  in  mind,  that  worldly  reasons  conspired 
with  the  genuine  religious  impulse  to  settle  a  minister  and  build 
a  meeting-house,  because  no  new  town  in  the  commonwealth  could 
successfully  compete  with  other  new  towns  for  desirable  inhabi- 
tants without  offering  the  then  usual  and  much-prized  "privi- 
leges." 


474  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Doubtless  the  very  considerable  expenses  connected  with  the  ordi- 
nation of  Mr.  Welch,  and  the  difficulty  in  raising  the  money  to  meet 
them,  led  the  proprietors  to  negative  for  the  present  the  legal  inquiry 
in  January,  1766,  "  To  See  if  the  Proprietors  will  Come  into  Som 
measure  to  Build  a  meeting  House  and  chuse  a  Commetree  to  do  it 
and  Determin  How  big  and  in  what  Shape  s**  meeting  House  Shall 
be  Built  and  How  and  by  what  means  and  When."  The  log  school- 
house  was  felt  to  be  an  unsuitable  place  for  the  young  minister  to 
preach  in,  or  for  the  church  and  congregation  to  assemble  in,  but  the 
proprietors  did  not  feel  able  as  yet  to  meet  the  cost  of  even  a  small 
edifice  for  public  worship.  In  October,  1767,  Whitman  Welch  sold 
house  lot  36,  the  lot  drawn  for  the  first  minister,  and  the  lot  on 
which  the  log  schoolhouse  stood,  to  Josiah  Horsford  for  £25.  Hors- 
ford  was  a  strenuous  supporter  of  Mr.  Welch,  and  the  latter  bought 
back  the  lot  when  the  former  wished  to  leave  town  a  few  years  later ; 
the  pastor  had  the  use  of  the  "  Ministry  lot "  by  the  vote  of  the  pro- 
prietors, but  not  of  the  outlots  drawn  by  that,  which  was  house  lot  38, 
and  contiguous  to  the  ^'Minister's  lot"  east.  After  Mr.  Welch's 
death,  the  ministry  house  lot  was  sold  by  the  proprietors  in  1777 ; 
and  the  school  lot,  which  was  house  lot  35,  and  directly  across  the 
Main  Street  from  the  first  minister's  lot,  and  the  outlots  drawn  by 
this  and  by  the  ministry  lot,  were  sold  in  1772  for  £328,  and  the 
proceeds  devoted  to  school  and  ministerial  uses. 

It  is  perhaps  probable,  at  any  rate,  nothing  to  the  contrary  is  cer- 
tainly known,  that  Mr.  Welch  did  not  live  during  his  ten  years'  pas- 
torate either  on  the  first  minister's  lot,  which  was  his  own  in  fee 
simple,  or  on  the  ministry  lot  next  to  it  east,  the  use  of  which  was 
given  to  him  by  vote  of  the  proprietors.  Such  signs  as  are  left  point 
rather  to  his  residence  on  the  Green  Eiver,  just  outside  the  village 
plat  to  the  eastward.  He  owned,  at  any  rate,  the  meadow  lot  No.  14 
drawn  by  house  lot  49  very  early,  which  lay  alongside  of  the  Green 
Biver  on  the  east  side  of  it  —  possibly  on  both  sides  of  it  —  at  the 
point  where  the  road  from  Fort  Massachusetts  crossed  the  bridge 
built  over  that  river  in  the  early  spring  of  1765,  and  entered  the 
Main  Street  of  the  village.  Richard  Stratton  and  Samuel  Kellogg 
were  the  committee  to  build  that  bridge  ;  and  on  the  6th  of  June, 
1765,  the  proprietors  voted  '^  to  accept  the  whole  of  the  accounts  of 
the  committee  to  build  the  bridge  over  Green  Eiver,  namely,  — 

For  Bridge, £2     8  0 

For  Railing,  o. 149 


£3  12  9 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  475 

A  bridge  had  been  built  the  fall  before  by  the  proprietors  over 
Hancock  Brook  just  before  its  junction  with  the  Ashford  Brook  to 
form  Green  River,  to  accommodate  Isaac  Stratton ;  so  that  what  is 
now  the  south  village,  had  its  bridge  across  its  main  stream  before 
the  north  village  had  one ;  and  what  is  always  called  in  the  records 
of  the  time  the  "  Greate  River,"  that  is  to  say,  the  Hoosac,  did  not 
receive  its  first  bridge  till  some  time  later,  as  we  shall  see.  "What 
evidence  remains  points  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Welch  on  the  south 
side  of  Main  Street  opposite  the  later  "Smedley  House."  There 
was  certainly  a  barn  standing  there,  if  not  a  house,  when  Nehemiah 
Smedley  bought  of  Whitman  Welch,  May  4,  1775,  the  meadow  lot 
No.  14.  The  original  deed  conveying  this  lot  from  Welch  to  Smed- 
ley now  lies  open  before  the  writer.  The  consideration  paid  was 
£75  10s.  The  area  of  land  conveyed  was  "  Eighteen  Acres  and  three 
Quarters  with  an  allowance  for  the  Highway."  Smedley  had  then 
owned  for  ten  years  three  other  meadow  lots,  Nos.  10  and  12  and  13, 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  this  one ;  and  he  had  owned  for  nine  or 
ten  years  the  two  first-division  fifty-acre  lots,  Nos.  28  and  29,  which 
partly  enclose  these  meadow  lots;  he  had  also  in  the  mean  time 
bought  an  oak  lot  or  two  on  what  we  now  call  "  Smedley  Height," 
having  evidently  designed  for  at  least  ten  years  to  aggregate  a  farm 
for  himself  at  the  junction  of  the  Green  and  Hoosac  rivers.  It  is 
almost  certain  that  the  present  "Smedley  house"  was  raised  in 
October,  1772 ;  that  relatives  of  the  family  came  to  the  "  raising " 
from  Bennington ;  that  a  cellar-kitchen  was  shortly  after  covered  in, 
and  a  large  stone-oven  built  in  it,  which  remains  intact  till  this  day, 
and  in  which  bread  was  baked  for  the  soldiers  in  the  battle  of  Ben- 
nington ;  and  that  the  owner,  having  gone  so  far,  and  the  Revolu- 
tion already  impending,  said  that  he  would  wait  the  completion  of 
his  house  till  he  could  tell  better  who  was  going  to  own  it !  His 
eldest  son,  Levi  Smedley,  was  born  Oct.  8,  1764,  and  lived  till  May 
13,  1849,  and  always  said  that  the  oak  timbers  of  the  house  were 
lifted  into  their  place  the  day  he  was  eight  years  old,  that  is,  Oct. 
8,  1772 ;  he  always  said  that  bread  in  large  quantities  was  baked  in 
the  old  oven  on  Saturday  the  16th  of  August,  1777,  and  that  he  him- 
self carried  the  bread  to  Bennington  the  next  day  after  the  battle, 
which  was  Sunday,  to  his  father,  who  was  certainly  there  both  days 
as  the  Captain  of  the  militia  company  of  the  north  part  of  Williams- 
town;  he  was  then  thirteen  years  old,  and  might  well  have  been 
trusted  for  such  a  purpose  with  the  family  horse  and  vehicle ;  and 
it  may  be  added,  that  contemporary  muster-rolls  confirm  his  story 
in  all  its  main  particulars.     Whether  it  were  then  completed  or  not. 


476  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  family  had  evidently  moved  into  the  new  house  before  the  battle 
of  Bennington.  As  it  stands  to-day,  the  house  is  figured  below ;  but 
as  originally  built,  it  had  a  flat  roof,  and  the  piazza,  of  course,  is 
modern,  but  the  clapboards  on  the  north  end  are  still  the  thick  and 
rived  clapboards  of  the  Revolutionary  time,  fastened  with  the  large 
and  hand-wrought  nails  of  that  time  also. 

-  Pretty  soon  after  selling  this  prominent  meadow  lot  14  to  Smed- 
ley,  which  thus  became  incorporated  with  the  Smedley  farm.  Rev. 
Mr.  Welch  went  to  Washington's  camp  at  Cambridge,  where  was 
a  company  of  minute-men,   made  up  largely  of  his   parishioners, 


NEHEMIAH    SMEDLEY'S    HOUSE   ON    GREEN    RIVER. 
Its  frame  was  lifted  8  Oct.,  1772.     He  was  bom  in  Litchfield  in  1732,  and  died  in  this  house,  1789. 

a  number  of  whom  were  drafted  a  little  later  in  the  season,  to 
accompany  Arnold  through  the  then  wilderness  of  Maine  to  a  win- 
ter surprise  of  Quebec,  with  which  the  American  Revolution  offen- 
sively began.  It  is  thoroughly  characteristic  of  this  pastor's 
ignitable  spirit  and  athletic  body,  that  he  felt  an  invincible  im- 
pulse to  accompany  this  expedition  as  a  volunteer  —  not,  as  has 
often  been  said,  as  a  chaplain,  but  as  a  volunteer  sentinel.  After 
the  repulse  from  Quebec,  he  was  seized  ill  of  the  small-pox,  and 
died  in  March,  1776,  not  far  from  Quebec.  Samuel  Spring,  of  New- 
buryport,  was  Chaplain  to  this  extraordinarily  hazardous  expedition 
in  early  winter  up  the  Kennebec,  and  down  the  Chaudiere,  and 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  477 

there  is  no  hint  of  Welch  being  an  assistant  to  him,  or  of  his  being 
anything  else  than  a  camp-follower  and  adventurer;  but  the  fact 
that  he  went  because  he  wanted  to  go,  because  he  could  not  hide 
nor  resist  the  inner  bidding  of  his  spirit,  had  its  influence  on  Wil- 
liamstown  at  the  time,  and  has  liad  its  influence  here  ever  since. 
The  incident  seems  to  be  unique.  The  man  stands  by  himself. 
His  call  was  an  inner  call  of  the  most  constraining  kind;  he  had 
a  bai>tism  to  be  baptized  with,  and  was  straitened  till  he  had 
received  it,  —  a  baptism  of  blood;  and  Williamstown  became  a 
better  town  to  live  in,  and  to  strive  for,  and  Williams  College  be- 
came, long  afterwards,  a  better  and  a  broader  and  a  more  patriotic 
institution,  because  the  first  college-bred  citizen  here,  the  first 
Joshua  on  this  ground,  was  a  man  who  saw  visions  and  dreamed 
dreams,  was  Whitman  Welch,  a  young  man  aflame ! 

As  both  the  Town  and  the  College  derived  their  permanent  and 
legal  designations  under  the  last  will  and  testament  of  Ephraim 
Williams,  it  is  time  now  to  furnish  our  readers  that  document 
entire,  and,  furthermore,  to  study  it  more  or  less  in  detail,  with 
a  view  to  gain  any  further  characteristics  of  the  Colonel  acces- 
sible to  us  along  this  line  of  research,  and  also  to  trace  back  our 
Town  and  College  to  the  germs  of  them  as  they  lay  in  the  mind  of 
one,  of  whom  it  is  possible  to  learn  at  this  late  day  only  a  very 
little  at  the  best. 

It  was  not  by  any  means  a  sudden  impulse  that  led  Colonel  Wil- 
liams to  seek  out  a  scrivener's  oftice  in  Albany  on  that  July  day 
when  his  will  was  actually  drafted  at  his  own  dictation.  It  had 
been  on  his  mind  all  summer.  More,  perhaps,  than  is  common  in 
such  cases,  he  had  a  premonition  of  approaching  death  from  the 
outset  of  the  campaign.  His  own  brother  Thomas,  who  was  the 
surgeon  of  his  regiment,  related  afterwards,  that  before  they  two 
left  Deerfield  for  the  rendezvous,  Ephraim  requested  his  help  in 
drafting  his  will,  altliough  he  gave  no  intimations  as  to  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  property.  As  these  two  were  the  only  children  of  the 
first  mother,  and  as  the  property  of  each  came  in  part  from  their 
own  grandfather  Jackson,  Dr.  Thomas,  from  motives  of  delicacy, 
declined  his  brother's  request,  and  the  matter  was  then  dropped. 
A  credible  tradition  has  always  maintained,  that  in  some  talk  with 
his  old  soldiers  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  he  intimated  to  them  his 
purpose  to  do  something  for  them  in  the  way  of  a  school  for  the 
children  of  the  settlers,  both  at  West  and  East  Hoosac.  Benjamin 
Simonds  had  certainly  two  children,  both  born  in  West  Hoosac, 
when  Colonel  Williams  was  last  at  Fort  Massachusetts. 


478  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Another  entirely  distinct  tradition  from  this  came  down  in  the 
family  of  Ephraim  Williams,  the  father,  to  the  effect  that  it  was 
expected  in  that  family,  that  the  younger  Colonel  would  marry  a 
Miss  Williams,  of  Hatfield,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams ; 
and  that  his  will  would  convey  the  bulk  of  his  small  property  to  her, 
in  case  of  his  own  decease.  The  late  Mark  Hopkins,  of  Williams- 
town,  who  was  great-great-grandson  of  the  elder  Ephraim  Williams, 
repeatedly  conversed  with  the  writer  in  respect  to  this  tradition  in 
his  own  family,  which  he  trusted  implicitly ;  and  he  once  furnished, 
accordingly,  the  following  toast  to  one  of  the  student-speakers  at  one 
of  the  "  Jackson  Festivals  "  here  in  honor  of  the  founder,  namely : 
"  The  lady  Colonel  Williams  did  not  marry ! "  If  the  will  had  been 
what  the  Hatfield  William ses  had  expected,  there  would  have  been 
no  free  school  at  West  Hoosac.  In  a  letter  from  Albany  to  Israel 
Williams,  dated  one  day  before  the  will  is  dated,  Ephraim  betrays  in 
three  or  four  passages  his  sense  that  there  would  be  disappointment 
along  the  Connecticut  Eiver  when  the  contents  of  his  will  became 
known  there.  "I  have  altered  my  mind  since  I  left  your  house,  for 
reasons,  as  to  what  I  designed  to  give  (which  should  have  been  hand- 
some) to  one  very  near  to  you."  "  You  will  perceive  I  have  given 
something  for  the  benefit  of  those  unborn,  and  for  the  sake  of  those 
poor  creatures  I  am  mostly  concerned  for  fear  my  will  should  be 
broke."  "P.S.  In  my  Will  you  will  find  I  ordered  some  money  for 
the  benefit  of  the  East  town.  I  do  not  know  that  it  will  be  enough 
for  the  will,  but  as  far  as  it  goes  it  will  pay  well,  and  then  some  good 
will  come  of  it."  "P.S.  2'?'^  Let  no  one  but  yourself  and  John 
Worthington  know  what  my  will  contains." 

While  awaiting  in  Albany  the  gathering  of  the  '^new  levies" 
from  is"ew  England  for  the  Crown  Point  expedition,  so-called,  in 
common  with  a  number  of  other  officers.  Colonel  William^s  fell  sick 
in  the  July  weather,  and  was  reminded  again  of  the  uncertainty  of 
life  in  war  time,  and  that  his  cherished  purpose  to  bequeath  some- 
thing to  the  benefit  of  his  old  comrades  at  Fort  Massachusetts  was 
still  unfulfilled.  He  made  no  further  delay.  A  competent  scrivener 
was  looked  up  in  some  office,  Dutch  or  other,  along  the  street ;  and 
it  is  pretty  certain  to  have  been  a  lonesome  and  homesicky  function 
to  have  gone  over  the  numerous  items  one  by  one.  It  is  evidently 
his  own  work,  item  by  item.  His  father  had  died  the  year  before  at 
Deerfield,  leaving  some  property  matters  dangling  in  a  way  quite 
contrary  to  the  son's  sense  of  justice.  His  kinsman,  William  Wil- 
liams, then  a  member  of  his  staff,  and  afterwards  to  become  a  signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  from  Connecticut,  witnessed  the 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  479 

signature  of  the  will,  July  22, 1755,  as  did  also  Noah  Belding,  another 
of  the  Hampshire  soldiers  present,  and  Richard  Cartwright,  too, 
who  may  have  been  the  drafter  of  the  will. 

The  following  letter,  perhaps  the  last  formal  one  ever  written  by 
Ephraim  Williams,  the  founder,  was  sent  down  to  Hatfield  with  the 
will  itself,  to  Colonel  Israel  AVilliams,  first  of  its  two  executors. 

Albany,  July  21,  1755. 

Dear  Sir :  —  Enclosed  I  send  you  my  last  Will  and  Testament,  and  desire  you 
to  con.sult  with  Mr.  Worthington  whether  it  be  legal, — if  it  is  not,  please  to 
write  one  that  is,  —  send  it  up  and  I  will  execute  it.  I  have  altered  my  mind 
since  I  left  your  house,  for  reasons,  as  to  what  I  designed  to  give  (which  should 
have  been  handsome)  to  one  very  near  to  you  ;  have  given  a  small  matter 
to  others,  as  near  to  you,  whose  conduct  to  me  has  rendered  themselves  most 
amiable.  Also  since  I  left  your  house,  for  reasons,  I  have  altered  my  mind,  as 
to  what  I  designed  to  give  to  the  children  of  my  great  benefactor  [Col.  John 
Stoddard  of  Northampton,  who  died  in  1748]  ;  have  given  but  a  small  matter 
to  two  of  them  only.  You  will  perceive  I  have  given  something  for  the  benefit 
of  those  unborn,  and  for  the  sake  of  those  poor  creatures  I  am  mostly  concerned 
for  fear  my  will  should  be  broke.  I  believe,  Sir,  it  would  have  been  more  agree- 
able to  you  if  I  had  given  it  for  an  academy  at  Iladley.  I  turned  the  affair 
over  and  over  in  my  mind,  found  so  many  difficulties,  I  thought  it  was  better  to 
give  it  in  another  shape.  I  desire  that  you  and  Mr.  Worthington  would  inquire 
into  the  affair  of  the  Stockbridge  Indians,  which  my  Honored  [Father]  left  in 
charge ;  by  no  means  let  them  be  [wronged  in  any  way].  I  desire  you  to  pay 
£20  to  your  nieces,  at  a  venture  upon  [it.  I  do  not]  know  that  I  owe  them  one 
quarter  of  it,  but  for  fear  I  do,  I  will  put  enough  in. 

Also  please  to  pay  the  following  persons  whose  names  are  hereafter  men- 
tioned, if  they  are  to  be  found,  being  soldiers  under  my  command.  I  received 
the  money  out  of  the  treasury,  but  could  never  find  the  men ;  have  paid  all  but 
these:  Daniel  Wood,  £4  10s  Sd;  Jonathan  Conally,  £1  13s  Gd ;  Nathaniel 
Sawyer  £2  12s  5cZ ;  William  Williston  £1  IGs,  lives  near  Rehoboth.  These  things 
above  mentioned  are  the  most  material.  I  shall  conclude  by  recommending 
myself  to  your  prayers,  and  you  and  your  dear  family  to  the  Divine  protection. 

T  am,  wifii  great  esteem,  your  honored, 

Most  humble,  and  most  obliged  servant 

To  IsuAKL  Williams,  Esquire.  Ephraim  Williams. 

In  the  Name  of  God  Amen.  I  Ephraim  Williams  of  Hatfield  in  the  County 
of  Hampshire  in  New  England  now  at  Albany  in  the  Province  of  New  York,  on 
my  march  in  the  Expedition  against  Crown  Point,  being  of  sound  and  perfect 
mind  and  memory  (blessed  be  God  therefor)  but  not  knowing  how  God  in  his 
providence  may  dispose  of  my  life  and  remembering  the  uncertainty  of  it  at  all 
times,  I  do  therefore  make  and  publish  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament  in  the 
following  manner. 

First  I  give  my  soul  into  the  hands  of  God  that  gave  it  and  my  body  to  the 
dust  from  whence  it  was  taken  humbly  hoping  for  pardon  acceptance  and  a  res- 
lurection  to  immortal  Glory,  thro'  the  merits  &  mediation  of  a  Glorious  Re- 


480  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

deemer ;  and  as  touching  such  worldly  estate  wherewith  it  hath  pleased  God  to 
bless  me  in  this  life,  I  give  bequeath  and  dispose  of  the  same  in  manner  and 
form  following  that  is  to  say. 

Item  It  is  my  will  and  desire  that  my  just  debts  and  funeral  charges  be  first 
paid  and  discharged  by  my  Executors  hereafter  named  out  of  my  estate. 

Item  It  is  my  will  and  desire  that  the  Deed  I  gave  my  brother,  Elijah 
Williams  of  my  house  and  homestead  at  Stockbridge  and  my  note  hand  payable 
for  One  Hundred  pounds  in  twelve  months  after  my  parents  decease,  as  also  his 
mortgage  Deed  and  his  bond  to  me  be  destroyed  and  made  of  none  effect.  * 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  beloved  brothers  Josiah  Williams  and  Elijah 
Williams  and  the  heirs  of  their  bodies  my  Homestead  at  Stockbridge  with  all  the 
buildings  and  appurtenances  thereunto  belonging,  with  all  the  stock  of  Cattle 
and  Negro  Servants  now  upon  the  place  to  be  equally  divided  between  them 
upon  the  following  conditions  and  not  otherwise  viz  That  they  pay  annually  to 
my  Honour' d  Mother  for  her  support  Twenty  six  pounds  thirteen  shillings  & 
four  pence,  and  also  provided  they  fulfill  the  obligations  I  laid  myself  under  in  a 
certain  bond  to  my  Hon^  Parents  for  their  support  and  decent  interment,  exclu- 
sive of  the  money  I  there  obliged  myself  annually  to  pay  her,  provided  also  that 
they  pay  unto  my  sister  Judith  Williams  or  the  heirs  of  her  body  the  sum  of  One 
Hundred  pounds  and  to  my  sister  Elizabeth  Williams  or  the  heirs  of  her  body  the 
sum  of  One  Hundred  pounds  and  to  the  heirs  of  my  sister  Abigail  Dwight  born 
of  her  body  the  sum  of  One  Hundred  pounds,  to  be  paid  them  severally  within 
twelve  months  after  my  hon^  mothers  decease.  In  case  my  sisters  Judith  or 
Elizabeth  should  come  to  die  without  heirs  then  it  is  my  will  that  her  or  their 
part  or  parts  shall  devolve  to  the  heirs  of  my  sister  Abigail  Dwight. 

Item  it  is  my  will  that  in  case  of  my  aforesaid  brothers  die  without  issue 
then  the  whole  of  the  above  bequest  revert  to  the  survivor  and  the  heirs  of  his 
body,  provided  he  fulfill  the  above  obligations  laid  on  them  both  ;  but  in  case 
my  said  brothers  die  without  issue  then  my  will  is  that  the  abovementioned 
estate  be  sold  and  the  money  be  put  out  to  interest,  and  that  the  said  interest 
shall  be  used  for  some  pious  or  charitable  purposes,  as  the  propagating  Christian- 
ity, the  support  of  the  poor  in  the  County  of  Hampshire,  or  for  schools  on  the 
frontiers  in  the  county  aforesaid  to  be  at  the  direction  of  my  Executors  herein- 
after named,  and  after  their  decease  to  be  at  the  direction  of  the  Justices  of  the 
Sessions  for  the  County  aforesaid  but  in  case  my  brother  Elijah  Williams  should 
deny  or  refuse  to  destroy  the  above  mentioned  writings  as  above  directed  then  it 
is  my  will  to  pay  to  my  Hon4  Mother  annually  for  her  support  Twenty  six 
pounds  thirteen  shillings  and  four  pence  and  also  the  sum  of  Thirteen  pounds 
six  shillings  and  eight  pence  to  my  brother  Josiah  Williams  annually  until  my 
Hon^  Mothers  decease  after  which  to  pay  to  my  sisters  and  the  heirs  of  my 
sister  Abigail  Dwight  as  above  directed  and  that  within  one  twelve  month  after 
my  Hon^  Mothers  decease,  also  to  pay  to  my  brother  Josiah  Williams  or  the 
heirs  of  his  body  the  sum  of  Four  Hundred  pounds,  and  in  case  my  said  brother 
Josiah  should  die  without  issue  then  it  is  my  will  that  my  brother  Elijah  shall 
pay  the  said  sum  of  Four  Hundred  pounds  to  my  Executors  to  be  appropriated 
by  them  to  some  or  all  the  public  uses  above  mentioned. 

Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  beloved  brother  Thomas  Williams  One 
Hundred  pounds  to  be  paid  him  out  of  my  bonds  but  in  case  of  his  decease  in  the 
present  expedition  to  be  equally  divided  amongst  his  five  daughters  viz,  Eliza- 
beth Anne  Cynthia  Mary  and  Martha. 


WILLIA3IST0WN.  481 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  beloved  cousin  Thomas  Williams  son  to 
my  brother  Thomas  Williams  Nine  Hundred  acres  of  Land  known  by  the  name 
of  the  Equivalent  and  joining  upon  the  Township  of  Stockbridge,  &  in  case  he 
dies  without  issue,  I  give  it  to  my  beloved  cousins  Erastus  Sergeant  and  John 
Sergeant  to  be  equally  divided  between  them  but  in  case  one  die  without  issue 
the  whole  to  go  to  the  survivor  if  they  both  die  without  issue  the  whole  to  be 
appropriated  to  public  uses  as  before  mentioned. 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  loving  cousins  Elijah  Graves,  Moses 
Graves,  John  Graves  and  Martha  Graves  children  of  Moses  and  Martha  Graves 
the  sum  of  One  hundred  pounds  to  be  equally  divided  between  them,  in  case 
any  dies  without  issue,  then  the  whole  to  go  to  the  survivor  or  survivors,  and  in 
case  they  all  should  die  without  issue  then  the  said  hundred  pounds  to  be  appro- 
priated to  the  publick  uses  as  above  directed,  the  said  money  to  be  taken  out  of 
Moses  Graves  and  Elisha  Chapin's  joint  bond  and  to  be  put  on  interest  until  the 
children  come  of  age. 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  beloved  cousins  James  &  John  Gray  sons 
of  James  and  Sarah  Gray  Fifty  acres  of  land  lying  north  of  the  great  pond  in 
Stockbridge,  so-called,  bounded  upon  land  of  their  father  James  Gray  on  the 
East  by  Josiah  Jones'  land  on  the  West  by  the  great  pond  on  the  South,  &  the 
Town  line  on  the  north  to  be  equally  divided  between  them,  but  in  case  they  die 
without  issue  then  the  said  land  to  be  disposed  of  for  publick  uses  as  aforesaid. 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  loving  cousins  William  Williams  and  Israel 
Williams  sons  of  Israel  Williams  Esq?  and  Sarah  his  wife  Two  lots  of  Meadow 
land  in  Hatfield  great  Meadow,  the  contents  of  which  &  the  bounds  may  be  seen 
in  a  Deed  given  to  me  of  the  same  by  Moses  Graves  of  Hatfield  The  lot  lying 
nearest  to  Pine  Bridge  I  give  to  William  and  the  other  to  Israel  and  in  case  one 
of  them  dies  without  issue  then  both  lots  to  go  to  the  Survivor  if  they  both  die 
without  issue  then  the  lots  to  be  disposed  of  for  the  publick  uses  as  above  directed. 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  beloved  Cousins  Eunice  Williams  Jerusha 
Elizabeth  and  Lucretia  Williams  daughters  of  Israel  Williams  Esq*:  and  Sarah 
his  wife  the  sum  of  Twenty  pounds  each  in  case  any  of  them  die  without  issue 
their  part  to  be  equally  divided  among  the  survivors,  and  in  case  they  all  should 
die  without  issue  then  the  money  to  be  disposed  of  for  publick  uses  as  aforesaid. 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  loving  Cousin  Elizabeth  Williams  over  and 
above  the  Twenty  pounds  above  mentioned  my  Silver  Cream  pot  and  Tea  spoons. 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  loving  brother  Thomas  Williams  all  my 
Wearing  apparel  my  Shoe  buckles,  but  in  ca.se  my  said  brother  should  die  I  then 
give  them  to  my  surviving  brothers  to  be  equally  divided  among  them. 

Item  I  give  to  my  beloved  friend  and  kinsman  Israel  Williams  Esq«  of  Hat- 
field my  Sorrel  mare  now  at  Northampton  and  my  bald  Colt  now  at  Sheffield. 

Item  I  give  to  my  trusty  and  well  beloved  friend  John  Worth ington  Esq*  of 
Springfield  my  Chambers  Dictionary  with  the  whole  of  Pope's  works  and  some 
other  books  that  came  in  the  same  box  now  in  his  hands  and  also  my  French 
Fire  arm  my  case  of  Pistols  and  Hanger  in  case  the  French  dont  get  them  but 
if  he  dies  without  issue  then  the  above  articles  to  be  given  to  the  eldest  male 
heir  in  Coll  Israel  Williams  family. 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  beloved  brother  Thomas  Williams  my  Fire 
arm  now  in  his  possession. 

Item  I  give  the  remaining  pan  ui  my  Library  not  yet  disposed  of  (excepting 
my  large  Bible  and  Ridgley's  Body  of  Divinity)  to  my  beloved  brother's,  Thomas 


482  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

and  Elijah  Williams  to  be  equally  divided  between  them  but  in  case  my  brother 
Thomas  dies  his  part  to  go  to  his  son  Thomas  and  in  case  my  brother  Elijah 
dies  without  issue  then  his  part  to  be  given  to  my  cousins  William  &  Israel 
Williams  to  be  equally  divided  between  them,  over  and  above  the  lots  of  land 
bequeathed  them  above,  and  it  is  my  will  and  desire  further  that  my  cousin 
William  Williams  above  mentioned  shall  have  the  perusal  of  the  books  hereby 
given  to  my  brothers  Thomas  &  Elijah,  any  reasonable  time  upon  his  desire. 

Item  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  brother  Thomas  Williams's  two  eldest 
Daughters  Three  Silver  spoons  now  at  Hatfield  and  a  Silver  Tankard  now  at  Stock- 
bridge  and  what  Silver  may  be  bequeathed  me  by  my  Aunt  Cooke  in  Newton. 

Item  I  give  to  my  brother  Josiah  my  large  Bible  and  Ridgley's  body  of 
Divinity. 

Item  I  give  to  Solomon  &  Israel  Stoddard  sons  of  my  great  benefactor  John 
Stoddard  Esq?  dec^  my  two  colts  now  at  Northampton. 

Item  I  give  and  devise  and  remit  to  the  poor,  distressed,  and  imprudent 
Captain  Elisha  Chapin  the  sum  of  One  hundred  pounds  to  be  deducted  out  of 
the  bond  given  jointly  by  Moses  Graves  and  said  Elisha  Chapin  the  said  Hun- 
dred Pounds  to  be  remitted  out  of  the  said  Chapin' s  part. 

Item  It  is  my  will  and  pleasure  and  desire  that  the  remaining  part  of  Lands 
not  yet  disposed  of  shall  be  sold  at  the  discretion  of  my  Executors  within  five  years 
after  an  established  peace,  and  the  interest  of  the  money  and  also  the  interest  of 
my  money  arising  by  my  bonds  and  notes  shall  be  appropriated  towards  the  sup- 
port and  maintenance  of  a  Free  School  (in  a  Township  west  of  Fort.  Massachu- 
setts, commonly  called  the  West.  Township)  forever,  provided  the  s?  Township 
fall  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  provided 
also  that  the  Governor  and  General  Court  give  the  s^  Township  the  name  of 
Williamstown,  and  it  is  my  further  will  and  desire  that  if  there  should  remain,  any 
monies  of  the  above  donation,  for  the  said  School,  It  be  given  towards  the  support 
of  a  School  in  the  East  Township  where  the  Fort  now  stands  but  in  case  the  above 
provisos  are  not  complied  with  then  it  is  my  will  and  desire  that  the  interest  of  the 
above  mentioned  monies  be  appropriated  to  some  pious  and  charitable  uses  in  man- 
ner and  form  as  directed  in  the  former  part  of  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament. 

Lastly  I  nominate  and  appoint  my  trusty  and  well  beloved  friends  Israel 
Williams  Esq?  of  Hatfield  and  John  Worthington  Esq?  of  Springfield  in  the 
County  of  Hampshire  and  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  of  New  England  to 
be  Executors  of  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament  and  I  hereby  revoke  disannul 
and  make  void  all  former  wills  and  Testaments  by  me  heretofore  made  done  or 
executed  and  I  do  hereby  confirm  and  allow  this  and  no  other  to  be  my  last  will 
&  Testament,  and  desire  it  may  be  observed  as  such. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal  the  twenty  second 
day  of  July  in  the  twenty  ninth  year  of  his  Majesty's  reign  and  in  the  year  of 
our  LORD  one  thousand  seven  hundred  &  fifty  five. 

Signed  sealed  published  pronounced  &  declared  by  1 
the  s4  Ephraim  Williams  as  his  last  Will  and  Testa-  !  -^^^  Williams    [seal] 
ment  (the  erasure  at  the  word  Hatfield  being  first  made)  j 
in  the  presence  of  us  who  were  present  at  the  signing.  J 

W^  Williams  JunT 
Noah  Belding 
Rich?  Cartwright 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  483 

At  a  Court  of  Probate  holden  at  Northampton  within  and  for  the  County  of 
Hampshire  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  November  being  the  1P>  day  of  said 
month  anno  Dom. "  1755  p.  Timothy  Dwight  Esq?  Judge  of  said  Court  The 
foregoing  will  was  presented  for  probate  by  the  Executors  therein  named  and 
Noah  Belding  one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  same  personally  appearing  made  oath 
that  Col."  Ephraim  Williams  Esq^.  the  Testator,  signed,  sealed,  pronounced  & 
declared  the  above  instrument  as  and  for  his  last  Will  &  Testament  in  his  pres- 
ence and  in  presence  of  William  Williams  JuuT  and  Richard  Cartwright  the 
other  witness  to  said  will  and  that  he  the  said  Testator  was  of  sound  mind  & 
memory  when  he  did  it  and  that  he  with  the  other  witnesses  above  mentioned  all 
signed  as  witnesses  to  the  same  in  the  said  Testators  presence,  wherefore  it  is 
ratified  approved  &  confirmed  as  the  last  Will  and  Testament  of  said  deceased  so 
far  as  to  the  conveyance  of  the  personal  estate  of  said  deceased  only  according 
to  the  said  Testators  bequests  of  the  same  in  the  foregoing  will 

p.       TiMOTHV    DwiGHT 

At  a  Court  of  Probate  holden  at  Northampton  within  &  for  the  County  of 
Hampshire  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  December  being  the  lOl**  day  of  said  month 
Ane  Do*  1755.  p.  Timothy  Dwight  Esq*"  Judge  of  said  Court  William  Williams 
Junf  another  of  the  witnesses  to  the  foregoing  will  personally  appearing  made 
oath  in  every  respect  as  the  above  said  Noah  Belding  did  as  is  above  certified 
wherefore  the  said  will  is  ratified  approved  &  confirmed  as  the  last  Will  & 
Testament  of  said  deceased  as  to  the  conveyance  of  the  Real  a«  well  as  the 
personal  estate  agreeable  to  the  Devises  of  the  same  in  the  foregoing  will. 

p.     Timothy  Dwight. 

Hampshire  ss.  Probate  Office  Sept.  1,  1812. 
I  hereby  certify  that  the  foregoing  is  a  true  copy  of  the  last  will  and  testa- 
ment of  Ephraim  Williams  formerly  of  Hatfield  in  said  County  deceased  as 
recorded  with  the  probate  thereof  in  said  Office 

Attest 

Sam*-  F.  Lyman  Reg'  of  Prob 

Rev.  Stephen  Williams,  pastor  at  Longmeadow,  son  of  the  famous 
"Redeemed  Captive"  John  Williams,  of  Deerfield,  at  that  time 
sixty-two  years  old,  was  in  Albany  when  the  will  was  drawn,  as 
Chaplain  to  his  kinsman's  regiment,  but  he  evidently  was  not  con- 
sulted, in  reference  to  it,  and  it  is  plain  that  the  relations  of  tlie  two 
men  were  not  any  too  cordial.  An  extant  diary  of  the  clergyman, 
as  yet  unpublished,  for  the  year  1749-50  contains  two  or  three 
memoranda^  in  relation  to  the  officer :  —  "  Dined  with  Col.  Williams." 
"  This  night  was  hurt  by  discourse  of  Colonel  Williams  with  Colonel 
Choate  :  I  dislike  ye  conduct  of  my  kinsman."  Stephen  Williams 
had  been  Chaplain  under  Pepperell  at  Louisburg,  in  1745,  and  after 
this  service  at  Lake  George  under  Sir  William  Johnson  ten  years 

1  Communicated  to  me  by  my  friend  Fisher  Howe,  Williams  College,  1872. 


484  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

later,  he  served  in  the  same  capacity  in  the  same  region  under 
General  Winslow  in  1756.  He  was  minister  in  Longmeadow  for 
sixty-six  years,  1716-82.  One  of  his  deacons,  Nathaniel  Burt,  was 
killed  in  the  battle  of  Lake  George,  alongside  of  Colonel  Williams ; 
and  his  pastor  published  later  an  elaborate  eulogy  of  him,  and  also 
married  his  widow. 

More  is  probably  to  be  learned  from  this  his  will  of  the  personal 
characteristics  of  Ephraim  Williams,  than  from  all  other  sources 
put  together.  If  the  kind  reader  please,  we  will  study  now  this 
document  a  little  in  detail,  with  a  view  to  gain  (if  possible)  a  firm 
possession  of  some  of  the  founder's  leading  qualities. 

(1)  He  was  a  man  of  more  than  common  gratitude.  "Item. 
I  give  to  Solomon  and  Israel  Stoddard,  sons  of  my  great  benefactor, 
John  Stoddard,  deceased,  my  two  colts  now  at  Northampton." 
When  this  will  was  drawn.  Colonel  John  Stoddard  had  been  dead 
seven  years.  He  was  son  to  Solomon  Stoddard,  second  minister  of 
Northampton,  and  own  cousin  to  Jonathan  Edwards,  settled  in 
Northampton  in  1727,  as  colleague  with  his  grandfather  Stoddard, 
Thereafter,  those  two  men,  until  the  death  of  the  Colonel  in  1748, 
were  the  most  influential  men  in  New  England,  at  once  in  church 
and  state,  as  well  in  Boston  as  in  Northampton.  Edwards  delivered 
a  commemorative  discourse  on  the  death  of  Stoddard,  in  which  he 
ascribed  to  him  the  highest  native  gifts  of  mind,  a  peculiar  genius 
for  public  affairs,  a  thorough  political  knowledge,  great  purity  of 
life,  incorruptible  principle,  and  sincere  piety.  "  Upon  the  whole, 
everything  in  him  was  great,  and  perhaps  there  was  never  a  man  in 
New  England  to  whom  the  denomination  of  a  great  man  did  more 
properly  belong."  Governor  Hutchinson  says :  "  He  shone  only 
in  great  affairs,  while  inferior  matters  were  frequently  carried 
against  his  mind,  by  the  little  arts  and  crafts  of  minute  politicians, 
which  he  disdained  to  defeat  by  counter-working." 

When  Ephraim  Williams  came  back  from  his  foreign  voyages  to 
stay,  and  his  father  had  moved  from  Newton  to  Stockbridge,  and  the 
thunder-heads  of  the  old  Erench  War  began  to  loom  up  around 
the  horizon  of  New  England,  John  Stoddard  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  political  and  military  administration  of  western  Massachusetts ; 
William  Shirley  was  the  able  and  excellent  colonial  governor  at 
Boston,  whose  estimation  of  Stoddard  was  so  high,  that  he  practi- 
cally left  the  direction  of  affairs  at  the  west  in  his  hands;  and  it 
was  undoubtedly  Stoddard's  promotion  of  an  untried  man  to  the 
command  of  the  "  line  of  forts  "  from  the  Connecticut  River  to  the 
Hoosac,  and  his  steady  support  of  him  in  that  position,  notwith- 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  485 

standing  some  things  that  looked  dubious  in  a  military  point  of 
view,  that  constituted  the  ''great  benefaction"  immortalized  by 
Williams  in  his  will.  After  so  much  lapse  of  time  and  change  of 
circumstances,  and  after  the  benefiictor  had  been  seven  years  in  his 
grave,  many  men,  most  men,  would  have  regarded  an  incident  of 
that  sort  as  a  by-gone,  something,  indeed,  to  be  cherished  in  the  per- 
sonal memory,  but  not  something  to  be  formally  and  legally  empha- 
sized and  thrust  forward  into  :ni"<^i""-  •■■"neration.  Colonel  Williams 
was  a  grateful  man. 

(2)  He  had  more  than  the  usual  sense  of  what  constitutes 
right  and  fair  between  man  and  man,  without  reference  to  the  social 
position  of  the  party  of  either  part.  This  appears  in  numerous 
minute  incidents  in  his  career,  and  particularly  in  the  letter  which 
he  wrote  from  Albany  to  Israel  Williams,  to  accompany  and  explain 
the  will.  The  writer  has  studied  the  original  of  that  letter  with 
care,  and  is  certain  that  one  passage  in  it  is  illegible,  not  in  conse- 
quence of  the  gnawing  of  the  tooth  of  time  (the  date  is  July  21, 
1755),  but  in  consequence  of  a  purposed  obliteration  on  the  part  of 
somebody  (likely  to  have  been  Dr.  Thomas  Williams),  in  order  to 
save  his  father's  memory  from  a  censure  implied  in  the  original 
phrases.  Nobody  in  Stockbridge  had  been  satisfied  with  the  deal- 
ings, general  and  particular,  of  the  elder  Williams  with  the  Indians 
there.  He  had  left  Stockbridge  under  the  profound  odium  of  a 
selfish  and  unchristian  conduct  towards  them.  In  this  letter  the 
founder  desires  that  the  executors  of  his  will  "  would  inquire  into 
the  affair  of  the  Stockbridge  Indians,  which  my  Honored  .  .  .  left 
in  charge ;  by  no  means  let  them  be  .  .  .  I  desire  you  to  pay  £20 
to  your  nieces  at  a  venture  ujx>n  .  .  .  know  that  I  owe  them  one 
quarter  of  it,  but  for  fear  I  do,  I  will  put  enough  in." 

The  Williams  family,  as  such,  were  aristocratic  in  their  tenden- 
cies, in  their  intermarriages  w4th  other  families,  in  their  political 
opinions  strongly  inclined  to  monarchy,  and  in  their  social  instincts 
and  practices  haughty,  even  if  not  positively  unjust  towards  the 
masses  of  men.  The  founder's  father  inherited  from  his  own 
mother,  Judith  Cooper,  a  reckless  acquisitiveness  in  relation  to 
property,  and  a  singular  dulness  of  conscience  in  relation  to  the 
inherent  rights  of  the  poor  and  unbef riended ;  and  it  seems  likely 
that  he  transmitted  something  of  these  traits  to  several  generations 
of  his  descendants ;  but  his  eldest  son  appears  to  have  been  remark- 
ably free  from  them;  and  Vherever  we  can  touch  his  points  of 
contact  with  the  common  soldiers,  and  with  others  who  had  no 
champion,  he  shows  the  broad  sympathies  and  that  quick  sense  of 


486  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

justice  that  mark  the  true  and  great  man.  The  obliterations  made 
in  this  letter,  probably  long  after  it  was  written,  do  the  writer  much 
credit,  and  cannot  but  throw  discredit  back  on  the  paternal  stock. 

(3)  Considering  his  broken  youth  and  imperfect  education,  and 
considering,  too,  that  he  never  had  a  permanent  home  during  his 
manhood,  the  thoughtful  and  religious  traits  of  Colonel  AVilliams 
strikingly  appear  in  those  phrases  of  his  will  that  give  the  titles  of 
some  of  his  books,  and  make  careful  bequeathments  of  them  all. 
"  Item.  I  give  to  my  trusty  and  well-beloved  friend,  John  Worth- 
ington  Esq.,  of  Springfield,  my  Chambers's  Dictionary,  with  the 
whole  of  Pope's  works,  and  some  other  books  that  came  in  the 
same  box,  now  in  his  hands ;  but  if  he  dies  without  issue,  then  the 
above  articles  to  be  given  to  the  eldest  male  heir  in  Colonel  Israel 
Williams's  family."  This  copy  of  the  "  Dictionary,"  or  more  prop- 
erly Cyclopedia,  of  Ephraim  Chambers,  first  published  in  London  in 
two  very  large  folio  volumes,  may,  very  likely,  have  belonged  to  the 
sixth  and  last  edition,  which  appeared,  with  much  new  matter,  in 
1750,  and  became  the  basis  of  Dr.  Eees's  Cyclopedia  in  forty-five 
quarto  volumes. 

"  Item.  I  give  the  remaining  part  of  my  library  not  yet  disposed 
of  (excepting  my  large  Bible  and  Eidgley's  Body  of  Divinity),  to 
my  beloved  brothers,  Thomas  and  Elijah  Williams,  to  be  equally 
divided  between  them  ;  but  in  case  my  brother  Thomas  dies,  his 
part  to  go  to  his  son  Thomas ;  and  in  case  my  brother  Elijah  dies 
without  issue,  then  his  part  to  be  given  to  my  cousins,  William  and 
Israel  Williams  [sons  of  Colonel  Israel,  of  Hatfield],  to  be  equally 
divided  between  them ;  and  it  is  my  will  and  desire,  further,  that 
my  cousin  William  Williams,  above  mentioned,  shall  have  the 
perusal  of  the  books  hereby  given  to  my  brothers,  Thomas  and 
Elijah,  any  reasonable  time,  upon  his  desire."  This  William  Wil- 
liams was  just  turned  of  twenty-one,  and  had  just  been  graduated 
at  Yale  when  these  words  were  penned;  and  he  lived  to  become, 
perhaps,  the  most  efficient  agent  in  the  carrying  out  of  another,  the 
central,  clause  in  Ephraim  Williams's  will,  as  one  of  the  original 
trustees  of  the  Eree  School  and  the  College,  and  the  first  president 
of  that  incorporated  Board.  He  will  be  hereafter  designated  in 
these  pages  as  Deacon  William  Williams,  to  distinguish  him  from 
several  others  of  the  same  name  in  the  same  general  family. 

"  Item.  I  give  to  my  brother  Josiah,  my  large  Bible  and  Eidgley's 
Body  of  Divinity."  All  these  words  taken  in  their  connections,  and 
taken  in  connection  with  the  solemn  commitment,  at  about  the  same 
time,  of  himself  and  others  to  the  prayers  of  Israel  Williams,  "  and 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  487 

you  and  your  dear  family  to  the  Divine  Protection,"  must  be  the 
words  of  a  thoughtful  and  comprehensive  and  deeply  religious 
spirit.  Among  the  books  that  thus  fell  to  his  own  brother  Thomas, 
was  "An  Universal  History  from  the  Earliest  Account  of  Time," 
in  twenty  large  volumes,  strongly  and  elegantly  bound,  published 
in  London,  in  1748,  by  "T.  Osborne  in  Gray's  Inn;  A.  Millar  in  the 
Strand ;  and  J.  Osborn  in  Paternoster  Row."  These  volumes,  com- 
plete, have  recently  been  presented  to  the  Williams  College  library 
by  tlie  heirs  of  Dr.  Thomas  Williams.  They  were  kept,  till  well 
into  this  century,  in  the  old  Williams  house  in  Deertield.  They 
passed  through  the  hands,  in  regular  descent,  of  Solomon  and  Henry 
and  Henry.  The  last  enters  an  interesting  autograph  account  of 
them  on  the  inner  cover  of  volume  first,  in  connection  with  their 
presentation  to  the  College.  Bishop  John  Williams,  of  Connecticut, 
an  heir  along  this  line  of  descent,  has  long  been  generous  and 
intelligent  in  behalf  of  the  College. 

(4)  A  quick  sense  of  humor,  well  known  on  other  grounds  to 
have  been  characteristic  of  the  founder,  comes  out  even  in  his  will. 
He  bequeaths  to  John  AVorthington  "  my  French  firearm,  my  case 
of  pistols  and  hanger,  in  case  the  French  donH  get  them!"  Luckily, 
the  French  got  nothing  that  belonged  to  him,  except  his  life.  His 
body  was  not  rifled  in  consequence  of  the  temporary  retreat,  nor  his 
effects  in  his  tent  at  the  camp  scattered.  "  ^ly  firearm,  now  in  my 
possession,"  went,  as  he  willed,  to  his  brother  Thomas ;  the  sword 
and  watch  that  he  wore  in  the  fight,  and  the  sword  that  his  brother 
Thonitis  wore  at  the  same  time,  are  the  property  of  the  College,  and 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  small  historical  museum  now  in  Clark 
Hall ;  and  some  other  articles  of  utility  and  ornament  on  his  person 
when  he  fell  are  in  the  hands  of  the  descendants  of  his  brother 
Thomas. 

"  Item.  I  give  and  devise  and  remit  to  the  poor,  distressed,  and 
imprudent  Captain  Elisha  Chapin,  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds, 
to  be  deducted  out  of  the  bond  given  jointly  by  Moses  Graves  and 
said  Elisha  Chapin  ;  the  said  hundred  pounds  to  be  remitted  out  of 
said  Chapin's  part ! " 

(o)  The  magnanimity  of  Williams  is  shown  in  his  will  by  his 
treatment  of  his  half-brothers  and  half-sisters,  as  well  as  of  some 
others.  One  would  never  know  by  the  reading  of  this  will,  that  the 
testator's  relations  were  anywise  different  towards  his  uterine  brother 
Thomas,  with  \vhom  he  had  been  brought  up  from  infancy  in  the 
family  of  his  grandfather  Jackson,  than  those  sustained  towards  his 
broil. ..v^  .T,wi  i]i  and  Elij'^'  :'M'1  l"'^  ci^f  .vc  A}>igail  and  Elizabeth  and 


488  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Judith,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  another  family  and  under  quite 
different  auspices.  ^^  Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  beloved 
brothers,  Josiah  Williams  and  Elijah  Williams,  and  the  heirs  of 
their  bodies,  my  homestead  at  Stockbridge,  with  all  the  buildings 
and  appurtenances  thereunto  belonging,  with  all  the  stock  of  cattle, 
and  negro  servants  now  upon  the  place,  to  be  equally  divided 
between  them,  upon  the  following  conditions,  and  not  otherwise, 
viz. :  That  they  pay  annually  to  my  honored  mother  [step-mother], 
for  her  support,  twenty-six  pounds  thirteen  shillings  and  four  pence, 
and  also,  provided  they  fulfil  the  obligations  I  laid  myself  under,  in 
a  certain  bond  to  my  honored  parents,  for  their  support,  and  decent 
interment,  exclusive  of  the  money  I  then  obliged  myself  annually 
to  pay  her;  provided  also,  that  they  pay  unto  my  sister  Judith  Wil- 
liams, or  the  heirs  of  her  body,  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds,  and 
to  the  heirs  of  my  sister  Abigail  Dwight,  born  of  her  body,  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  pounds,  to  be  paid  them*  severally,  within  twelve 
months  after  my  honored  mother's  decease.  In  case  my  sisters 
Judith  or  Elizabeth  should  come  to  die  without  heirs,  then  it  is  my 
will  that  her,  or  their  part  or  parts  shall  devolve  to  the  heirs  of  my 
sister  Abigail  Dwight." 

This  sister  Abigail,  the  first-born  of  Ephraim  Williams's  second 
marriage,  born  April  20,  1721,  came  to  Stockbridge  with  her  father's 
family  in  1739,  and  was  shortly  after  married  to  E,ev.  John  Sergeant, 
the  Indian  missionary  there,  and  became  the  mother  of  his  three 
children.  Electa,  Erastus,  and  John.  The  latter  are  referred  to  in 
Colonel  Williams's  will,  —  "I  give  it  to  my  beloved  cousins,  Erastus 
Sergeant  and  John  Sergeant,  to  be  equally  divided  between  them.'^ 
The  missionary  Sergeant  died  in  1749,  and  his  widow  not  long  after 
married  Brigadier-General  Joseph  Dwight.  The  sister  Elizabeth 
married  Kev.  Stephen  West,  who  was,  for  a  short  time,  Chaplain  at 
Fort  Massachusetts,  and  was  settled  pastor  in  Stockbridge  from  1759 
till  1818.  She  died  in  1804.  The  third  sister  Judith  married  Eev. 
Ezra  Thayer,  of  Ware,  who  was  ordained  there  in  1759.  The  half- 
brother  Josiah  was  an  ensign  in  Ephraim's  regiment  in  the  battle 
of  Lake  George,  and  was  desperately  wounded.  His  half-brother 
Thomas,  who  was  the  surgeon  there,  wrote  to  his  wife  three  days 
after  the  battle,  —  "  Twenty  odd  wounded  in  our  regiment,  and  poor 
brother  Josiah  makes  one  of  the  number,  having  a  ball  lodged  in  the 
intestines,  which  entered  towards  the  upper  part  of  his  thigh  and 
passed  through  his  groin."  Nevertheless,  like  Dieskau,  Josiah  Wil- 
liams survived  his  wound  for  a  number  of  j^ears,  though  he  ulti- 
mately died  in  consequence  of  it.     The  youngest  half-brother,  Elijah, 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  489 

bom  in  1732,  lived  an  honored  life  in  Stockbridge,  and  died  there  in 
1815.  The  house  is  still  standing  in  West  Stockbridge,  which  he 
built  and  occupied  for  twenty-five  years  ;  and  he  was  mainly  instru- 
mental in  having  that  township  set  off  in  1774  from  the  old  "  Indian 
Town.'* 

(6)  ^^Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  beloved  cousins,  James  and 
John  Gray,  sons  of  James  and  Sarah  Gray,  fifty  acres  of  land  lying 
north  of  the  great  pond,  so-called,  bounded  upon  land  of  their  father, 
James  Gray,  on  the  east,  by  Josiah  Jones's  land  on  the  west,  by  the 
great  pond  on  the  south  [Stockbridge  Bowl],  and  the  town  line  on 
the  north,  to  be  equally  divided  between  them."  There  are  two 
reasons  for  referring  now  to  this  particular  bequest;  first,  to  dis- 
cover the  painstaking  action  of  Williams^s  mind,  to  include  in  his 
benefactions  all  his  relatives  (even  those  by  marriage),  as  well  as 
to  secure  by  means  of  other  parts  of  his  small  fortune  certain  ends 
of  public  benevolence ;  second,  to  show  how  and  how  widely  the 
Williams  blood  entered  the  leading  families  of  western  Massachu- 
setts, particularly  this  Scotch-Irish  family  of  Gray,  with  which  the 
writer  also  is  lineally  connected.  Sarah  Williams,  own  sister  of 
Ephraim  Senior,  and  three  years  older,  the  two  youngest  children 
of  Captain  Isaac,  himself  son  to  the  progenitor  Robert  of  Roxbury, 
married  John  Marsh,  of  Hadley,  in  October,  1718.  Her  husband 
dying,  she  married  James  Gray,  then  of  Hadley,  a  weaver,  one  of 
the  Scotch-Irish  immigrants  of  1718  into  Worcester.  They  were 
married  in  July,  1732,  and  had  these  two  sons,  James  and  John, 
mentioned  by  name  in  Colonel  Williams's  will,  as  above.  They 
were  thus  his  own  cousins. 

In  February,  1749,  James  Gray,  "Weaver,"  and  Sarah,  his  wife, 
sold  their  lands  in  Hadley,  and  bought  in  the  following  October  of 
Ephraim  Williams  Junior,  "  Gentleman,"  200  acres  of  land  in 
Stockbridge  "  on  the  north  line  of  the  town  by  the  Great  Pond," 
etc.  In  February,  1762,  Sarah  Marsh  Gray  having  in  the  mean 
time  died  in  Stockbridge,  June  1,  1759,  James  Gray,  "Weaver,"  and 
James  Gray,  Junior,  "  Gentleman,"  sold  this  land  to  Charles  Stone, 
of  Guildford,  Connecticut,  for  £264.  Notice  that  the  father  in  his 
old  age  is  still  "  weaver,"  and  his  son,  by  virtue  of  being  the  nephew 
of  Ephraim  Williams,  Senior,  is  "  gentleman."  So  it  went  in  those 
days.  Twelve  days  later  the  same  two  parties,  under  the  same 
styles,  bought  fifty  acres  in  the  heart  of  Stockbridge  village,  for 
£264,  "  bounded  by  land  of  T.  Woodbridge,  and  of  the  heirs  of 
John  Sergeant,  and  of  land  of  Samuel  Brown  and  James  Wilson, 
with  dwelling-house,  orchard  and  growing  grain." 


490  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

The  story  of  these  youngsters  of  that  time,  James  and  John  Gray, 
and  specially  of  the  former  and  elder  of  them,  may  afford  some  in- 
struction and  more  amusement.  The  Williams  influence  got  James 
Gray  appointed  a  sergeant  in  one  of  the  companies  of  Colonel  Pep- 
perell's  regiment,  which  accompanied  Governor  Shirley's  central 
expedition  against  the  French  and  Indians,  in  1755.  As  General 
Braddock  commanded  at  the  southward,  and  Sir  William  Johnson 
to  the  northward,  so  Governor  Shirley  personally  led  the  centre  up 
the  Mohawk  Biver  towards  the  Great  Lakes.  Shirley's  own  regi- 
ment, so-called,  and  Pepperell's,  though  paid  by  the  king  and  counted 
as  English  regulars,  were  in  fact  raw  provincials  just  raised  in  the 
colonies,  and  all  hands  wore  their  gay  uniforms  with  an  awkward 
air.  Sergeant  Gray  wrote  as  follows  to  his  brother  John  in  Stock- 
bridge  of  his  status  in  the  army :  "  I  have  two  Holland  shirts,  found 
me  by  the  king,  and  two  pair  of  shoes -and  two  pair  of  worsted 
stockings ;  a  good  silver-laced  hat  (the  lace  I  could  sell  for  four 
dollars)  ;  and  my  clothes  is  as  good  scarlet  broadcloth  as  ever  you 
did  see.  A  sergeant  in  the  king's  regiment  is  counted  as  good  as 
an  ensign  with  you ;  and  one  day  in  every  week  we  must  have  our 
hair  or  wigs  powdered."  More  fortunate  than  young  William  Shir- 
ley, who  went  in  a  similar  capacity  with  Braddock,  and  was  killed, 
young  Gray  returned  to  Albany  with  the  broken  expedition,  and 
kept  some  position  in  the  army :  for  he  writes  a  letter  from  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  in  1757,  "  to  Mr.  William  Williams  at  Hatfield."  In 
this  letter  he  sends  his  "  duty  to  your  honored  parents,"  that  is  to 
say,  to  Colonel  Israel  Williams  and  his  wife.  His  correspondent 
in  this  case  became  the  Deacon  William  Williams,  of  Dalton,  of 
whom  much  will  be  said  in  the  sequel. 

The  name  of  this  James  Gray,  Junior,  appears  in  a  ludicrously 
aristocratic  light  in  the  earliest  records  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  of  the  county  of  Berkshire.  This  county  was  set  off  from  the 
old  county  of  Hampshire  in  1761.  The  court  followed  closely  the 
old  common  law  forms,  and  insisted  on  great  strictness  in  pleading, 
even  in  cases  in  which  Parliament  had  by  statute  long  before  relaxed 
the  formalities.  At  the  September  term,  1768,  of  the  New  Berkshire 
Court,  a  writ  was  brought  by  George  Wilmot,  of  Hartford,  "Gentle- 
man," plaintiff  against  James  Gray,  Junior,  of  Stockbridge,  "  Gen- 
tleman," defendant.  The  defendant  came  into  court  and  prayed 
that  the  writ  might  be  abated  for  these  reasons  :  — 

1.  For  that  he  the  said  James  long  before  the  purchase  of  this  writ,  by  a 
good  and  lawful  commission  from  Francis  Bernard  Esq.,  Captain  General  of  his 
Majesty's  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  was  appointed,  constituted  and  made 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  491 

a  Major  of  a  Brigade  to  the  forces  raised  by  the  said  Francis  Bernard,  to  be 
employed  in  his  Majesty's  service,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1762,  under  the 
command  of  His  Excellency  Gen.  Amherst,  and  therefore  that  he  has  not  his 
proper  addition  given  him  in  said  writ,  for  that  he  should  therein  have  been 
called  James  Gray,  Esquire,  and  not  James  Gray,  Gentleman. 

2.  Because  the  plaintiff  calls  himself  of  Hartford  in  the  County  of  Hart- 
ford, Colony  of  Connecticut,  whereas  before  and  at  the  time  of  the  purchase  of 
said  writ,  he  lived  at  and  belonged  to  Albany  in  the  County  of  Albany,  in  the 
Province  of  New  York,  and  ought  to  have  been  so  called. 

3.  Because  the  plaintiff  hath  given  himself  the  addition  of  Gentleman,  whereas 
the  said  James  says  the  plaintiff  is  not  a  Gentleman,  and  ought  to  have  been 
called  George  Wilmot,  Yeoman,  and  not  George  Wilmot,  Gentleman. 

The  court  after  consideration  and  inquiry  ordered,  that  the  writ 
abate,  and  the  said  James  recover  his  costs.  The  judges  at  that  time 
were  William  Williams,  of  Pittsfield,  a  nephew  of  John  Stoddard 
and  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams;  Perez  ^larsh,  of  Dalton,  a  son-in- 
law  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams ;  John  Ashley,  of  Sheffield,  a  descend- 
ant of  John  Pynchon,  of  Springfield ;  and  Timothy  Woodbridge,  of 
Stockbridge,  out  of  a  long  line  of  clergymen,  and  a  great-grandson 
of  the  Apostle  Eliot;  the  sheriff  of  the  court  was  Elijah  Williams, 
of  Stockbridge,  the  youngest  son  of  Ephraim  W^illiams,  Senior. 
James  Gray  was  own  cousin  of  Elijah  Williams. 

In  January,  1768,  James  Gray,  Junior,  Esq.,  sold  to  Dr.  Mar- 
shall Spring,  of  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  lifty-two  acres  of  land 
in  Stockbridge,  on  the  road  from  the  meeting-house  to  the  Great 
Pond,  for  £100.  His  wife,  Sarah  vSpring  Gray,  signs  with  him  the 
deed  of  transfer;  and  she  outlived  him  in  Stockbridge  nearly  thirty 
years.    The  epitaph  upon  his  tombstone  there  is  as  follows :  — 

CoL.  James  Gray, 
DIED  Aug.  25,  1782, 

IN   THE   49*"    YEAR   OF   HIS   AGB. 

One  may  read  this,  too,  on  a  neighboring  headstone :  — 

Mrs.  Sarah  (Spring)  Gray, 

RELICT  OF  Col.  James  Gray, 

DIED  Oct.  26,  1809,  in  her  72"  year. 

Erected  by  heb  grandson  John  Hunt. 

(7)  '^Item.  It  is  my  will,  that  in  case  one  of  my  aforesaid  brothers 
die  without  issue,  then  the  whole  of  the  above  bequest  revert  to  the 
survivor,  and  the  heirs  of  his  body,  provided  he  fulfil  the  above  obli- 
gations laid  on  them  both ;  but  in  case  my  said  brothers  die  without 
issue,  then  my  will  is  that  the  above-mentioned  estate  be  sold,  and 


492  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

the  money  be  put  out  to  interest,  and  that  the  said  interest  shall  be 
used  for  some  pious  or  charitable  purposes,  as  the  propagating  Chris- 
tianity, the  support  of  the  poor  in  the  County  of  Hampshire,  or  for 
schools  on  the  frontier,  in  the  county  aforesaid,  to  be  at  the  direction 
of  my  Executors,  hereinafter  named,  and  after  their  decease  to  be  at 
the  direction  of  the  justices  of  the  sessions  for  the  county  aforesaid." 

This  clause  in  the  founder's  will  lets  the  penetrative  reader 
deeper  into  his  inmost  character,  and  manifests  forth  better  the  real 
spirit  and  purposes  of  his  life  than  any  other  clause  of  his  writings, 
or  than  any  other  action  of  his  life.  He  had  not  had  the  oppor- 
tunity usually  accorded  to  young  men  steadily  to  unfold,  under  the 
constant  scrutiny  of  his  contemporaries,  the  broad  choices  and  best 
courses  in  life.  His  early  manhood  had  been  more  or  less  perturbed, 
and  more  or  less  migratory  by  land  and  sea.  Indeed,  he  had  never 
had  a  true  home  of  his  own  in  his  conscious  life.  His  last  ten  years 
were  spent  in  the  military  service  of  his  native  colony,  —  passing  as 
an  officer  from  pillar  to  post.  Fort  Massachusetts  was  as  much  his 
domicile  as  any  other  place.  He  had  lived  some  time  with  his  father 
in  Stockbridge,  and  had  even  represented  that  town  one  or  two  years 
in  the  General  Court.  He  had  also  dwelled,  more  or  less,  in  North- 
ampton, with  the  Stoddards  and  other  relatives ;  he  calls  John  Stod- 
dard in  his  will  "  my  great  benefactor  "  ;  he  also  speaks  in  the  same 
of  "my  sorrel  mare  now  at  Northampton,"  and  of  "my  two  colts 
now  at  Northampton." 

Still,  he  was  evidently  drawn,  in  the  later  years,  by  somewhat 
different  and  stronger  ties,  to  Hatfield  as  a  transient  home,  —  to  the 
roof-tree  of  his  kinsman  and  friend,  Israel  Williams ;  "  my  beloved 
friend  and  kinsman,"  he  denominates  him  in  the  will.  He  bequeaths 
to  him  the  sorrel  mare  just  mentioned,  "  and  my  bald  colt  now  at 
Sheffield."  ^^  Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  beloved  cousins, 
Eunice  Williams,  Jerusha,  Elisabeth,  and  Lucretia  Williams,  daugh- 
ters of  Israel  Williams,  Esq.  and  Sarah  his  wife,  the  sum  of  twenty 
pounds  each."  ^^  Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  loving  cousin, 
Elisabeth  Williams,  over  and  above  the  twenty  pounds  above  men- 
tioned, my  silver  cream  pot  and  teaspoons."  Here  it  comes  out. 
"  The  lady  that  Col.  Williams  did  not  marry,"  toasted  at  the  Jack- 
son Supper  of  1859,  was,  in  all  human  probability,  Elisabeth 
Williams,  of  Hatfield.  The  reference  is  undoubtedly  to  her  in 
the  founder's  last  letter  to  Colonel  Israel :  "  I  have  altered  my 
mind  since  I  left  your  house,  for  reasons,  as  to  what  I  designed  to 
give  (which  should  have  been  handsome)  to  one  very  near  to  you." 
The  reference  of  the  strong  tradition  in  the  family  that  he  intended 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  493 

to  marry  some  one  (which  came  down  to  the  present  writer  direct, 
through  the  late  Mark  Hopkins,  who  belonged  to  the  family  by 
straigiit  descent)  was,  beyond  question,  to  Elisabeth  Williams,  of 
Hattield.  The  tradition  in  his  family,  as  it  came  down  in  Berk- 
shire, is  silent  as  to  the  "  reasons  "  wiiich  led  the  Colonel  to  change 
his  mind  as  to  the  amount  of  the  bequest  to  her ;  the  tradition  in 
her  family,  as  it  has  come  down  to  the  present  in  Hampshire,  takes 
on  the  color  that  she  rejected  him  in  their  last  interview.  She 
afterwards  married,  at  any  rate,  Elisha  Billings,  Esq.,  of  Conway, 
and  Dwight  Whitney  Marsh  (Williams  College,  1842)  is  a  descendant 
of  that  union,  and  publicly  voiced,  in  a  humorous  way,  the  tradition 
of  "rejection"  at  the  Commencement  dinner  here  in  1892.  Her 
elder  sister,  Jerusha,  also  mentioned  in  the  will,  married  William 
Billings,  Esq.,  of  Conway. 

Now,  for  a  man  only  forty-one  years  old,  subjected  to  such  strange 
and  changing  environments  as  his,  having  acquired  a  moderate 
fortune  by  his  own  exertions,  to  propose,  of  his  own  motion,  on  a 
not  unlikely  contingency,  "that  the  above-mentioned  estate  be  sold, 
and  the  money  be  put  out  to  interest,  and  that  the  said  interest 
shall  be  used  for  some  pious  or  charitable  purposes,  as  the  propagat- 
ing Christianity,  the  support  of  the  poor  in  the  County  of  Hamp- 
shire, or  for  schools  on  the  frontier  in  the  county  aforesaid,  to  be  at 
the  direction  of  my  Executors,  hereinafter  named,  and  after  their 
decease  to  be  at  the  direction  of  the  justices  of  the  sessions  [Probate 
Court]  for  the  county  aforesaid,"  indicates  a  far-reaching  benevo- 
lence and  a  Christian  depth  of  purpose  every  way  remarkable.  Nor 
is  it  once  only  that  he  puts  this  general  disposition  of  his  estate 
upon  a  possible  or  probable  contingency ;  he  recurs  to  the  same  six 
times  more  in  the  course  of  the  will,  the  last  time  as  follows,  after 
providing  for  the  free  school  in  the  West  Township,  and  contin- 
gently, also,  for  one  in  the  East  Township,  he  adds ;  "  But  in  case 
the  above  provisos  are  not  complied  with,  then  it  is  my  will  and 
desire  that  the  interest  of  the  above-mentioned  moneys  be  appropri- 
ated to  some  pious  and  charitable  uses,  in  manner  and  form  as 
directed  in  the  former  of  this,  my  last  Will  and  Testament." 

(8)  We  come  at  last  to  that  peculiar  clause  of  the  Colonel's  will, 
which  has  immortalized  his  name  in  the  name  of  a  town  and  a 
college,  and  which  has  steadily  altered  and  uplifted,  for  a  century 
past,  the  entire  development  of  the  western  end  of  Massachusetts. 
This  clause  is  distinct  in  character  and  purpose  from  the  general 
one  quoted  under  the  last  head,  and  indicates  a  different  phase  of 
mind  and  heart  from  that  as  also  characteristic  of  the  personal 


494  OKIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

donor.  That  indeed  refers,  also,  in  a  general  way,  to  "  schools  on 
the  frontier  in  the  county  aforesaid  ^^ ;  but  this,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
a  specific  appropriation  of  definite  moneys  for  a  single  "free  school," 
placed  in  a  described  locality,  "  forever,"  on  two  clean-cut  condi- 
tions, both  of  which  were  actually  met,  "but  in  case  the  above 
provisos  are  not  complied  with,"  the  moneys  were  to  revert  to  the 
general  and  above-mentioned  pious  and  charitable  uses. 

"  Item.  It  is  my  will  and  pleasure  and  desire  that  the  remaining 
part  of  lands  not  yet  disposed  of  shall  be  sold  at  the  direction  of 
my  Executors,  within  five  years  after  an  established  peace,  and  the 
interest  of  the  money,  and  also  the  interest  of  my  money  arising  by 
my  bonds  and  notes,  shall  be  appropriated  towards  the  support  and 
maintenance  of  a  free  school  (in  a  township  west  of  Fort  Massachu- 
setts, commonly  called  the  West  Township),  forever,  provided  the 
said  township  fall  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Province  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay,  and,  provided  also,  that  the  Govenor  and  Gen- 
eral Court  give  the  said  township  the  name  of  Williamstown  ; 
and  it  is  my  further  will  and  desire  that  if  there  should  remain  any 
moneys  of  the  above  donation,  for  the  said  school,  it  be  given 
towards  the  support  of  a  school  in  the  East  Township,  where  the 
fort  now  stands." 

Ephraim  Williams  was,  at  any  rate,  a  bachelor;  it  is  possible, 
perhaps  even  quite  probable,  that  he  had  then  recently  been  disap- 
pointed in  the  expectation  of  a  future  marriage  with  Elisabeth 
Williams ;  he  v^^as  already  well  forward  in  a  military  campaign  that 
would  certainly  prove  personally  hazardous,  and  very  likely  to  prove 
fatal ;  the  natural  coveting  for  personal  remembrance  after  the  inex- 
orable has  been  confronted,  which  possesses,  more  or  less,  every  man 
of  culture  and  character,  was  without  question  felt  by  the  lonely 
officer,  as  he  saw  around  him  at  Albany,  and  more  and  more  day  by 
day,  the  instruments  and  agents  of  sudden  death  in  the  shock  of 
battle ;  he  had  no  child  to  perpetuate  his  memory,  his  relatives  of 
the  name  were  extremely  numerous  throughout  New  England,  he 
himself  had  done  and  suffered  nothing  as  yet,  to  give  him  a  pass- 
port over  more  than  one  coming  generation,  and  even  his  old  ser- 
geant (John  Hawks),  by  an  heroic  defence  of  Fort  Massachusetts 
against  Vaudreuil,  had  attached  his  name  to  that  locality  more  last- 
ingly than  its  commander;  to  an  elect  and  serious  spirit  like  his 
own,  it  was,  under  all  the  circumstances,  a  God-given  impulse  to 
shape  a  sentence  or  two  in  his  last  will  and  testament,  that  might 
be  likely  in  its  results,  not  only  to  secure  the  lasting  good-will  and 
gratitude  of   some  of   his  old   comrades  in  arms  along  the  Upper 


WILLIA^ISTOWN.  495 

Hoosac,  but  also  to  attach  his  name  iu  a  distinctive  form,  and  for  a 
definite  reason,  to  a  beautiful  spot  of  earth  sure  to  possess  its  loyal 
dalesmen  till  the  end  of  time ;  and  so,  there  came  out  of  his  human 
longings  and  aspirations  the  right  and  vital  word,  — ''  provided 
also,  that  the  Governor  and  General  Court  give  the  said  township 
the  name  of  Williamstown." 

They  did.  When  the  town  was  incorporated,  ten  years  after 
this,  that  is  to  say,  in  July,  1765,  the  "  West  Township,"  dear  to 
the  Colonel's  heart,  became  *'  Williamstown,"  never  to  be  changed. 
While  the  ColonePs  motive  in  the  name  was  doubtless  strictly  per- 
sonal, and  appropriately  so,  and  while  any  such  end  of  personal 
remembrance  as  lay  in  his  mind  has  already  been  reached  a  thousand- 
fold, and  will  be  met  in  swelling  volume  till  human  memories  shall 
fade  out,  the  name  of  the  Town  and  the  College  is  also  felicitous  as 
helping  worthily  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  several  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Williams  family  who  played  well  their  part  (though 
much  subordinate  to  his),  in  the  direct  or  indirect  upbuilding  of  the 
Town  and  the  College  and  the  country.  Let  us  briefly  run  over 
some  of  these  services  of  the  Williams  family. 

Ephraim  Williams,  Senior,  father  of  the  founder,  was  chairman 
of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Legislature  in  January,  1739, 
"  carefully  to  view  the  land  situate  on  or  near  Hoosuck  River ;  and 
if  they  find  the  land  accommodable  for  inhabitants,  that  they  sur- 
vey and  lay  out  one  or  more  townships  of  the  contents  of  six  miles 
square  and  Return  a  Plat  or  Plats  thereof  to  this  Court  at  their 
next  May  session  with  an  account  of  the  Quantity  and  Quality  of  the 
said  land,  so  that  this  Court  may  dispose  thereof  as  they  shall  think 
proper."  Thomas  Wells  was  joined  with  Williams  in  this  affair,  and 
in  May  the  committee  repaired  to  the  Hoosac,  and  with  the  aid  of 
Timothy  Dwight  and  Nathaniel  Kellogg,  surveyors,  partially  laid  out 
three  townships,  and  submitted  their  report  in  June  following. 

We  the  subscribers  have  carefully  viewed  the  lands  on  and  near  the  Hoosuck 
River  and  finding  the  same  very  accommodable  for  settlement  have  by  the 
assistance  of  Timothy  Dwight  Esq.,  and  Mr.  Nath.  Kellogg,  survey's,  laid  out 
three  townships  each  of  the  contents  of  six  miles  square.  Two  of  which  are 
adjoyning  and  lye  on  Hoosuck  River  the  other  on  Mayoonsuck,  being  the  north- 
em  branch  thereof  about  three  miles  northward  of  the  lowest  of  the  two  towns 
all  which  will  fully  appear  by  the  plans  herewith  humbly  presented.  We  have 
not  perfected  all  the  lines  occasioned  by  the  Great  Opposition  we  met  with  from 
Sundry  Gent'n  from  Albany  a  particular  account  of  which  we  are  ready  to  lay 
before  y'r  Excellency  and  Honours  if  thereto  required,  and  are  your  Excellency's 
and  Hon's  most  obedient  and  dutiful  servants. 

Eph"  Williams  \  p^_„^...^^ 

Boston  June  O'N  1739.  Thomas  Wklls  (  ^«"^°^^^^^- 


496  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

The  "  Gentlemen  from  Albany,"  referred  to  in  this  report,  repre- 
sented the  government  of  the  province  of  New  York,  between 
which  and  the  province  of  Massachusetts  the  boundary  line  was 
not  finally  settled  till  1787.  The  report  of  Captain  Williams  ex- 
cited a  deal  of  interest  in  Boston,  particularly  on  account  of  the 
alleged  encroachments  and  activities  of  New  York  along  on  the 
Upper  -Hoosac ;  and  a  committee  of  the  Council  and  House,  to  which 
the  report  was  referred,  very  speedily  reported  in  turn  in  the  fol- 
lowing words :  "  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  Keport 
of  Captain  Williams  and  Wells  and  their  doings  with  the  platt  of  the 
three  townships  lately  surveyed  and  laid  out  at  or  on  Hoosuck 
River  &c..  Offer  as  their  opinion  that  for  the  better  securing  the 
undoubted  rights  this  governm't  have  to  those  and  other  lands  there- 
about lying  in  this  province,  that  the  most  northerly  of  the  three 
townships  aforesaid  of  the  contents  of  six  miles  square  adjoyning 
thereto  and  southward  thereof,  which  the  said  Williams  and  Wells 
had  not  time  to  take  a  survey  of  tho'  well  assured  of  it  and  accom- 
modable  for  a  town  and  whereon  some  few  people  have  already  got 
and  inhabit ;  Bee  granted  to  such  of  his  Majesty  subjects  as  will 
effectually  settle  the  same  in  the  space  of  two  years  with  fifty  or  sixty 
familys  on  each  tract  and  give  sufficient  bonds  therefor,"  etc. 

Something,  we  know  not  now  what,  quieted  the  fears  of  the  authori- 
ties at  Boston  in  relation  to  Dutch  encroachments  at  the  northwest 
for  several  years,  and  then  the  breaking  out  of  the  old  French  War 
made  New  York  and  Massachusetts  allies  as  against  a  common  enemy, 
and  the  building  of  Fort  Massachusetts  in  1745  furnished  a  Yankee 
garrison  sufficient  to  protect  eastern  interests  in  the  neighborhood 
till  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle ;  so  that  nothing  was  done  in  the 
way  of  settlement  until  the  new  survey  of  the  two  townships  in  1749, 
which  followed  different  lines  throughout  from  that  of  1739,  and 
which  laid  the  western  boundary  of  Williamstown  (except  at  the 
northwest  corner)  considerably  to  the  east  of  the  New  York  line  as 
finally  adjusted  forty  years  later.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  the  Williams 
family,  and  of  the  name  officially  given  to  the  town  in  1765,  that  the 
founder's  father  made  the  first  survey,  and  confronted  for  the  first 
time  in  loco  the  few  Dutch  inhabitants  that  had  already  straggled 
up  the  Hoosac  towards  the  junction  of  its  two  branches,  and  threw 
bold  protests  into  the  face  of  the  Albany  "  Gentlemen "  who  were 
pushing  these  stragglers  from  behind.  The  stragglers  themselves 
receded  down  the  river.  Not  a  solitary  Dutchman,  or  other  squatter, 
cumbered  the  ground  in  any  direction  when  the  house  lots  were  sur- 
veyed out  in  the  spring  of  1750. 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  497 

The  claim  of  New  York  to  extend  over  the  Taconics  to  the  east- 
ward, which  had  already  been  put  forcefully  forward  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county  of  Hampshire,  still  hovered  over  the  mind  of 
Colonel  Williams  when  he  dictated  his  will  in  1755;  for  he  made  it 
a  proviso  to  his  gift  for  the  free  school  in  the  West  Township,  — 
"provided  the  said  township  fall  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay."  It  is  a  curious  thing  in  this  connection,  that  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  Williams  family,  Samuel  Williams,  a 
grandson  of  the  original  "  Redeemed  Captive,"  of  Deerfield,  surveyed 
and  settled  finally  the  boundary  line  between  New  York  and  Massa- 
chusetts in  1786-87,  and  so  in  the  way  of  result  added  a  very  con- 
siderable area  to  the  town  of  AVilliamstown,  the  southwest  corner 
being  thus  placed  446  rods  further  west  than  the  survey  of  1749 
made  it.  This  Samuel  Williams,  who  was  a  Harvard  graduate  and 
Professor  of  Mathematics,  had  a  son,  Charles  K.  Williams  (Williams 
College,  1800),  who  became  a  governor  and  chief  justice  of  Vermont; 
and  the  latter  a  son,  Chauncey  K.  Williams  (Williams  College, 
1852). 

Colonel  Israel  Williams,  of  Hatfield,  after  the  death  of  Colonel 
John  Stoddard  in  1748,  had  the  direct  military  command  of  the 
western  frontier  till  the  end  of  the  last  French  War.  He  planned 
the  West  Hoosac  Fort,  and  controlled  in  the  first  instance  all  its 
relations  with  Fort  Massachusetts.  There  was,  indeed,  a  good  deal 
of  appealing  on  the  part  of  the  soldiers  and  settlers  from  him  to  the 
governor  and  Council  at  Boston ;  a  good  deal  of  fault-finding  and 
general  abuse  of  the  Colonel,  which  called  out  from  him  at  length, 
in  the  way  of  personal  defence,  a  long  statement  of  his  action  and 
policy  through  a  number  of  years,  —  a  paper  which  has  never  yet  been 
printed,  but  which  must  needs  be  read,  in  order  to  understand  fully 
his  great  services  in  critical  times  to  this  whole  region  round  about. 
There  are  reasons  multiform  and  manifold  why  West  Hoosac  should 
have  been  named  Williamstown.  The  fact  that  Israel  Williams 
developed  into  a  Tory,  and  could  not  even  be  '•'  smoked  into  a  Whig," 
is  no  reason  for  belittling  his  long  and  stout  services  to  Williams- 
town  and  its  vicinity. 

The  issue  of  the  battle  of  Lake  George  was  the  deliverance  for 
the  time  being,  and  practically  for  always,  of  the  Upper  Hoosac  from 
the  French  and  Indian  attacks.  Besides  the  chief  figure  in  that 
victory,  commemorated  in  the  name  of  our  Town  and  College,  there 
were  five  other  men  of  the  same  name,  all  his  near  kinsmen,  con- 
spicuous in  the  battle  and  its  sequels.  Williamstown  might  well 
have  been  so  named  even  on  account  of  the  bearing  on  its  history  of 


498  ORIGINS   IN  WILLI AMSTOWN. 

these  subordinate  services  alone.  There  were  Stephen  Williams, 
Chaplain ;  Thomas  Williams,  Surgeon ;  William  Williams,  or  "Billy," 
so  called.  Surgeon's  Mate ;  William  Williams,  Quarter-Master ;  and 
Josiah  Williams,  an  Ensign,  fearfully  v»^ounded  in  the  battle.  Besides 
these  six  members  of  the  Williams  family  and  bearing  their  name, 
there  was  present  there,  professionally.  Dr.  Perez  Marsh,  who  mar- 
ried Sarah,  eldest  daughter  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams. 

The  reasons  are  not  far  to  seek  —  that  is  to  say,  they  are  not  hard 
to  find — why  Ephraim  Williams  in  his  will  gave  the  west  town  pre- 
cedence over  the  east  as  the  certain  seat  of  the  free  school  for  the 
benefit  of  the  settlers.  So  far  as  he  himself  held  landed  property 
in  the  two,  it  lay  mostly  in  the  east  town.  In  1750,  the  General 
Court  had  given  him,  in  fee  simple,  a  fine  estate  of  200  acres  on  the 
great  bend  of  the  Hoosac,  reserving  to  the  province  ten  acres  of  the 
same,  on  which  Fort  Massachusetts  then  stood,  on  condition  that  he 
build  and  maintain,  for  twenty  years,  mills  for  the  use  of  the  soldiers 
and  the  settlers  on  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Hoosac  above  near 
their  junction.  The  mills  were  built.  We  know  their  place  on  the 
Ashuwillticook  in  the  heart  of  the  village  of  North  Adams.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  had  drawn  two  house  lots  in  the  west  town,  Nos. 
8  and  10,  which  would  ultimately,  if  he  held  them,  entitle  him  to 
two  sixty-thirds  of  the  entire  township.  His  farm  (the  present  Har- 
rison farm)  and  his  mills  were  doubtless  worth  then  four  times  as 
much  as  his  house  lots  and  their  chances. 

Still  his  mind  was  clear  that  the  free  school  should  be  set  up  in 
the  west  town,  and  only  the  remnants  of  the  bequest  (if  any)  go  to 
the  benefit  of  the  east  town.  Why  was  this  ?  There  were  topo- 
graphical reasons :  the  east  town  was  relatively  to  the  other  a  dell, 
a  ravine,  the  two  branches  of  the  Hoosac  rushing  to  their  union 
between  steep  mountains  and  through  very  narrow  valleys,  the 
meadow  on  which  Fort  Massachusetts  stood  being  the  only  broad 
and  open  space  in  the  whole  township ;  while  the  two  main  tribu- 
taries of  the  Hoosac  in  the  west  town,  the  Green  River  and  the 
Hemlock  Brook,  had  made  in  the  course  of  ages  comparatively  wide 
valleys  for  themselves  parallel  to  each  other  and  at  right  angles  to 
the  chief -vale  of  the  Hoosac,  the  spaces  between  which  were  beauti- 
ful uplands  having  knolls  of  every  variety  of  shape  rising  up  out  of 
relative  levels,  the  encompassing  hills  no  longer  steep  and  ragged 
barriers,  but  receding  lifts  of  then  warm  woods  and  now  fresh  green 
fields.  The  father  had  doubtless  often  told  over  to  the  son  what  his 
observant  eye  had  caught  on  purpose  to  officially  report,  when  he 
had  rambled  over  these  sunny  hills  and  along  these  perpetual  streams 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  499 

with  his  surveyor,  Nathaniel  Kellogg,  in  1739 ;  and  the  Colonel  him- 
self, especially  after  another  committee  with  their  surveyor  had 
wisely  laid  out  the  house  lots  in  1750  at  the  northern  centre  of  the 
oblong  concave,  must  more  than  once  in  the  five  years  have  person- 
ally scrutinized  with  the  zeal  of  a  landowner  present  and  prospective, 
and  with  the  living  interest  in  others  of  a  proposed  benefactor,  these 
varied  slopes  and  hills  and  levels,  already  oflBcially  pronounced  to 
be  so  "  accommodable  for  settlement." 

There  were  agricultural  reasons,  — the  soldiers  at  Fort  Massachu- 
setts, during  the  ten  years  past,  had  all  been  brought  up  on  farms  to 
the  eastward  or  southward,  and  were  all  looking  forward,  on  their 
discharge  from  military  service,  to  farm  life  on  lands  of  their  own; 
the  heart  of  their  commander  had  long  been  strongly  drawn  out 
towards  them  and  their  future  interests,  as  appears  from  letters  and 
arguments  addressed  by  him  in  their  behalf,  to  the  General  Court  at 
Boston.  The  testimony  is  abundant  that  he  had  drawn  out  towards 
himself  their  respect  and  confidence  to  a  remarkable  degree.  It  was 
to  the  interest  of  all  parties  that  they  should  ultimately  settle  on 
the  best  farming  lands  to  be  had  in  the  province,  and  considerable 
numbers  of  them  had  already  purchased  such  lands  in  actuality  and 
prospective  in  West  Hoosac;  such  lands  as  these  were  would  be 
pretty  sure  to  be  taken  up  i)retty  soon  by  actual  occupants,  while 
this  was  more  doubtful  in  respect  to  the  less  eligible  lands  in  the 
east  town.  The  Colonel  had  noted  well  what  almost  everybody  has 
an  opportunity  to  see,  namely,  that  where  folks  are  there  will  be 
children ;  and,  consequently,  on  this  ground  too,  he  made  provision 
for  the  school  where  it  was  most  likely  there  would  be  scholars  to 
attend  it  and  profit  by  it. 

And  there  were  historical  reasons  why  the  west  town  should  have 
the  preference  in  this  regard.  As  we  have  seen  already,  he  himself 
had  assisted  quite  a  number  of  his  garrison  to  buy  and  pay  for  their 
house  lots  in  West  Hoosac.  One  family  there,  well  known  to  him, 
had  already  two  children,  a  boy  and  a  girl,  when  this  will  was 
drafted  in  Albany.  It  has  been  said  and  is  credible,  though  the 
authority  for  it  is  not  distinct,  that  the  Colonel  had  given  some  inti- 
mations to  his  men  of  his  intention  to  do  something  for  them,  in  a 
general  way,  as  settlers  upon  these  fertile  lots,  of  which  he  was  a 
co-purchaser  with  them.  We  have  seen  that  the  proprietors  of  West 
Hoosac  learned,  in  general  terms,  of  this  bequest  not  very  long  after 
the  will  was  probated  in  November,  1755.  They  do  not  seem  to  have 
been  surprised  at  all  by  its  terms,  and  they  took  simple  and  natural 
action  in  sending  Benjamin  Simonds,  the  father  of  the  two  children 


500  OBIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

but  just  referred  to,  down  to  Northampton  to  get  a  copy  of  the  will. 
The  charge  for  this  service  was  extremely  small..  It  can  scarcely 
be  questioned  that  Simonds  expected,  in  the  person  of  his  children, 
to  become  a  speedy  beneficiary  of  his  commander's  gift ;  but  while 
he  lived  to  see  the  free  school  open  in  1791,  and  the  College  open  in 
1793,  and  twelve  classes  graduated  in  order  from  the  latter,  his 
youngest  child  was  twenty  years  old  when  the  school  was  opened. 
Very  few,  if  any,  of  the  children  of  actual  settlers,  prior  to  the 
incorporation  of  the  town  in  1765,  ever  received  any  direct  advan- 
tage from  the  commander's  charity,  —  so  wisely  and  broadly  did  his 
executors  construe  their  duties  under  the  will  in  favor  of  a  school  of 
high  grade,  when  once  it  might  be  established. 

In  quitting  now  for  good  the  will  of  Colonel  Williams,  we  quit 
also  all  further  direct  references  to  his  motives  and  character.  If 
we  have  not  been  able  to  reproduce  so  long  after  his  death  a  living 
image  of  the  man  as  he  was,  going  in  and  out  among  men,  it  is 
because  the  data  do  not  exist  for  such  a  vivid  picture.  Nearly 
every  extant  writing  of  the  Colonel,  whether  epistolary  or  other, 
has  been  given  and  commented  on  in  these  pages  at  length.  The 
reader  may  thus  construct  for  himself,  as  well  as  the  writer  for 
others.  The  impression  produced  on  the  latter's  mind  by  these 
long-continued  studies  is  of  a  man  attractive  in  person  and  manners, 
ambitious,  scholarly  beyond  his  opportunities,  broad-minded  in  vic- 
tory over  strong  temptation  to  be  otherwise,  democratic  in  the  midst 
of  a  very  aristocratic  generation.  Christian  in  and  to  the  core  even 
if  not  in  form,  influential  in  his  life  through  obvious  purity  and 
strength  of  motives,  able  to  receive  from  and  impart  to  the  very 
able  men  of  his  time,  and  through  the  divine  blessing  and  happily 
concurring  circumstances  and  obstacles  overruled  for  good,  powerful 
through  a  single  clause  in  a  simple  will  to  maintain  through  many 
generations,  not  only  his  own  name  fragrant  as  ointment  poured 
forth,  but  also  the  two  causes  dearest  to  his  heart,  —  education  and 
piety. 

John  Worthington,  of  Springfield,  one  of  his  executors  and  an 
intimate  acquaintance,  has  left  on  record  the  following  remarkable 
judgment :  ^'  Humanity  made  a  most  striking  trait  in  his  character, 
and  universal  benevolence  was  his  ruling  passion :  his  memory  will 
always  be  dear." 

The  chief  source  of  present  knowledge  of  the  slow  developments 
of  Williamstown  as  a  self-governing  body  controlling  all  local  affairs 
by  the  major  part  of  votes  in  a  legal  assemblage,  from  the  first  meet- 
ing of  the  few  proprietors,  Dec.  5, 1753,  till  the  end  of  that  century, 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  501 

are  the  records  in  the  old  "Proprietors'  Book,"  so  called,  of  their 
duly  warned  meetings  and  votes  from  time  to  time.  It  is  thus  that 
we  learn  in  detail,  through  a  single  example,  the  best  lesson  that 
New  England  has  had  the  privilege  of  teaching  to  the  world  at  large. 
The  roots  of  all  our  civil  politics,  municipal  and  state  and  national, 
are  uncovered  and  displayed  at  this  ix)int.  In  preceding  sections 
and  chapters  we  have  often  referred  to,  and  quoted  from,  these 
precious  records,  with  a  view  of  exhibiting  the  individual  and  social 
condition  of  the  primeval  settlers  in  this  loved  valley ;  is  it  not  our 
function,  also,  to  remind  the  later  generations  of  the  way  in  which 
self-respecting  and  liberty-loving  and  rights-defending  citizens  of  a 
great  Republic  made  up  of  co-equal  states  were  trained  here  from 
the  very  beginning  ? 

In  the  fall  of  1753,  there  were  about  sixteen  proprietors  of  house 
lots  living  on  their  respective  lots,  and  fulfilling  the  conditions  pre- 
scribed by  the  General  Court  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
requisite  to  their  owning  these  lots,  and  the  further  rights  coupled 
with  such  ownership.  This  province,  or  colony,  was  then  living  and 
acting  politically  under  a  formal  charter,  granted  to  it  for  that  pur- 
pose by  William  III.,  king  of  England,  in  1691.  Most  of  these 
sixteen  proprietors  had  been  previously  soldiers  in  Fort  Massachu- 
setts under  the  pay  and  direction  of  this  province,  which  had  built 
the  fort,  and  maintained  in  subordination  to  the  mother  country  a 
war  against  France.  Isaac  Wyman,  then  in  nominal  command  of 
the  fort  in  time  of  peace,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  conspicuous 
of  the  West  Hoosac  proprietors,  drew  up  a  petition  to  the  General 
Court  at  Boston  in  behalf  of  all  the  proprietors,  himself  and  several 
others  subscribing  it,  asking  for  formal  organization  as  a  "Pro- 
priety" ;  that  is,  to  be  authorized  and  empowered  by  a  major  vote,  in 
regularly  notified  meetings,  to  divide  and  apportion  the  lands  held 
common,  to  lay  out  and  construct  needed  highways,  to  raise  money 
by  taxation  of  themselves  to  defray  the  charges  of  laying  out  lands 
and  roads  and  any  oth'^r  necessary  charges,  and  to  agree  upon  a 
method  of  calling  legal  meetings  in  future. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Sept.  10,  1753.  Read  [this  petition  of 
Wyman's]  and  voted  that  William  Williams  Esqr  one  of  his  Majesty's  Justices 
of  the  Peace  for  the  County  of  Hampshire  Issue  his  warrant  for  Calling  a  meet- 
ing of  proprietors  of  the  west  Township  at  Hoosuck  so  called  Directed  to  one  of 
the  principal  proprietors  of  said  Township,  Requiring  him  to  set  up  a  notifica- 
tion in  some  pubHck  place  in  said  Township  setting  Forth  the  time  place  and 
occasion  of  said  meeting  fourteen  Days  Beforehand  which  meeting  shall  be 
holden  in  said  Township  and  such  of  the  proprietors  as  shall  be  present  at  said 
meeting  are  hereby  authorised  and  impowered  by  a  major  vote  to  Determine 


502  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

upon  a  Division  of  all  or  part  of  the  Lands  in  said  Township  not  already  alloted 
also  to  Choose  a  Committee  or  Committees  to  lay  out  the  same  also  to  Kaise 
monies  to  Defray  the  charges  that  may  arise  by  means  of  laying  out  said  land 
also  for  Clearing  Highways  as  also  to  Choose  proprietors  Clerk  Treasurer  asses- 
sors and  Collectors  and  also  to  agree  and  Determine  upon  a  method  for  calling 
meetings  of  said  proprietors  for  the  future. 

Sent  up  for  Concurrence  :  T.  Hubbard  Spk?". 
In  Council  Read  and  Concur.^  Tiiof. Clerk  Deputy  Secry 
Consented  to  W.  Shirley 
A  True  Copy  per  Thos.  Clerk  Dep^y  Secry 

William  Shirley,  one  of  the  ablest  and  by  far  the  most  interesting 
of  all  the  colonial  governors  of  Massachusetts,  had  returned  from 
England  only  just  in  time  to  sign,  as  governor,  this  bill  for  politi- 
cally organizing  the  inhabitants  of  West  Hoosac,  some  of  whom  had 
served  as  "  centinels  '^  in  Fort  Shirley,  built  in  1744,  and  named  after 
him.  Almost  everybody  of  prominence  in  Massachusetts,  during  the 
last  half  of  the  last  century,  touched  in  some  relation  or  other  this 
remotest  corner  of  the  colony  ;  and  local  students  of  its  history  may 
well  feel  a  sort  of  gratulation  that  the  governor's  own  autograph  is 
appended  to  their  humble  magna  cliarta,  rather  than  that  of  Spencer 
Phips,  who,  during  Shirley's  long  absence  in  England,  had  acted  as 
governor,  and  had  signed  most  of  the  papers  relating  to  the  line  of 
forts,  and  to  the  surveys  of  the  two  townships.  In  1755,  Governor 
Shirley  was  appointed  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  British  forces  in 
America,  and  planned  the  expedition  of  that  year  against  Niagara, 
which  he  led  in  person  as  far  as  Oswego,  where  his  son  John  died  in 
the  service  only  about  a  month  after  his  elder  son,  William,  was 
mortally  wounded  with  General  Braddock  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio. 

Colonel  William  Williams,  of  Pittsfield,  in  some  aspects  of  his 
remarkable  career  more  potent  than  any  other  member  of  the  family 
in  that  generation,  took  the  next  hand  in  helping  to  organize  into  a 
self-governing  community  the  few  determined  settlers  on  the  Upper 
Hoosac,  his  official  mandate  to  them  being  worded  as  follows :  — 

Provance  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay.  Whereas  I  have  received  special  Direc- 
tions from  the  great  and  General  Court  of  this  provance  at  their  sessions  in  Sep- , 
tember  last  to  Issue  my  warrant  for  Calling  a  meeting  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
west  township  at  Hoosuck  so  called  Directed  to  one  of  the  Principle  proprietors 
of  the  s'd  Township  requiring  him  to  set  up  a  Notyfication  in  some  publick  place 
in  s'd  Township  seting  forth  the  time  place  and  occasion  of  s'd  meeting  fourteen 
Days  beforehand,  s'd  meeting  to  be  held  in  s'd  Township  and  such  of  the  pro- 
prietors as  shall  be  present  at  s'd  meeting  are  by  Said  order  of  Court  authorized 
and  Irapowered  by  a  major  Voate  to  act  and  Determine  upon  the  following  arti- 
cles, Vizt.    To  agree  upon  a  Division  of  a  part  or  all  the  lands  in  said  township 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  503 

Not  allready  allotted  =  to  Choose  a  Committee  or  Commiteses  to  lay  out  the 
same  =  to  Choose  a  Commite  to  lay  out  high  ways  =  to  Raise  money  to  Defray 
the  Charges  of  laying  out  the  Lands  and  highways  and  Clearing  the  same  or  any 
other  Necessary  Charges  =  To  Choose  a  proprietors  Clerk.  To  Choose  a  proprie- 
tors Treasurer  To  Choose  proprietors  assesors.  To  Choose  a  proprietors  Colector 
or  Colectors.    To  agree  upon  a  method  for  Calling  meetings  for  the  future. 

In  observance  of  which  Direction 

Hampshire  ss.  To  Isaac  Wyman  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  said  west 
Township  at  Hoosuck  Gent?.  Greeting  you  are  hereby  Required  to  Notifye  and 
wanie  the  proprietors  of  sM  Township  that  they  assemble  at  the  House  of  Mr. 
Seth  Hudson  in  s'd  Township  on  wensday  the  Fifth  Day  of  December  next  at 
Nine  of  the  Clock  in  the  four  noon  to  act  upon  the  fouregoing  Articles  as  they 
shall  think  proper  by  Setting  up  in  some  publick  place  in  said  township  an 
attested  Coppy  of  the  foregoing  order  of  Court  and  this  warrant  by  you  Sygned 
fourteen  Days  before  the  time  of  said  meeting. 

Poontoosuck 
November  15:  1753.  ^"  Williams  Just.  Peace 

The  two  foregoing  papers  and  the  one  to  be  appended  to  the  pres- 
ent paragraph  —  namely,  the  record  of  the  votes  passed  and  of  the 
persons  present  at  the  very  first  legal  meeting  of  the  proprietors  — 
are  the  three  most  venerable  political  documents  in  the  history  of 
the  town.  It  is  reasonably  certain  that  all  the  men  chosen  to  offices 
and  appointed  as  committees  in  this  primal  meeting  were  present 
and  participators.  There  were  eleven  of  them.  Their  names  were 
these :  Allen  Curtiss,  Isaac  Wyman,  Seth  Hudson,  Jonathan  Meacham, 
Ezekiel  Foster,  Jabez  Warren,  Samuel  Taylor,  Josiah  Dean,  Thomas 
Train,  Gideon  Warren,  Ebenezer  Graves.  Substantive  political  power 
passed  over,  then  and  there,  into  the  hands  of  these  men  and  their 
successors.  Xot  so  complete,  indeed,  was  this  jurisdiction  as  that 
conferred  twelve  years  later,  by  the  same  body,  in  the  act  incor- 
porating the  town,  but  it  was  complete  so  far  as  it  went ;  and  even 
the  town  and  the  town-meeting  under  the  Provincial  General  Court 
were  not  what  these  became  twelve  years  later  still,  under  an  inde- 
pendent state  Legislature.  Power,  in  all  its  gradations,  is  agreeable 
to  men,  and  it  is  to  their  credit  as  men  that  it  is  so.  These  eleven 
came  together  under  the  modest  roof  of  Seth  Hudson,  and  went  out 
from  it  to  perform,  in  due  time,  their  several  functions,  with  a 
decided  accession  of  self-respect,  with  a  new  sense,  the  sense  of  citi- 
zenship,—  a  corporate  sense  of  self-guidance  as  towards  self-chosen 
ends.  The  room  in  which  they  met  on  that  day  has  remained  essen- 
tially unchanged  until  this  day,  —  one  hundred  and  forty  years,  — 
although  the  house  has  been  removed  down  Hemlock  Brook,  about 


504  ORIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

half  a  mile  from  its  original  location.  Hudson  drew  house  lot  9, 
and  built  his  house  near  its  northern  end,  on  the  eastern  bank  of 
the  brook,  called  for  some  time,  from  this  circumstance,  Hudson's 
Brook.  Captain  Hudson,  or  Dr.  Hudson,  as  he  was  indifferently 
called,  because  his  medical  and  military  education  had  been  but 
indifferent,  was  a  leading  member  and  the  last  survivor  of  the 
original  proprietors. 

At  a  Proprietors  meting  lawfully  warned  in  the  west  township  at  hoosuck  ss 

called  December  the  fifth  1753  =  Voted  by  the  major  part  of  the  proprietors  at 

s'd  meetin  the  fouregoing  articles     Vizt 

First  Voted  and  Chose  Allen  Curtice  moderator  for  s'd  meetin. 

Second  Voted  and  Chose  Isaac  Wyman  Proprietors  Clerk 

Thirdly  Voted  by  the  proprietors  to  lay  out  all  the  medow  land  Lying  upon  the 
main  River  and  the  medow  land  lying  upon  green  River  as  far  as  the  first 
Brook  or  Creek  in  Equal  proportion  to  Each  Right  in  Said  Township  and 
one  hundred  accors  of  upland  to  Each  Right  ajoying  to  the  medow  land  or 
as  Near  as  they  Can  to  Lay  out  the  best  land. 

Forthly  Voted  to  Leave  it  to  the  Commite  to  Lay  out  the  Land  in  one  Division 
or  two  as  they  shall  Judge  best. 

5i.y  Voted  and  Chose  Allen  Curtice  Seth  Hudson  Jonathan  mechom  Ezekiel 
Foster  Jabez  Worren  the  Commite  to  lay  out  the  land  in  s'd  Township. 

6ly  Voted  and  Chose  Samuel  Taylor  Giden  Worrin  Jonathan  mechom  the  Com- 
mite to  lay  out  high  Ways  in  s'd  Township  that  shall  be  Necessary, 

71?  Voted  and  Chose  Allen  Curtice  sevayer  to  Clear  the  Roads  in  s'd  Town- 
ship 

S'y  Voted  at  s'd  meeting  to  Lay  the  Roads  at  the  Eand  of  Each  main  street 
foure  Rods  wide  in  said  Township 

9ly  Voted  that  the  Roads  to  accommidate  the  medow  Land  shall  be  But  two 
rods  wide  and  all  the  Roads  to  accomidate  the  other  Divisions  two  Rods 
wide  allso. 

Voted  to  Raise  a  rate  of  Eight  Shillings  upon  Each  Proprietors  Right  in  s'd 
Town  to  pay  the  Charges  that  may  arise  by  Laying  out  s'd  Land 

Voted  to  Rase  ten  shillings  to  pay  for  a  Proprietors  Book 

Voted  and  Chose  Isaac  Wyman  Proprietors  Treasurer 

Voted  and  Chose  Thomas  Train  Josiah  Deean  Colectors  for  said  Proprietors 

Voted  and  Chose  Ebenezer  Graves  Allen  Curtice  and  Ezekiel  Foster  assessors 
for  said  Proprietors 

Voted  at  said  meetin  that  five  or  seven  of  the  proprietors  of  said  Town  makin 
application  to  the  Clerk  of  said  Proprietors  for  Calling  meetings  for  the 
future 

Voted  at  s'd  meetin  to  Lay  out  the  land  in  said  Town  as  soon  as  may  be  Con- 
venant 
at  a  meeting  Held  at  West  Hoosuck  Pursuant  to  the  Court  order  on  the  fifth 

Day  of  December  1753  the  above  said  votes  paist  in  a  legial  manor 

Test  =  Allen  Curtice  moderator  for  said  meetin 

Isaac  Wyman 

Props  Clerk 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  505 

When  these  few  proprietors  of  house  lots  then  and  thus  entered 
upon  the  axlrainistration  of  affairs  in  West  Hoosac,  the  only  points 
that  had  been  already  settled  for  them  by  committees  of  the  General 
Court  at  Boston  were  the  boundary  lines  of  the  town  as  they  were 
laid  out  in  1749  much  as  they  are  now,  and  the  village  plat  or  house 
lots  as  another  committee  from  Boston  determined  them  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring.  What  we  still  call  the  "  Main  Street "  had  been  then 
surveyed  out  fifteen  rods  wide  from  the  Green  River  to  Buxton 
Brook,  that  is,  467  rods  east  and  west  in  general  trend ;  and  what 
we  still  call  North  and  South  streets  was,  at  the  same  time,  laid  out 
six  rods  wide  at  right  angles  to  the  other,  265  rods  north  and  south. 
The  land  covered  by  this  extended  Greek  cross  never  became  the 
property  in  any  sense  of  the  individual  proprietors  of  the  house  lots 
that  abutted  upon  it,  and  never  came  under  the  touch  of  the  "  Pro- 
priety "  or  the  ''Town"  as  a  whole,  except  superficially  for  the  pur- 
poses of  a  roadway.  These  two  highways  were  surveyed  and  donated 
by  the  province  as  a  condition  precedent  to  the  sale  of  the  house 
lots.  Each  householder  was  to  have  the  privilege  of  them  as  a  road- 
way, and  nothing  more.  There  were  no  owners  of  adjoining  lands, 
no  "  abutters  "  in  the  legal  sense,  when  these  roads  were  laid  out. 
They  were  conveyed  by  the  commonwealth  as  commons  in  perpetuity 
to  a  possible  body  corporate  not  yet  created. 

While  these  lines  are  being  penned,  a  wordy  and  acrid  controversy 
is  going  on  in  South  Street  as  to  the  right  of  the  selectmen  of  the 
town  to  treat  that  road  solely  in  its  interest  as  a  highway,  without 
reference  to  the  wish  or  will  of  the  parties  owning  the  lands  on 
either  side  of  it.  The  selectmen  have  exercised  this  right  with 
obvious  legality  and  propriety.  The  ordinary  claim  of  abutting 
owners  to  hold  the  land  to  the  middle  of  the  road,  and  to  control  it 
for  all  purposes  except  a  free  passing,  only  applies  to  roads  built  on 
lands  owned  by  individuals,  who  do  not  part  with  the  fee  simple  of 
their  land  in  order  that  a  road  may  be  built,  but  only  convey  an 
easement  to  the  authorities  for  roadway  purposes.  The  same  prin- 
ciple of  commons  to  be  controlled  by  representative  officials  only 
applied  to  any  roads  surveyed  and  set  apart  as  such  by  the  proprie- 
tors as  a  body,  before  any  of  the  lands  were  parcelled  out  to  individ- 
ual owners.  In  their  first  meeting,  months  before  there  was  any 
private  division  of  the  land,  they  voted  "  to  lay  the  roads  at  the  end 
of  each  main  street  four  rods  wide,"  and  also,  "  that  the  roads  to 
accommodate  the  meadow  land  shall  be  but  two  rods  wide,  and  all 
the  roads  to  accommodate  the  other  Divisions  two  rods  wide." 

At  their  second  meeting,  April  18,  1754,  they  voted  to  accept  the 


506  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

return  of  the  committee  chosen  to  lay  out  the  divisions,  and  also 
the  return  of  the  committee  to  lay  out  the  highways  "  to  accommo- 
date said  Town."  Such  highways,  so  accepted,  before  there  had 
been  any  (the  least)  actual  division  of  the  lands,  were  clearly  not 
subject  to  any  abutters'  rights,  because  there  were  no  abutters  at 
that  time. 

The  next  thing  at  the  second  meeting  was :  "  Voted  and  agreed  to 
Draw  the  medow  lots  and  the  first  fifty  accre  Division  as  follows : 
Vizt  Choose  mf  David  King  Surveyor  to  Draw  for  the  Divisions  of 
Land  to  Each  Eight."  At  the  same  time,  they  voted  and  granted  to 
Mr.  King  his  accounts  for  laying  out  the  first  two  divisions ;  namely, 
the  meadow  lots  and  the  first-division  fifty-acre  lots. 

The  sixty -three  meadow  lots  Avere  surveyed  out  at  an  average  of 
ten  acres  each — the  modern  measurements  pretty  uniformly  overrun- 
ning the  ancient  —  along  the  Hoosac  and  Green  rivers,  single  lots 
more  frequently  than  otherwise  crossing  the  rivers.  A  half-dozen 
of  the  lots  were  located  on  both  sides  of  the  last  stretch  of  Broad 
Brook  also.  Beginning  very  near  the  division  line  between  the  two 
towns  of  East  and  West  Hoosac,  on  the  river,  with  meadow  lot  No. 
1,  the  lots  are  numbered  regularly  down  the  river,  without  any 
break,  until,  in  No.  37,  the  river  takes  a  sharp  lurch  to  the  north, 
striking  there  the  stubborn  roots  of  Northwest  Hill,  enclosing  what 
is  now  called  the  Biver-Bend  Farm,  when,  in  consequence,  the 
meadow  lots  jump  across  to  Broad  Brook,  and,  after  the  junction 
of  that  with  the  main  river,  the  lots  continue  on  the  Hoosac  to  the 
Vermont  line,  ending  there  in  No.  46.  Then  they  commence  again 
in  No.  47,  in  what  would  have  been  a  part  of  the  village  plat  if  the 
southeast  quarter  of  that  had  been  completed  towards  the  east,  on 
Green  Eiver,  and,  running  regularly  up  that  river  to  the  south,  com- 
plete their  number  —  sixty-three  —  at  what  was  then  called  (and 
long  after)  "  Taylor's  Crotch,"  or  the  junction  of  the  Hopper  Brook 
with  the  larger  stream.  Some  of  these  meadow  lots  became  after- 
wards the  sites  of  important  and  permanent  dwellings,  in  which  the 
same  family  lived  generation  after  generation.  Such,  for  example, 
was  No.  62,  on  which  the  Blairs  lived  for  three  long-lived  genera- 
tions, and  No.  14,  near  which  the  Smedleys  lived  for  four  gen- 
erations. As  a  rule,  however,  the  meadow  lots  were  low  land,  unfit 
at  first  for  houses,  and  some  of  them  were  for  a  long  time  sub- 
merged. Samuel  Kellogg,  Senior,  reported,  in  his  old  age,  that  the 
only  way  one  could  get  over  his  own  meadow  lots  along  the  river, 
at  first,  was  by  jumping  from  one  prostrate  log  to  another. 

It  was  a  much  more  important  stroke  towards   the  permanent 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  507 

settlement  of  Williamstown,  when,  in  this  same  spring,  Mr.  David 
King  surveyed  out  and  drew  for  each  proprietor  of  an  house  lot 
a  fifty-acre  lot  of  the  first  division ;  for  this  was  intended  to  be  the 
out-farm,  or  the  nucleus  of  it,  of  each  village  proprietor.  The 
theory  of  the  house  lots  was  that  the  people  must  live  close 
together  and  near  the  church,  or  meeting-house,  as  they  called  it,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  defend  themselves  and  their  dwellings  from  incur- 
sions of  the  hostile  French  and  Indians.  The  theory  of  the  other 
divisions,  and  especially  of  the  two  fifty-acre  divisions,  was  appar-' 
ently  to  furnish  each  villager  with  an  upland  farm,  as  much  land  as 
he  would  care  to  cultivate,  with  the  due  portions  of  pasture  and 
forest,  in  addition  to  the  home  lot  of  ten  acres  and  a  meadow  lot  of 
the  same  area.  This  general  plan,  however,  did  not  work  well  in 
practice.  The  fifty-acre  lots,  though  they  constituted  the  best  lands 
in  the  town,  were  so  scattered  about  all  over  the  town  as  to  be 
inconvenient  of  cultivation  from  the  village.  The  village  lot  re- 
quired a  barn  as  well  as  a  house,  and  the  outlot  would,  in  most 
cases,  need  another  barn,  or  demand  a  far-carrying  of  crops  and  a 
tending  of  cattle  at  a  distance  from  home.  And  so,  even  before  the 
victories  of  Wolfe  and  Amherst  dissipated  the  fear  of  the  Indians, 
and  more  particularly  after  that  time,  the  more  thoughtful  and 
enterprising  villagers  began  to  sell  their  house  lots,  and  to  make 
homes  for  themselves,  as  well  as  farms,  on  the  outlots.  For  exam- 
ples merely,  Nehemiah  Smedley  sold  his  house  lot  No.  1,  and  slowly 
aggregated  a  fine  farm  for  his  family  on  Green  River,  near  its  junc- 
tion with  the  Hoosac;  and  Benjamin  Simonds  sold  his  house  lot 
No.  3,  on  which  he  had  a  home  and  tavern  next  west  of  Smedley's 
home,  and  bought  the  outlots  on  the  Hoosac,  constituting  the  River- 
Bend  Farm,  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Sherifl:  George  Prindle. 

The  lots  of  the  first  fifty -acre  division  were  remarkably  scattered 
over  the  town,  and  it  is  difficult  to  discover  the  principle  of  their 
numerical  location.  The  first  three  numbers  (1,  2,  3)  and  the  last 
three  (61,  62,  63)  were  laid  out  directly  to  the  east  of  Taylor's 
Crotch,  and  this  may  probably  indicate  an  expectation  of  a  greater 
development  around  the  mill  privilege  there  than  has  ever  been  actu- 
ally realized.  There  was  a  *'  mill  lot "  early  laid  out  around  the 
junction  of  the  two  brooks,  of  about  seven  acres,  and  Samuel  Taylor 
became  the  first  owner  and  improver  of  the  privilege ;  it  then  went 
into  the  hands  of  Asa  Douglas  of  "Jericho,"  now  Hancock,  who 
sold,  in  1769,  his  "  right  in  mill  place  called  Taylor's  Crotch  "  to  Wil- 
liam Krigger.  The  Kriggers,  a  Dutch  family  from  down  the  Hoosac, 
—  William,  John,  Peter,  Jolm  George, — are  characterized  in  old 


508  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

deeds  as  "  Miller  "  or  "  Yeoman,"  and  some  of  them  carried  on  the 
sawmill  and  gristmill  at  the  Crotch  for  two  generations  ;  some  mem- 
bers of  this  family  bought  parts  of  No.  50  of  this  division,  which 
lies  to  the  west  of  the  junction  of  the  brooks,  and  these  parts  have 
remained  in  the  mill-estate  till  the  present  time ;  and  parties  by  the 
name  of  Sweet  —  whence  the  modern  and  transient  designation 
"  Sweets'  Corners "  —  owned  the  lands  around  the  mill  till  1892, 
when  the  town  bought  them  as  a  home  for  their  poor. 

Nos.  4,  5,  and  6,  of  this  division,  were  located  north  of  the  Hoosac 
E/iver,  as  were  also  Nos.  51,  52,  and  53,  and  these  were  the  only  fifty- 
acre  lots  of  either  division  in  the  White  Oaks.  Five  of  these  lots, 
beginning  with  No.  7,  lie  in  order  south  of  the  southeast  quarter  of 
the  village  plat,  and  east  of  South  Street  and  the  Stone  Hill  road ; 
while  seven,  commencing  with  No.  40,  were  laid  out  in  order  to  the 
west  of  those  highways  and  adjoining  them,  46  and  49  lying  to  the 
east  of  the  Stone  Hill  road  towards  the  Crotch,  while  48  is  bisected 
by  that  road.  Then  four  lots,  36-39,  are  located  in  order  on  the 
Green  Eiver  road,  from  north  to  south,  just  about  half  way  between 
the  village  plat  and  the  Crotch,  and  made  up  some  of  the  best  farms 
in  town.  The  seven  lots,  28-34,  were  cut  out  of  low  and  fine  lands 
on  both  sides  of  the  lower  reach  of  Green  River,  east  and  southeast 
of  the  hamlet,  35  flanking  the  north  ends  of  about  half  of  the  house 
lots  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  the  plat.  Beginning  on  the  boun- 
dary line  separating  the  two  towns,  Nos.  12-21  flank  the  main  road 
connecting  them ;  while  22  and  23  and  54-60  are  all  on  the  Stratton 
road  towards  its  southern  end. 

As  a  sort  of  sample  of  the  farms  early  constructed  out  of  these 
first-division  fifty-acre  lots,  though  it  be  more  favorable  and  perma- 
nent than  the  average  of  them,  a  sketch  of  the  Meacham  farm,  com- 
prising Nos.  7  and  8,  whose  west  ends  touch  South  Street,  and  east 
ends  Green  River  road,  may  be  rightly  placed  at  this  point.  Jona- 
than Meacham,  from  New  Salem,  a  soldier,  who  had  been  in  the  set- 
tlement from  the  very  first,  an  influential  though  migratory  body, 
never  succeeded  in  fixing  his  name  to  a  single  local  habitation,  as  did 
James  Meacham,  his  cousin,  from  the  same  place,  also  a  soldier  in 
Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight's  company,  working  on  the  construction 
of  Fort  William  Henry  in  1755,  who  bought  of  Joseph  Ballard,  both 
then  of  New  Salem,  these  two  lots  for  £73  Ss.  Sd.  in  August,  1761. 
Just  a  year  later,  he  brought  on  his  wife  and  family  through  the 
woods  and  over  the  Hoosac  Mountain.  His  daughter  Lucy  was  then 
six  weeks  old.  She  was  the  fourth  child,  and  seven  others  were 
added  here.     Either  on  the  way  or  soon  after  arriving,  he  was  fortu- 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  509 

nate  enough  to  kill  c  bear,  which  furnished  the  family  what  they 
quaintly  called  "  pork  "  for  a  considerable  time.  Once,  at  least,  they 
found  a  deposit  of  wild  honey  to  be  a  welcome  addition  to  their  slen- 
der commissariat.  Mrs.  Meacham,  whose  maiden  name  was  Lucy 
Rugg,  brought  along  with  her  a  root  or  two  of  a  hop-vine.  One 
hundred  and  thirty  years  has  not  yet  exhausted  the  vitality  of  those 
roots,  for  the  vine  is  growing  yet  by  the  side  and  in  the  crevices  of 
the  large  rock  on  No.  7,  near  which  they  built  their  first  log  cabin. 
Their  second  house,  which  was  framed  and  plastered,  was  built  on  a 
knoll  to  the  southeast  overlooking  the  Green  Kiver  road  and  a  spring 
near  it,  which  was  doubtless  the  motive  for  the  new  location.  Their 
third  house  was  of  brick  which  were  burnt  near  the  site  of  the  new 
house,  which  was  placed  much  nearer  the  house  lots  than  either  of 
the  others,  and  the  second  house  was  drawn  down  to  the  brick  one  to 
serve  as  an  L  or  addition,  and  it  is  still  standing  in  that  relation  in 
this  year  of  Grace,  1892,  though  now  used  as  a  worn-out  and  topple- 
over  shed. 

The  first  James  Meacham,  besides  being  a  prominent  farmer  and 
citizen  here  for  fifty  years,  was  one  of  the  two  original  deacons  of 
the  church,  which  he  served  faithfully  in  that  capacity  nearly  as  long. 
He  was  a  good  and  constant  Revolutionary  soldier  and  petty  officer, 
though,  like  many  another  such,  he  sympathized  with  the  movements 
of  Captain  Shays  and  his  men  in  1787,  and  left  his  home  openly  one 
Sunday  morning  (gun  on  shoulder)  to  join  them.  He  died  in  July, 
1812,  in  his  eightieth  year,  leaving  the  farm  to  his  eldest  son,  James 
H.  Meacham,  bom  here  Christmas  Day,  1769,  who  married  Kabby 
"Warner,  a  sister  of  the  famous  Colonel  Seth  Warner,  and  who 
became  even  more  prominent  than  his  father  in  the  affairs  of  the 
town  during  a  long  and  useful  life.  He  died  in  March,  1837,  in  his 
sixty-eighth  year.  The  farm  descended  to  his  only  son,  James 
Meacham  (there  were  five  daughters,  of  whom  one,  Emeline,  is  still 
living  at  the  old  homestead),  born  Feb.  3,  1805,  and  died  May  20, 
1883.  This  Captain  James  Meacham  was  an  excellent  man  and  a  good 
citizen.  He  enlarged  his  already  large  house  about  1840,  to  accommo- 
date, for  their  meetings  and  festivities,  the  Kappa  Alpha  Society  of 
the  College.  They  continued  to  meet  with  him  for  many  years, 
until  they  procured  ample  quarters  of  their  own  in  the  heart  of  the 
village.  James  B.  ISIeacham  (Williams  College,  1854)  and  a  younger 
brother,  now  a  merchant  in  St.  Louis,  are  the  present  owners  of  the 
farm,  which  has  never  been  alienated  from  the  family  during  the 
century  and  a  third  of  unintermitted  ownership  and  occupation. 
Israel  Meacham,  youngest  son  of  the  original  James,  was  a  graduate 


510  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

of  the  College  of  the  year  1797,  and  became  a  physician  ;  and  Frank- 
lin Meacham,  son  of  the  late  Captain  James,  born  in  1833,  was  for 
many  years  a  distinguished  surgeon  in  the  United  States  army. 

The  chief  business  of  the  third  public  meeting  of  the  proprietors 
of  West  Hoosac,  convened  at  the  dwelling-house  of  Captain  Allen 
Curtiss  the  15th  of  May,  1754,  was  "  To  Draw  for  the  Second  fifty- 
acre  Division  in  the  following  manner  Choose  Capt.  Allen  Curtiss  to 
Draw  a  ticket  to  Each  Eight  for  s'd  Proprf  '^  Also  it  was  then  and 
there  voted,  ^'  To  Clear  the  Road  from  the  North  Eand  of  the  Cross 
Streeat  in  s'd  Town  to  hampshear  line  one  Eod  wide  and  for  the 
Proprf  to  work  for  two  Shillings  and  Eight  pence  a  Day.''  At 
the  same  time  and  place  it  was,  in  addition,  "  Voted  and  granted 
Oliver  Averys  and  John  Crawfourds  accompt  for  Clearing  part  of 
the  buriel-Place."  As  no  other  and  further  proprietors'  meeting 
than  this  was  holden  for  six  years  and  a  half,  on  account  of  the 
acute  reopening  of  the  French  War,  viz.,  until  October,  1760,  and 
most,  if  not  all,  of  the  householders  re-entered  the  military  service, 
and  the  new  West  Hoosac  Fort  became  the  centre  and  support  of 
the  settlement  much  as  Fort  Massachusetts  had  been  before,  —  this 
is  the  proper  place  to  say  what  needs  to  be  said  about  the  fifty-acre 
lots  of  the  second  division. 

The  very  best  farming  lands  in  the  entire  town  were  distributed 
in  this  third  drawing.  They  were  surveyed  out  in  two  groups  : 
Nos.  1-6  lay  together  north  of  the  north  line  of  the  village  plat, 
and  on  its  prolongation  towards  the  west ;  and  much  of  this  land  is 
now  incorporated  in  the  fine  "  Buxton  Farms,"  of  Colonel  A.  L.  Hop- 
kins ;  some  of  it  surrounds  the  elegant  summer  home  of  Mr.  S.  P. 
Blagden  (Williams  College,  1862),  and  the  rest  is  laved  by  the  lower 
reaches  of  Hemlock  Brook.  Nos.  7-63  lie  altogether  in  a  rectan- 
gular body  on  the  southern  central  plateau  of  our  Williamstown 
valley,  the  straggling  village  of  South  Williamstown  being  some- 
what to  the  south,  and  to  the  east  also,  of  the  centre  of  this  parallel- 
ogram of  good  farms.  The  first-division  fifty-acre  lots  were  scattered, 
without  much  reference  to  their  numerical  order,  pretty  much  all 
over  the  northeast  quarter  of  the  town.  Not  so  the  second  division. 
The  first  six  lots  were  all  contiguous  on  the  lower  slope  of  North- 
west Hill,  the  southern  line  of  all  of  them  resting  upon  the  straight 
line  but  just  now  described.  Most  of  the  rest  of  these  lots  were 
very  symmetrically  arranged,  abutting  upon  one  or  other  of  the  two 
parallel  east  and  west  roads  constructed  on  purpose  '^  to  convean  " 
them.  For  example,  the  north  line  of  the  lots,  odd  numbers  9-29  ex- 
tending west  to  east  across  the  plateau  to  Green  River,  abuts  nearly  at 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  511 

right  angles  upon  the  ''  Woodcock  road  " ;  while  the  south  line  of 
the  corresponding  even  numbers  10-30,  each  odd  opposite  its  even, 
juts  down  upon  the  same  road. 

Twenty-two  of  these  lots  were  thus  symmetrically  disposed  of, 
and  made  accessible  by,  the  Woodcock  road.  Woodcock's  own  lot, 
still  holding  his  cellar  and  the  cellar  a  growing  commemorative  tree, 
being  No.  27.  John  Torrey,  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  bought 
No.  20  of  Isaac  Searle  in  1766,  and  raised  a  very  large  family  over  a 
cellar  still  visible  in  a  clump  of  bushes  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Woodcock  road ;  and  his  brother,  William  Torrey,  established  him- 
self, about  the  same  time,  on  Nos.  14  and  16.  AVilliam  Torrey 
died  Oct.  30,  1820,  in  his  seventy-seventh  year.  His  son  William 
spent  a  long  and  useful  life  upon  the  same  premises  ;  his  son  Myron 
spent  a  life  equally  long  and  useful  upon  Nos.  10  and  12,  parallel 
with,  and  just  west  of,  his  own.  Myron's  son.  Homer  Torrey,  is 
present  owner  and  cultivator  of  his  father's  farm ;  and  all  four  of 
these  men,  in  their  three  generations,  have  been  much  employed 
as  town  officers,  particularly  as  selectmen  and  assessors  and  tax- 
collectors. 

A  similar  lay-out  of  eighteen  of  these  fifty-acre  lots,  Nos.  31-48, 
was  made  on  either  side  of  the  '*  Sloan  road,"  which  stretches 
straight  from  the  immemorial  tavern  in  South  Williamstown  to 
"Oblong  road."  The  south  ends  of  the  odd  numbers,  31-47,  run- 
ning from  east  to  west,  abut  on  the  Sloan  road,  while  the  north  ends 
of  the  even  numbers  opposite,  32-48,  strike  the  same  road  on  its 
south  side.  By  much  the  most  remarkable  family  of  those  originally 
settling  on  these  two  tiers  of  lots  was  that  of  Samuel  Sloan,  of 
Canaan,  Connecticut,  blacksmith,  whose  original  log  house,  built  on 
the  southern  edge  of  No.  43,  was  standing  well  into  the  present 
century,  and  who  opened  the  first  tavern  in  what  came  to  be  the 
South  Village,  on  another  of  these  fifty-acre  lots.  No.  53,  a  site  kept 
as  a  tavern  ever  since;  while  Sloan,  rising  up  through  all  the  grades 
of  the  militia  service,  became  a  General,  and,  rising  up  from  the 
poverty  of  a  journeyman  artisan,  with  his  kit  of  tools,  through 
legitimate  buying  and  selling,  till  he  became  the  richest  man  in 
town,  built  for  himself,  at  the  very  opening  of  the  new  century,  by 
far  the  finest  house  in  the  town,  now  owned  by  the  College  and 
occupied  by  the  president. 

The  rest  of  the  lots  of  this  important  division,  49-63,  with  two 
unimportant  exceptions,  lay  in  a  body  at  the  South  Part  of  the  town 
and  upon  the  most  level  area  of  land  within  the  limits  of  the  town. 
The  junction  of  the  Hancock  Brook  with  the  Ashford  Brook  to  con. 


612  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

stitute  Green  River  falls  upon  No.  53,  on  the  western  edge  of  which 
is  the  tavern-stand  so  often  referred  to.  The  ten  lots,  49-58,  are  con- 
tiguous with  each  other,  run  east  and  west,  and  the  Green  River, 
with  its  two  tributary  brooks,  flowing  for  ages  through  that  part  of 
the  valley,  slowly  flattened  it  almost  to  a  dead  level.  The  sur- 
veyor laid  out  these  ten  lots  so  that  each  of  them  is  crossed  by  one 
of  these  streams.  No  wonder  these  lots  took  the  eye  of  the  very 
earliest  proposed  settlers  at  the  "South  Part,"  as  this  section  of 
the  town  has  always  been  called,  and  always  will  be.  These  lots 
were  surveyed  and  distributed  to  the  then  owners  of  the  house  lots 
in  1754;  but  there  is  not  a  particle  of  proof  that  any  one  of  them 


GENERAL  SLOAN'S   HOUSE. 

Built  in  1801. 

was  built  on  prior  to  1760.  Renewed  war  rolled  down  the  Upper 
Hoosac  in  that  interval  of  time,  until  the  English  conquest  of 
French  Canada  at  Quebec  and  Montreal.  Civil  affairs  were  mostly 
at  a  standstill  even  within  the  village  plat.  Military  exigencies 
controlled  everything  for  six  years.  Lands,  indeed,  changed  hands 
frequently.  Speculators  came  and  went.  Richard  Stratton  and 
his  two  sons  Isaac  and  Ebenezer,  from  Western,  now  Warren,  all  of 
them  later  among  the  most  influential  citizens  of  William stown, 
were  among  a  very  few  others  who  came  in  that  perturbed  interval 
to  cast  in  their  lot,  for  better  or  for  worse,  with  the  soldier-men  of 
West  Hoosac.  Richard  Stratton  bought,  at  different  times,  house 
lots  57  and  58,  and  at  length  built  upon  the  latter  the  first  two- 
story  house  erected  in  the  borough,  in  which  he  died  in  an  honored 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  513 

old  age,  and  which  is  still  standing  substantially  unchanged,  having 
been  the  home  for  the  past  tliirty  years  of  James  M.  Waterman ; 
about  the  same  time,  Richard  Stratton,  from  "  parental  affection, 
etc.,"  sold  his  '♦well-beloved  son  Ebenezer  Stratton,"  the  first- 
division  fifty-acre  lots,  33  and  54,  who  occupied  them  as  a  farm 
during  a  long  life,  having  his  farm-house  at  lirst  on  a  knoll  near  the 
southern  limit  of  his  farm,  and  afterwards,  on  account  of  winds 
and  drifts,  building  another  one  near  the  northern  limit  of  his  land, 
much  nearer  to  meetings  for  himself  and  to  schools  for  his  children, 
though  both  houses  stood  on  the  "  Luce  road,"  west  side,  the  latter 
one,  in  which  the  good  deacon  died  in  1814,  standing  till  about  1880. 

Isaac  Stratton,  born  in  Western  in  1739,  and  coming  here  with  his 
father  and  older  brother  on  attaining  his  majority,  preferred  to 
pitch  his  tent  alone  at  the  South  Part  on  the  second-division  fifty- 
acre  lot  No.  54.  He  was  the  first  settler  on  any  one  of  the  lots  of 
that  division.  It  is  nearly  certain  that  he  located  his  first  cabin 
there  in  1760 ;  and  it  is  certain  that  he  had  no  neighbor  at  all  upon 
that  splendid  level  of  fifty-acre  lots  for  three  full  years.  Then 
Daniel  Burbank,  from  Western,  located  to  the  south  of  him  on  No. 
57,  his  first  house  being  a  framed  building  of  one  room,  erected  on 
the  east  side  of  the  "Ashford  road,"  which  runs  liere  diagonally 
as  straight  as  an  arrow  across  the  lots  53-58,  Stratton's  house  being 
on  the  west  side  of  the  road,  and  just  to  the  south  of  the  brook, 
over  which  the  town  as  soon  as  it  was  incorj^orated  built  a  bridge 
for  him  and  Burbank,  even  before  they  built  a  bridge  over  the 
Green  River  at  the  east  end  of  the  north  village.  Stratton  built 
his  second  house,  a  large  two-story  one,  on  the  same  site  in  1785, 
and  the  passer-by  may  still  read  on  its  chimney  "I.  S.  1785." 
Considering  that  he  was  the  first  settler  in  South  Williamstown, 
and  later  proved  attractive  to  valuable  neighbors  on  every  side  of 
him,  and  considering  the  record  he  made  for  himself  as  a  patriot 
Major  in  the  battle  of  Bennington,  the  high  mountain  that  rises 
up  out  of  those  farms  (as  it  were)  and  overlooks  them,  and  stands 
sentinel  between  the  Ashford  and  the  Hancock  brooks,  was  delil> 
erately  christened  by  the  town  in  1891,  for  all  time,  "Stratton 
Mountain." 

At  tliis  same  proprietors'  meeting,  in  May,  1754,  it  was  voted,  as 
the  next  most  important  matter,  to  lay  out  a  road,  one  rod  wide  for 
the  present,  from  the  north  end  of  the  "  Cross  Street,"  which  was 
laid  out  (on  parchment)  six  rods  wide,  and  at  right  angles  to  the 
''Main  Street,"  which  was  to  be  fifteen  rods  wide,  to  the  line  of 
New  TT;>iin><l>ire,  so-called;  that  is  to  say,  to  "Hazen's  Line,"  the 


514  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

present  line  separating  Massachusetts  from  Vermont.  West  Hoosac 
was  a  very  isolated  spot  in  1754.  Hoosac  Mountain,  to  the  east- 
ward, was  high  and  broad,  and  had  not  then  been  tunnelled  for  a 
steam  railroad.  There  was  an  old-time  Mohawk  path  over  it,  and 
by  much  the  larger  part  of  all  the  soldiers  and  settlers  had  worked 
their  way  over  that  path  from  the  valley  of  the  Deerfield  Eiver. 
From  a  quarter  to  a  third  of  the  then  soldiers  and  settlers  on 
the  Upper  Hoosac  had  come  up  from  Connecticut,  following  up  the 
Housatonic  to  its  main  watershed  at  Pontoosuck,  and  then  up  the 
northern  tributary  of  the  lake  to  its  head-springs  in  New  Ashford, 
and  striking,  almost  within  a  stone's  throw,  the  source  of  the  Ash- 
ford  Brook,  which  finds  its  fellow  at  South  Williamstown,  coming 
down  the  Green  River,  that  just  laves  the  east  end  of  the  village 
plat  of  West  Hoosac.  The  watershed  is  not  high  to  the  southward, 
but  there  was  then  no  good  market  in  that  direction.  Albany  had 
been  the  best  hold  for  supplies  for  Fort  Massachusetts  from  the 
beginning,  and  it  was  the  best  hope,  in  1754,  of  the  dozen  families- 
or  so  clustered  around  the  West  Hoosac  Fort ;  and  the  only  way  to 
reach  Albany  was  to  drop  down  the  Hoosac  to  its  junction  with  the 
North  River.  Hence  this  proposed  road  for  two  miles  to  the  north- 
ward, to  the  New  Hampshire  line  of  1741,  had  an  energetic  surveyor 
(Curtiss)  to  clear  it,  and  fair  pay  per  day  (2s.  Sd.),  in  lieu  of  rates 
to  proprietors  willing  to  work  on  it. 

This  very  early  sign  of  Albany  as  the  place  of  supply  for  the 
pioneer  farmers  is  followed,  in  due  time,  by  signs  in  plenty  of  their 
uncomfortable  indebtedness  to  Albany  merchants  for  these  supplies. 
For  example,  Jonathan  Meacham  mortgaged  to  Albany  parties,  for 
£89  (New  York  money)  his  two  house  lots,  43  and  45,  —  on  the 
former  of  which  he  dwelt,  and  parts  of  both  of  which  are  owned 
by  the  present  writer,  —  to  repay  a  debt  as  it  stood  in  July,  1769 ; 
it  was  repaid  in  January,  1772,  —  £102,  principal  and  interest. 
Take  another  example,  out  of  many:  Isaac  Stratton  sold,  by 
mortgage  deed,  to  Robert  Kinney  and  Robert  Kinney,  Junior^ 
merchants  of  the  state  of  New  York,  for  £105,  part  of  his  original 
home  lot  54,  June  7,  1788.  He  did  not  live  to  repay  this  debt  and 
release  the  mortgage.     He  died  April  3,  1789,  aged  fifty  years. 

There  was  another  pressing  reason,  however,  aside  from  markets, 
for  opening  up  that  roadway  to  the  north.  Nearly  one-third  of  the 
meadow  lots,  otherwise  at  that  time  inaccessible,  could  be  reached 
pretty  directly  by  that  road  of  two  miles.  Not  much,  if  anything, 
was  practically  done  with  any  of  the  meadow  lots  for  ten  or  fifteen 
years  after  this  time.    They  lay  low,  as  their  name  implies,  and  were 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  515 

heavily  wooded  with  those  kinds  of  trees  that  are  not  afraid  of  wet- 
ting their  feet ;  but  every  householder  owned  one  or  more  of  them, 
and  all  were  naturally  desirous  to  be  able  to  get  at  them  to  see 
them,  and  some,  perhaps,  to  sell  them.  Moreover,  although  the 
pine  lots  were  not  yet  surveyed  out  for  distribution,  this  stretch  of 
new  road  actually  went  through  some  of  the  finest  pines  in  the  town- 
ship, —  wliat  furnished,  at  any  rate,  when  they  came  to  be  set  off, 
Nos.  1,  2,  3,  7,  8,  61,  all  nearer  to  the  village  than  the  rest  of  the 
pine  lots,  which  lay,  with  two  exceptions,  on  tlie  extreme  northern 
line  of  the  town.  Before  many  years  had  run  their  course,  John 
Smedley  had  his  sawmill  built  near  this  new  road,  on  the  bank  of 
the  Hoosac,  near  its  exit  from  the  town,  though  it  was  fed  from 
Broad  Brook,  and  the  tall  and  huge  pines  from  Nos.  7  and  8  — 
which  lots  became  his  property  —  soon  felt  the  teeth  of  his  steel. 

One  other  vote  of  the  last  meeting  before  the  six  years'  intermis- 
sion will  delay  us  but  for  a  moment.  Two  householders,  Oliver 
Avery  and  John  Crawford,  had,  in  virtue  of  a  vote  at  an  earlier 
meeting,  expended  labor  and  skill  in  clearing  up  a  part  of  the  bury- 
ing-ground,  which  lay  just  at  the  junction  of  the  proposed  wide 
Cross  Street  with  the  now  proposed  narrow  North  Street.  They 
brought  in  their  bill.  Their  account  was  voted  without  delay  or 
objection.  Death  had  already  visited  the  little  settlement  but  two 
or  three  years  old,  and  was  sure  to  return  on  his  never-to-be-inter- 
mitted rounds.  The  people  were  evidently  then  looking  rather 
northward  than  southward  from  the  Square,  both  for  routes  for  the 
living  and  a  resting-place  for  the  dead.  Many  bodies  slept  in  this 
first-chosen  spot.  For  reasons  not  now  capable  of  full  explication, 
but  springing  perhaps  in  part  from  some  want  of  faith  as  to  whether 
the  large  scheme  of  the  village  and  township  would  ever  be  fulfilled 
in  such  troublous  times,  and  with  so  many  such  others  bidding  for 
the  public  favor,  the  resolve  came  very  shortly  to  have  another  ceme- 
tery—  that  is,  sleeping-place  —  within  the  house  lots  themselves, 
and  nearer  to  the  few  homes  already  made.  The  short  •  stretch  of 
Hemlock  Brook  as  it  crosses  the  Main  Street  was  just  about  the 
centre  of  the  houses  already  built  when  the  town  was  incorporated, 
and  so  the  southern  end  of  house  lot  12,  just  over  the  brook  and 
abutting  on  the  street,  was  set  apart  for  future  burials.  This  choice 
of  place  was  fortunate,  and  the  location  beautiful ;  a  few  bodies  were 
removed  from  the  earlier  to  the  later  ground;  from  time  to  time 
contiguous  parts  of  house  lots  14  and  16  and  18  and  20  have  been 
added  to  the  original  plot ;  and  it  is  much  to  be  hoped  that  all  of 
the  land  of  theso  five  lots  west  of  the  Hemlock  and  south  of  the 


516  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Buxton  brooks,  as  far  as  to  their  junction,  may  ultimately  be  incor- 
porated into  this  early  and  beautiful  sleeping-place  of  our  dead. 

We  have  already  given  in  preceding  chapters,  and  in  their  proper 
places,  the  military  events  that  make  forever  memorable  this  valley 
of  the  Upper  Hoosac  River  in  the  interval  of  time  between  the  pro- 
prietors' meeting  in  May,  1754,  and  the  next  following  one  in  October, 
1760.  We  gather  up  now  in  a  few  items  and  documents  what  remains 
of  the  most  interest  in  the  records  of  the  French  wars,  having  a 
bearing  upon  the  growth  and  fortunes  of  Williamstown  and  its 
College. 

The  deposition  of  Jabez  and  Gideon  Warren  of  full  and  lawfull  age,  proprietors 
and  settlers  in  the  Township  of  West  Hoosuck.  Testifie  and  say  that  in  the 
Latter  end  of  Aug'  1754  when  the  Enemy  fell  upon  and  Destroyed  what  is  called 
the  Dutch  Hoosuck  [Hoosac  Falls]  the  Inhabitants  of  West  Hoosuck  Fled  for 
shelter  to  the  Fort  Massachusetts  when  the  said  inhabitants  arrived  at  said  fort 
with  their  families  they  found  many  of  the  Dutch  who  had  Escaped  the  Enemy 
and  fled  there  also.  Which  so  cumbered  the  fort  that  it  was  with  great  difficulty 
we  Subsisted. 

But  hearing  that  Capt.  Ephraim  Williams  was  Coming  to  the  fort  with  orders 
to  relieve  the  Inhabitants  of  West  Hoosuck  we  patiently  waited  his  arrival.  But 
when  he  came  he  refused  to  give  us  any  relief  saying  he  had  orders  from  Co^^ 
Williams  [Colonel  Israel  Williams]  not  to  take  any  of  the  Town  Inhabitants 
into  the  Service  only  Hudson  Simonds  and  Meacham  and  not  to  take  Hudson 
nor  Simonds  unless  they  would  carry  of  their  families.  The  distressed  proprie- 
tors earnestly  intreated  that  they  might  be  favored  and  put  into  the  Service 
alledging  that  they  could  reasonably  expect  the  favour  of  the  Government  for 
they  had  spent  all  they  had  to  Carry  on  a  Settlement.  Capt.  Curtis  Mr.  Chides- 
ter  and  others  desired  favour  might  be  shewn  under  our  miserable  Circumstances 
but  was  denied  and  ordered  away  with  our  families  tho  we  desired  the  Liberty 
of  building  without  the  fort  yet  could  not  obtain  the  request  altho  many  from 
the  duch  had  it  granted  them  and  even  allowed  to  live  in  the  fort  and  in  the  very 
room  where  the  Government  stores  were  kept,  and  others  were  allowed  to  come 
to  fort  soon  afterward  with  their  families  and  altho  the  fort  was  not  at  that  Sup- 
plied with  its  Quoto  of  men  yet  the  distressed  proprietors  could  not  be  put  into 
service  when  those  who  were  no  proprietors  nor  under  such  needy  Circumstances 
were  admitted  and  even  one  from  another  Government.    Further  your  depo- 

"^"'^^''^"°*-  [Signed]  j,,,,Wokk™ 

Gideon  Worrin. 

March  30  1757  the  above  was  solemnly  sworn  to  before  Timo.  Woodbridge 
Justice  Peace  [Stockbridge] 

Fellowship  with  the  Dutch  farmers  further  down  the  Hoosac  had 
not  yet  come  to  be  an  achievement  of  the  Yankee  settlers  above,  as 
is  evident  from  the  tone  of  this  deposition.  Proofs  as  towards  the 
same  conclusion,  not  only  for  that  time  but  also  for  times  long  sub- 


WILLIAMSTOWX.  517 

sequent,  are  abundant  on  all  sides.  The  reasons  also  are  very  plain 
to  be  seen.  For  one,  the  boundary  line  between  New  York  and 
Massachusetts  was  not  finally  established  till  just  thirty  years  after 
this  deposition  was  taken ;  and  the  feeling  was  strong  on  this  side, 
that  the  other  province  was  inclined  to  crowd,  and  hatl  actually  been 
crowding,  its  settlements  too  far  to  the  eastward ;  as  early  as  1692, 
settlers  under  New  York  authority  had  occupied  parts  of  what  is 
now  Mount  Washington  in  Berkshire  County,  not  without  jealousy 
and  protest  on  the  part  of  Massachusetts ;  the  slow  pushing  of  the 
Dutch  farmers  up  the  Hoosac  about  fifty  years  later  was  one  occasion 
of  the  erection  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  as  we  have  seen ;  no  love  was 
lost  as  between  Yankees  and  Dutchmen  during  the  whole  course  of 
the  French  wars,  so  different  were  they  in  customs  and  costume ; 
and  even  General  Schuyler,  substantial  as  were  his  merits,  never 
drew  during  the  Revolution  the  full  confidence  of  the  New  England 
soldiers. 

On  the  same  day  and  at  the  same  place  of  the  above  deposition, 
Jabez  Warren,  one  of  the  deponents,  and  William  Horsford,  another 
of  the  original  proprietors  of  West  Hoosac,  took  solemn  oath  to  the 
following:  — 

The  Testimony  of  Jabez  Warren  and  William  Horsford  of  Iloosuck  West 
Township  of  full  and  lawfull  age  who  Testifie  and  say  that  in  April  1756  When 
Serg'  William  Chidester  came  from  Boston  with  orders  to  take  the  Command  of 
the  fort  west  Hoosuck  and  for  the  Commissary  for  fort  Massachusetts  to  supply 
Said  West  fort  with  proper  stores  said  Commissary  directed  Mr.  Chidester  to 
receive  the  same  of  Capt.  Wyman  at  Fort  Massachusetts  But  we  never  have 
been  able  from  that  time  to  this  to  obtain  more  than  fourteen  days  per  man 
allowed  at  a  time  Excpt  twice  we  have  been  allowed  one  months  provision  for 
said  fort,  at  all  other  times  out  of  the  few  men  we  have  been  obliged  to  travil 
four  miles  once  every  fortnight  at  the  peril  of  our  lives  to  fetch  our  provisions 
which  keeps  us  in  perpetual  danger  and  diflSculty.  And  that  the  said  Capt. 
Wyman  has  constantly  kept  back  every  mans  allowance  when  absent  altho  the 
absent  Soldier  hires  his  duty  done. 

And  after  Serg'  Chidester  was  killed  the  soldiers  of  said  west  fort  being  appre- 
hensive from  many  reasons  they  should  be  ill  used  begged  the  favour  of  Lieu* 
Barnard  (who  commanded  at  said  fort)  that  they  might  lay  the  state  of  their 
case  before  the  Great  and  General  Court  and  be  directed  by  them  but  our  request 
was  perremtory  refused  and  none  of  the  Soldiers  could  have  Liberty  to  leave 
there  but  ujwn  a  promise  that  they  would  go  no  further  than  Hatfield. 

And  when  the  Government  orders  came  for  the  soldiers  to  billet  themselves 
there  was  not  stores  in  said  fort  for  each  mans  allowance  one  week.  Further 
one  of  the  deponents  says  (viz)  Jabez  Warren  that  met  with  many  discourage- 
ments in  building  said  fort  for  the  guard  that  was  sent  by  Capt.  Wyman  would 
guard  none  but  while  the  people  were  at  labor  at  the  fort  and  refused  to  do  any 
other  duty  and  would  not  put  a  hand  to  help  up  a  stick  of  timber  tho  we  were 


518  ORIGINS   IN   \yiLLIAMSTOWN. 

few  and  our  timber  heavy  and  declared  that  to  be  their  orders  not  to  help  us 
altho  we  offered  them  pay  and  sometimes  the  Guard  left  us  entirely  when 
greatly  exposed.     Furthermore  your  deponent  saith  not. 

Stockbridge  March  30'^  1757. 

In  these  papers  the  two  Warrens  and  William  Horsford  do  pos- 
terity a  great  favor,  without  foreseeing  it  at  the  time,  or  ever  know- 
ing it.  They  voice  the  inevitable  jealousy  between  the  garrisons 
and  government  of  the  older  and  larger,  and  the  newer  and  more 
transient  fort.  They  tell  the  truth  undoubtedly,  but  not  at  all 
points  the  whole  truth.  Indeed,  they  were  not  in  position  to  be 
able  to  see  the  whole  truth.  For  instance,  they  represent  as  heart- 
less and  blameworthy  their  best  friend,  Captain  Ephraim  Williams, 
in  insisting  on  the  orders  of  his  own  superior  officer,  Colonel  Israel 
Williams,  requiring  the  West  Hoosac  men  to  go  back  to  their  cabins 
and  defend  and  secure  their  crops,  in  August,  1756,  while  the  Dutch 
farmers  from  below  were  allowed  still  to  cumber  Fort  Massachusetts. 
The  point  was,  that  West  Hoosac  was  an  outpost  very  important  to 
be  defended  against  another  raid  of  the  French  and  Indians,  and 
quite  possible  to  be  defended  from  Fort  Massachusetts,  provided  the 
owners  of  the  little  properties  there  should  go  back  and  keep  watch 
and  ward  over  them,  and  be  on  the  alert  to  send  word  to  the  fort  of 
any  approach  of  the  enemy,  who  always  came  up  the  Hoosac,  and 
had  no  other  route ;  while  Massachusetts,  as  such,  had  not  the  least 
interest  in  sending  back  and  maintaining  the  Dutch  farmers  in  their 
places  below.  The  sooner  those  Dutchmen  abandoned  their  farms 
as  too  hazardous,  and  gave  up  the  job  altogether,  the  better  would 
like  it  the  Great  and  General  Court. 

It  is  a  curious  thing,  and  yet  explicable,  that  Captain  Williams 
should  then  have  brought  over  with  him  from  the  Connecticut  per- 
mission to  take  three  of  the  West  Hoosac  settlers,  by  name,  into  the 
province  service  at  Fort  Massachusetts  and  no  more.  These  three 
were  Seth  Hudson,  Benjamin  Simonds,  and  Jonathan  (?)  Meacham. 
The  condition  was  that  Hudson  and  Simonds  should  carry  off  their 
families  from  the  fort,  implying  that  Meacham  had,  at  least  then 
and  there,  no  family.  We  know  that  Simonds  had  then  two  chil- 
dren, both  born  in  West  Hoosac.  It  is  implied  that  Hudson  had 
also  wife  and  children,  but  there  is  no  record  of  it  covering  that 
time,  and  no  probability  of  children  born  in  West  Hoosac  at  any 
time.  Hudson  was  a  man  of  merit  on  many  grounds,  as  we  have 
already  seen ;  but  he  lacked  the  staying  qualities  of  Simonds  and 
Meacham ;  he  came  early  and  went  often ;  of  course,  that  involves 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  519 

that  he  returned  from  time  to  time.  He  came  back  in  his  old  age, 
the  last  survivor  of  the  first  settlei-s,  with  young  children  of  an 
undoubtedly  second  marriage,  liaving  been,  in  his  comparative 
youth,  both  Captain  and  Surgeon  in  each  of  the  forts ;  but  Simonds 
came  nearer  than  anybody  else  here  to  the  full  confidence  of  the 
Williams  family,  for  he  had  begun  early  and  suffered  much ;  he  had 
given  hostages  to  society,  and  never  failed  at  the  sticking-point,  and 
the  contrast  was  great  and  painful  in  the  opening  years  of  this 
century  (Colonel  Simonds  died  in  1807)  between  the  well-to-do  and 
highly  honored  old  age  of  the  one,  and  the  poverty-stricken  and 
well-nigh  forgotten  status  of  the  other. 

"As  the  old  birds  have  sung  so  the  little  birds  will  twitter."  These 
very  early  jealousies  and  misunderstandings  between  the  East  Hoosac 
and  the  West,  beginning  in  the  forts  and  their  administration,  con- 
tinuing more  or  less  in  all  matters  military  and  later  civil,  intensified 
by  disputes  over  that  clause  of  Colonel  Williams's  will,  in  which  he 
seemed  to  make  conditional  provision  for  a  school  in  the  east  town 
also,  hinging  in  part,  too,  on  the  fact  that  nearly  all  of  the  first-rate 
land  lay  in  the  west  town,  which  consequently  drew  nearly  all  of 
the  soldiers  of  Fort  Massachusetts  thitherward  as  settlers,  while  a 
very  different  class  of  people,  and  many  of  them  Quakers,  came  to 
be  the  inhabitants  of  the  east  town,  have  brought  it  about  genera- 
tion after  generation  that  the  neighborhood  harmony,  as  between  the 
two  places,  has  never  been  striking ;  that  the  spirit  and  development 
of  the  two  have  been  along  quite  different  lines ;  that  farming  has 
always  been  the  main  industry  of  the  one,  and  manufacturing  of  the 
other ;  and  while  both  have  proved  in  these  latter  days  to  be  attrac- 
tive to  capitalists  from  other  sections  of  the  country,  the  beauty  and 
variety  and  healthfulness  of  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the  one  have 
proved  inviting  to  retired  and  retiring  capital,  and  the  market  oppor- 
tunities of  the  other  in  banks  and  factories  and  all  other  kinds  of 
trade  have  brought  in  rather  the  quick  and  still  augmenting  stores 
of  capital. 

The  Petition  of  Thomas  Williams 
humbly  shews 

That  Ephraim  Williams  of  Stockbridge  deceas<*  had  the  Honour  to  be  Colonel 
of  a  Regiment  in  the  Expedition  against  the  French  Fort  at  Crown  Point  A.D. 
1755.  And  that  in  order  to  encourage  the  soldiers  to  engage  in  s*^  Service :  It 
was  by  an  Act  of  this  Province  of  the  28  March,  1755  among  other  things  pro- 
vided that  the  Wages  and  Subsistence  of  the  non-commissioned  officers  and 
soldiers  should  commence  upon  their  Arrival  at  the  Place  of  Rendezvous  within 
this  Province.  That  nine  of  the  Companies  in  s*  Regiment  after  their  Arrival 
at  tho  p!?^"  '>f  Rendezvous  and  before  they  march<*  on  s^  Service  were  subsisted 


520  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

according  to  the  amount  herewith  produced.  The  Charge  of  which  has  never 
been  paid  by  the  Province.  That  s<i  Ephraim  relying  on  the  Faith  of  the 
Province  did  in  his  life  time  defray  part  of  the  s^^  amount  and  gave  assurance  in 
behalf  of  the  Province  for  payment  of  the  whole.  Which  engagements  are  not 
expected  to  be  performed  at  the  Expence  of  the  Heirs  of  s<i  Ephraim.  And 
your  Petitioner  who  had  the  honour  of  being  appointed  Lt.  Colo  of  s^  Regiment 
upon  the  Decease  of  a^  Ephraim  humbly  conceives  the  expence  of  s^^  Subsistence 
is  a  just  Debt  on  the  Province  to  the  Soldiers,  and  in  behalf  of  said  Companies 
prays  the  same  may  be  allowed  him  for  the  use  of  s*^  Ephraims  Heirs  so  far  as  it 
was  paid  by  him  and  the  residue  for  the  Use  of  the  Soldiers  as  are  yet  unpaid. 
—  and  your  Petitioner  as  in  Duty  Bound  shall  ever  pray  — 

Thos.  Williajis. 

[Endorsed] 

April  16,  1757.  Read  and  Ordered  &c.  &c.  (except  Major  Ashley's  Company 
already  paid)  at  the  rate  of  four  shillings  per  week  and  so  in  proportion  &c. 
And  that  the  Sum  be  paid  into  the  hand  of  the  Petitioner  Thos.  Williams  to  be 
by  him  paid  to  the  several  persons  &c. 

T.  Hubbard  Speaker 
A.  Oliver  Sec. 

The  whole  action  of  the  General  Court  of  the  province,  the  entire 
bearing  of  the  several  heirs  of  Colonel  Williams  as  mentioned  in 
his  will,  and  especially  the  patience  and  assiduity  of  his  executors, 
— Williams  and  Worthington,  —  were  throughout  favorable  to  the 
fulfilment  of  his  desires  in  relation  to  a  free  school,  and  to  the  name 
of  the  town.  The  sums  to  be  cared  for  by  the  executors  were  small 
and  scattered  and  perplexing.  The  executors  apparently  never 
wearied  for  thirty  years  in  giving  thought  to  the  dry  details.  So 
far  as  appears  in  the  records  examined  by  the  writer,  they  did  this 
as  a  labor  of  love  and  memory  towards  the  testator,  charging  the 
estate  nothing  for  their  services.  The  relations,  accordingly,  of 
the  Town  and  the  College  from  the  very  first,  and  onwards  to  the 
commonwealth  and  its  varied  agencies  of  administration,  have  been 
special,  and  perhaps  unique.  Williamstown,  with  its  school,  is  a 
"  child  of  the  state  "  in  a  sense  in  which  Amherst  is  not,  and  pos- 
sibly not  even  Cambridge. 

Thomas  Pownall,  English  Governor  of  Massachusetts  in  1757-60, 
wrote  to  William  Pitt,  Prime  Minister  of  England  in  1757-61,  that 
the  whole  cost  to  the  province  of  the  expedition  to  Crown  Point  of 
1755,  on  whose  issues  so  much  of  our  local  history  for  all  subse- 
quent time  was  depending,  amounted  to  £87,058 ;  the  cost  to  Mas- 
sachusetts of  the  next  year's  expedition  to  the  northward,  under 
General  Winslow,  was  £101,613;  and  the  expense  to  the  same 
colony  of  the  disgraceful  campaign  of  1757,  under  Lord  Loudon, 
was  £48,319. 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  621 

The  intimacy  of  the  relations  also  between  the  settlement  and 
development  of  Williamstown,  and  the  friendly  and  masterful 
qualities  of  the  man  whose  name  it  bears,  is  perhaps  best  made 
to  appear  in  a  comparison  of  the  last  muster-roll  of  the  company 
of  Captain  Ephraim  Williams,  from  Sept.  23,  1754,  till  March  28, 
1755,  with  the  names  of  the  men  now  known  to  have  been  con- 
cerned in  such  settlement  and  development.  The  roll  holds  forty- 
one  names.  They  had  been  subsisted  at  Fort  Massachusetts, 
reckoned  as  one  man,  for  981  weeks  and  five  days,  at  the  public 
expense  of  £699  10s.  9d.  lawful  money  at  that  time,  which  was  sil- 
ver debased  twenty-five  per  cent  as  compared  with  the  purity  of  the 
English  shilling.  Captain  Williams  took  oath  to  the  correctness  of 
this  muster-roll  and  subsistence  June  12,  1755,  before  Samuel 
Watts,  Justice  of  the  Peace.  In  the  mean  time,  he  had  been  pro- 
moted to  be  Colonel  in  the  current  Crown  Point  expedition,  and  had 
been  for  weeks  busy  in  enlisting  men  for  his  new  regiment.  In 
those  days,  and  in  that  service,  the  Colonel  was  technical  Captain 
of  one  of  the  ten  companies  in  his  own  regiment ;  and  a  few  soldiers 
from  this  last  muster-roll  in  the  fort  service  under  Williams  en- 
listed for  Crown  Point ;  not  many,  because  the  fort  must  be  kept 
well  garrisoned  as  a  refuge  and  defence  for  the  province  in  case  of 
defeat  to  the  northward. 

Now,  of  these  forty-one  men,  constituting  Williams's  last  com- 
pany at  the  fort,  some  of  whom  were  killed  with  him  at  the  lake, 
all  whose  names  are  worthy  of  this  special  and  final  record,  more 
than  half,  or  say  twenty-four  men,  were  personally  engaged  in  the 
foundation  and  building  up  oi  Williamstown.  This  would  never 
have  happened  under  all  the  other  circumstances,  unless  the  cap- 
tain had  possessed  remarkably  attractive  traits  of  character,  unless 
he  had  enjoyed  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  soldiers  to  an 
unusual  degree,  unless  they  had  actually  found  him  by  personal 
dealings  with  him  to  be  a  man  of  his  word,  and  a  man  of  solid 
power  and  strong  influence  to  carry  out  his  pledges. 

Ephraim  Williams  Capt.  Isaac  Wyman  Lieut. 

Samuel  Taylor  Serg*  Edmond  Town  Serg! 

Gad  Chapin  Serg!  Oliver  Avery  Corp. 

Samuel  Calhoon  Corp.  Samuel  Catlin    Cent. 

John  Taylor      Cent.  Elisha  Higgins        " 

Benjamin  King      "  George  Wilson        " 

John  Kosher          "  Tyras  Pratt             " 

Noah  Pratt            ''•  .                          Abraham  Bass        " 

Jeremy  Chapin      '•  John  Wells             " 

Enoch  Chapin       "  Silas  Pratt              " 


522  OKIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Ezekiel  Foster    Cent.  John  Crofford       Cent. 

John  Brown  "  Thomas  Train         " 

John  Herrold         "  Micah  Harrington   " 

Ezra  Parker  '*  Elisha  Sheldon        " 

John  Bush  "  Simeon  Crawford    " 

Josiah  Goodreesh  "  John  Meecham       " 

Nathaniel  Nicholls"  Derrick  Webb        " 

John  Gray  "  Benjamin  Simonds " 

Seth  Hudson  "  Gad  Corss  " 

May  hew  Daggett  "  Gideon  Warren       " 

The  incorporation  of  the  propriety  of  West  Hoosac  into  the  town 
of  Williamstown  by  the  Great  and  General  Court,  under  the  usual 
terms  and  conditions,  in  July,  1765,  made  very  little  difference  in  the 
practical  way  of  doing  ^he  public  business  until  after  the  Eevolu- 
tionary  War.  Whatever  meetings  may  have  been  held  by  the 
^'  Town,"  technically  so  called,  whatever  business  of  any  kind  may 
have  been  transacted  in  them,  no  records  have  been  preserved  on  the 
spot.  The  "  Proprietors,"  technically  so  called,  invested  with  their 
peculiar  privileges  of  which  they  were  jealous,  and  which  were 
indefinite  relatively  to  the  privileges  of  the  town  as  such,  inasmuch 
as  the  proprietors  and  the  citizens  consisted  for  the  most  part  of  the 
same  persons,  continued  to  hold  their  meetings  just  as  before,  and  to 
carry  on  the  mass  of  public  business  just  as  before.  Nearly  the  whole 
of  this  business  came  under  the  four  following  heads :  (1)  Gradu- 
ally to  distribute  among  themselves  all  the  lands  included  within 
the  limits  of  West  Hoosac  as  laid  out  in  1749 ;  (2)  To  construct 
highways  to  "convean"  as  far  as  possible  all  the  owners  of  these 
lands ;  (3)  To  provide  both  as  to  place  and  minister  for  religious 
worship,  for  schools,  and  burials ;  and  (4)  To  lay  and  collect  taxes 
among  themselves  for  all  these  purposes.  These  were  large  matters 
for  such  men  to  handle  in  a  wise  and  effective  way.  There  were,  as 
always  in  such  cases,  great  obstacles.  Differences  of  opinion  were  a 
matter  of  course.  There  were,  for  example,  delinquent  tax-payers : 
the  only  remedy  as  against  such  was  to  expose  by  special  committee 
their  lands  for  sale  at  public  vendue ;  this  was  carrying  coals  to 
Newcastle,  for  the  land-market  was  then  overstocked  everywhere. 
Proprietors,  too,  absorbed  in  the  struggle  for  subsistence,  and  for 
other  reasons  as  well,  naturally  became  delinquent  in  attendance 
upon  proprietors'  meetings,  —  the  only  government  among  and  over 
them,  the  one  consequently  whose  strong  maintenance  was  absolutely 
essential  to  their  legal  and  prosperous  continuance.  Strange  to  say, 
as  a  remedy  for  this  difficulty,  they  proposed,  in  November,  1766, 
what  is  sometimes  practised  by  modern  corporations  to  secure  regu- 


WILLIAMSTOWN. 


523 


lar  attendance  of  directors,  namely,  "  To  3e  if  the  Proprietors  -will 
Pay  those  men  that  attend  the  meetings  of  Said  Proprietors." 

Probably  there  are,  or  may  be  some  time,  some  persons  who  will 
not  begrudge  the  attention  of  looking  over  a  table  compiled  care- 
fully from  their  own  records  —  as  testified  to  by  their  own  clerk  —  of 
dates  and  places  of  meeting  and  moderators  of  these  old,  persistent, 
though  often  perplexed,  proprietors,  to  whom  the  modern  genera- 
tions owe  so  much  :  — 


Dates. 

Places. 

MOPERATORS. 

1753,  Dec.       5    .     .     .     .     Setli  Hudson's Allen  Curtiss 

1754,  April    18    . 

Allen  Curtiss's     . 

Allen  Curtiss 

1754,  May     15    . 

Allen  Curtiss's 

Elisha  Chapin 

1760,  Oct.        1    . 

Jabez  Warren 

1760,  Dec.     16    . 

West  Hoosac  Fort 

Jabez  Warren 

1761,  July     14   . 

West  Hoosac  Fort 

Richard  Stratton 

1761,  Sept.    24    . 

.     West  Hoosac  Fort 

Benjamin  Simonds 

1762,  March  29    . 

Josiah  Horsford's 

Jonathan  Meacham 

1762,  April    19    . 

Josiah  Horsford's 

Gideon  Warren 

1762,  Oct.      21    . 

Benjamin  Simonds's 

John  Horsford 

1763,  March  10    . 

Benjamin  Simonds's 

Josiah  Horsford 

1763,  July       8    . 

Schoolhouse     .     .     . 

Josiah  Horsford 

1763,  Nov.     16    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

William  Horsford 

1764,  March  28   . 

Schoolhouse     . 

John  Newbre 

1764,  July     16   . 

Schoolhouse     . 

John  Horsford 

1764,  Sept.    27    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Titus  Harrison 

1764,  Dec.       3    . 

Schoolhouse 

Josiah  Horsford 

1765,  March  20    . 

Schoolhouse 

Ephraim  Seelye 

1765,  April    12    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

John  Smedley 

1765,  May     21    . 

Schoolhouse 

Richard  Stratton 

1765,  June      0    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Richard  Stratton 

1765,  July       2    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Samuel  Kellogg 

1765,  July     20    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Ephraim  Seelye 

1765,  Oct.      22    . 

Kichard  Stratton' 

3 

Samuel  Pay  en 

1766,  Jan.      14    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Nehemiah  Smedley 

1766,  March  17    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

• 

Benjamin  Simonds 

1766,  April     0    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

John  Newbre 

1766,  May     15    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Ebenezer  Cooley 

1766,  Oct.        9   . 

Schoolhouse     . 

John  Smedley 

1766,  Dec.       9   . 

Schoolhouse 

Richard  Stratton 

1767,  May       8   . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Richard  Stratton 

1767,  Oct.      13   . 

Schoolhouse 

John  Smedley 

1767,  Dec.     25   . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Richard  Stratton 

1768,  March  11    . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Richard  Stratton 

1768,  April    18   . 

Schoolhouse     . 

Stephen  Davis 

1768,  Nov.       7    . 

Meetinghouse  . 

Richard  Stratton 

1769,  April    10    . 

Meetinghouse  . 

Richard  Stratton 

1769,  Oct.        n 

Meetinghouse  . 

Jonathan  Meacham 

524 


ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


Dates. 

1769,  Oct. 

30  .  .  . 

1770,  Jan. 

1  . 

1770,  April 

13  . 

1770,  Nov. 

1  . 

1771,  April 

11  .  . 

1771,  May 

2  . 

1771,  May 

17  .  . 

1771,  June 

20  . 

1771,  Aug. 

22  . 

1771,  Nov. 

22  . 

1771,  Dec. 

17  . 

1772,  April 

6  . 

1772,  Oct. 

20  .  . 

1773,  June 

14  . 

1774,  Feb. 

7  . 

1792,  Dec. 

4  .  . 

1793,  March 

4  . 

1793,  Sept. 

2  .  . 

1794,  June 

16  .  . 

1795,  June 

1  . 

1800,  Dec. 

23  .  . 

1801,  March 

2  .  . 

1802,  April 

7  .  . 

Places.  Moderators. 

Meetinghouse Samuel  Clark 

Meetinghouse Samuel  Clark 

Meetinghouse Elkanah  Parris 

Meetinghouse JohnNewbre 

Meetinghouse Josiah  Horsford 

Meetinghouse Isaac  Stratton 

Meetinghouse James  Meacham 

Meetinghouse Samuel  Kellogg 

Meetinghouse Nathan  Whetar 

Meetinghouse James  Meacham 

Meetinghouse Elkanah  Parris 

Meetinghouse Samuel  Kellogg 

Meetinghouse Josiah  Horsford 

Meetinghouse Samuel  Clark 

Meetinghouse Jacob  Meack 

Meetinghouse David  Noble 

Meetinghouse David  Noble 

Meetinghouse David  Noble 

Meetinghouse Ephraim  Seelye 

Meetinghouse James  Meacham 

James  Meacham's    ....  Ephraim  Seelye 

James  Meacham's     ....  James  Meacham 

James  Meacham's     ....  James  Meacham 


The  meetings  and  mutterings  of  the  proprietors,  as  such,  ceased 
with  the  last  distributions  among  themselves  of  the  "  common  and 
undivided "  lands  of  the  town.  These  "  leavings  "  lands  were  of 
very  little  value,  and  excited  little  interest  on  the  part  of  anybody, 
and  many  of  them  were  bought  up  for  a  song,  or  less,  by  Ephraim 
Seelye,  and  afterwards  peddled  out  by  him,  as  woodland  or  mountain 
pasture,  to  the  neighboring  farmers.  This  was  a  legitimate  trans- 
action economically,  but  it  made  Seelye,  who  was  much  better  off 
than  most  of  his  neighbors,  very  unpopular  among  them,  who  called 
him  a  land-grabber  and  a  thief.  After  the  eighth  division,  —  which 
was  into  sixty-acre  lots,  —  each  owner  of  a  house  lot  was  authorized 
to  select  and  lay  out  for  himself,  from  the  still  undivided  land, 
thirty  acres,  in  one,  two,  or  three  pieces,  as  he  chose.  These  lots 
were  called  "  pitches.''  When  it  came  to  such  operations  as  these, 
nothing  could  make  the  proprietors,  as  such,  respectable,  or  their 
meetings  any  longer  significant.  They  passed  out  of  view,  —  that 
is,  out  of  existence.  The  war  and  its  results  constantly  brought  the 
^'  Town "  forward  as  the  unit  of  local  government,  subordinate  to 
the  county,  and  the  county  as  subordinate  to  the  state,  under  its 
new  constitution  of  1780,  and  the  state,  nine  years  later,  as  in  some 
sense  subordinate  to  the  United  States.     We  must  still  cling  to  the 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  525 

acts  of  the  proprietors,  however,  since  all  this  is  much  later  than 
the  epoch  we  have  reached  in  the  un foldings  of  Williamstown. 

It  will  be  noticed,  from  the  table  above,  that  every  public  meeting 
of  the  proprietors  from  November,  17G8,  till  December,  1800,  was 
holden  in  the  "  ^leetinghouse."  This  meeting-house  has  an  inter- 
esting history,  and  it  may  as  well  be  given  here  as  anywhere. 

About  eight  months  after  the  organization  of  the  "  Town,"  at  a 
lawfully  warned  proprietors'  meeting  at  the  schoolhouse,  March  17, 
1766,  which  was  organized  by  the  choice  of  Kichard  Stratton  as 
moderator,  it  was  next  voted  to  adjourn  the  meeting  to  the  house  of 
Lieutenant  Benjamin  Simonds.  Simonds  was  then  an  "innholder" 
on  house  lot  No.  3,  the  site  of  the  present  house  of  Mr.  Henry  Sabin. 
Why  the  meeting  adjourned  thither,  immediately  it  was  organized, 
can  only  be  conjectured;  one  guess  is  perhaps  as  good  as  another; 
only  a  bold  man  would  venture  on  two,  namely,  first,  the  schoolhouse 
was  a  public  place  compared  with  Lieutenant  Simonds's,  his  bar-room, 
and  the  rights  of  the  new  town  to  build  a  meeting-house  as  compared 
with  those  of  the  proprietors,  should  that  discussion  arise,  might  be 
heard  and  reported  by  those  unfriendly  to  the  scheme  of  the  latter ; 
second,  the  services  connected  with  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Welch 
were  then  only  about  a  year  old,  the  expenses  of  which  had  been 
paid  by  the  proprietors,  a  considerable  part  of  which  expenses  was 
for  stimulants,  and  as  the  present  question  was  about  a  meeting- 
house for  Mr.  Welch  to  preach  in,  it  may  have  been  thought  that 
a  more  convenient  proximity  to  the  Lieutenant's  bar  might  be  a  stim- 
ulus to  some  to  liberality  in  votes  for  the  meeting-house.  At  any 
rate  and  for  some  reason,  they  trudged  across  the  "  Square  '^  to  the 
tavern. 

Voted  to  Build  a  meeting  House  also  vot€d  that  said  meetiiiu  House  be  forty 
feet  in  Length  and  thirty  feet  in  IJreadth  Voted  to  finish  Said  House  in  two  year 
Voted  said  House  be  Studed  and  Bracesed  Voted  to  Plaster  as  far  as  is  Needed 
Voted  to  Lay  the  uper  floer  on  the  top  of  the  jice  and  Laith  and  I'larster  on  the 
under  Side  of  the  jice  Voted  and  chose  Nehemiah  Smedley  Samuel  Sanford 
Richard  Stratton  Conimetree  to  tinish  Said  meeting  House  Voted  to  Raise  three 
Pounds  on  each  Right  to  Build  Said  meeting  House  Voted  to  Leave  the  Rest  of 
Said  work  of  •<*  House  to  the  Discrestion  of  Said  Commetree. 

William  Horsford  was  the  proprietors'  clerk,  who  entered  all 
these  votes  in  his  own  hand  and  style.  He  was  clerk  for  a  great 
many  years.  He  was  one  of  the  very  earliest  settlers  in  West 
Hoosac.  His  house  lot  was  No.  44,  and  the  frame  of  his  house  was 
removed  therefrom  to  South  Street  to  make  room  for  General  Sloan's 
fine  house,  still  standing,  as  is  also  the  other,  moved  by  old  Mr. 


526  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Bardwell  for  a  long-time  home,  now  owned  and  occupied  by  James 
Fitzgerald.  William  Horsford  and  his  brother  Josiah,  both  from 
the  northwestern  corner  of  Connecticut,  both  married  Smedley 
sisters  from  Litchfield,  and  both  raised  large  families  here  on  adja- 
cent house  lots,  Josiah's  being  No.  42,  and  his  original  house  becom- 
ing the  nucleus  of  the  Whitman  house,  now  owned  and  occupied  by 
Dr.  L.  D.  Woodbridge.  William  Horsford's  eldest  child,  Esther, 
named  from  the  mother,  was  born  in  May,  1760,  and,  next  to 
Simonds's  children  (of  which  there  were  then  four),  was  the  first 
child  born  in  the  borough. 

The  committee  to  build  the  new  meeting-house  was  well  chosen, 
although  we  know  but  little  of  Samuel  Sanford,  except  that  he  came 
here  from  Milford,  Connecticut,  which  was  also  the  home  of  Pastor 
Welch.  Kichard  Stratton  was  then  relatively  an  old  man,  but  ener- 
getic for  one  of  his  age,  and  highly  honored  in  the  community.  He 
was  a  Baptist,  and  was  called  "Deacon,"  though  there  was  no  Baptist 
society  here  till  1792 ;  there  was  a  small  congregation  of  Baptists, 
however,  much  earlier,  to  which,  doubtless.  Deacon  Stratton  in  some 
sense  ministered.  His  capacity  to  serve  on  a  building  committee  is 
demonstrated  by  the  excellent  state  of  preservation  in  which  his  own 
house  is  standing  to  this  day,  —  the  first  two-story  house  built  in  the 
town.  It  is  an  odd  coincidence  that  Nehemiah  Smedley,  the  chair- 
man of  this  church-building  committee  of  1766,  built  also  for  himself 
the  second  two-story  house  erected  in  the  town,  and  that,  too,  is  still 
firm  and  strong  in  this  year  of  Grace,  1892. 

The  proprietors  prescribed  to  their  committee  the  dimensions  of 
the  building,  40  x  30,  that  there  should  be  studs  and  braces,  and 
that  it  should  be  lathed  and  plastered;  and  wisely  left  all  else  to 
their  committee,  in  whom  they  felt  full  confidence.  Their  finan- 
cial provision  for  the  house  would  seem  to  have  been  meagre : 
"three  pounds"  tax  to  "each  Kight";  there  were  sixty  taxable 
rights  ;  three  times  sixty  is  £180,  or  $600,  as  the  old  colonial  silver 
money  would  stand  to  the  soon-to-be-adopted  national  silver  stand- 
ard. But  then,  the  chief  materials  cost  but  little  at  that  time. 
Lumber  was  exceedingly  abundant.  The  sills  and  corner-posts 
were  undoubtedly  of  white  oak,  perhaps,  also,  the  rafters  and  studs 
and  braces,  and  certainly  all  the  pins  that  in  those  days  fastened 
the  timbers  together ;  and  white  oaks  were  so  plenty  just  north  of 
the  Hoosac  as  to  give  a  permanent  and  beautiful  designation  to 
that  entire  locality.  It  is  altogether  probable  that  the  white-oak 
timbers  were  sawed  out  at  John  Smedley's  mill,  which  was  two  miles 
due  north  of  the   "  Square "   on  which  the  meeting-house  was  to 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  •  527 

stand,  and  there  was  already  a  fair  road  passing  near  this  mill  to 
what  is  now  the  Vermont  line.  A  bridge  over  the  "  Greate  River  " 
to  connect  the  two  parts  of  this  north  road  had  been  ordered  in 
1765;  a  tax  of  fifteen  shillings  to  each  right  was  laid  at  the  same 
time,  in  order  to  build  it.  Benjamin  Simonds  and  Nehemiah  Smed- 
ley  and  Josiah  Horsford  were  appointed  the  same  day  a  committee 
"  to  See  the  work  is  Don,"  so  that  there  was  no  obstacle  in  fetching 
the  logs  to  Smedley's  mill  from  north  of  the  river,  even  if  it  were 
necessary  to  go  so  far  for  the  white  oaks. 

In  respect  to  pine  lumber  for  boards,  pews,  rived  clapboards, 
cleft  shingle,  and  finishing,  there  can  be  little  doubt  all  these  came 
from  Smedley's  mill ;  for  pine  lots  Nos.  7  and  8  adjoined  this  mill, 
and  became  his  own  property,  and  the  writer  has  himself  seen  im- 
mensely wide  pine  boards,  used  for  external  sheathing  on  Smedley's 
own  house,  which  stood  on  No.  7, — lumber  which,  it  is  certain, 
whether  in  log  or  deal,  was  never  many  rods  distant  from  John 
Smedley's  sawmill. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  meeting-house 
committee,  whose  chairman  was  Smedley's  own  brother,  were  not 
shut  up  to  his  mill.  There  was  wholesome  competition.  Titus 
Harrison  had  come  up  here  from  Litchfield,  in  or  near  1761,  bring- 
ing with  him  a  large  family  and  much  personal  enterprise.  Titus 
was  a  son  of  Thomas^,  who  was  the  son  of  Thomas^,  who  was  a  son 
of  Thomas^,  the  first  settler  of  Branford,  Connecticut.  He  and  his 
children  and  grandchildren  played  a  strong  role  in  this  valley, 
especially  along  the  Green  River,  for  a  century.  Titus  is  called, 
in  the  early  deeds  here,  "husbandman,"  but  later  on  "miller," 
because  his  first  purchase  seems  to  have  been  the  middle  water- 
privilege  of  the  three  on  Green  River,  all  coming  in  close  succession 
in  what  would  have  been  the  southeast  corner  of  the  original  village 
plat,  if  that  had  been  carried  out  symmetrically.  The  fall  of  water 
at  this  privilege  was  so  abrupt,  and  its  volume  then  so  ample,  tliat  it 
was  only  necessary  to  cut  a  conduit  down  the  stream  on  its  left 
bank  for  a  few  rods,  to  obtain  head  enough  without  any  dam  to  run 
the  sawmill  and  the  grist-mill  that  Harrison  soon  had  in  operation 
upon  a  site  that  has  never  lacked  a  mill  from  that  day  to  this. 
First  the  Harrisons,  afterwards  and  now  the  Towns,  have  been  the 
owners.  Gradually,  Titus  Harrison  increased  his  purchases  of 
lands  up  the  Green  River  from  his  mills  until  he  became  a  large 
landholder.  In  1765,  he  owned  house  lot  39.  But  as  old  age  crept 
on,  he  practically  gave  away  to  his  sons  all  of  his  real  estate :  first, 
to  Noah,  in  December,  1785,  thirty  acres  bounded  on  the  west  by 


528  ORIGINS   IN    WILLI AMSTOWN.      . 

Green  Eiver  road,  on  the  south  by  land  of  Eev.  Seth  Swift,  on  the 
east  by  Ebenezer  Stratton's  land,  and  on  the  north  by  land  of  Tim- 
othy Northam;  and  second,  he  deeded  to  his  sons  Almond  and 
Truman  all  his  other  lands  on  Green  Eiver,  together  with  the 
grist-mill,  eighty-two  acres  in  all,  in  consideration  of  their  joint 
bond  for  the  fulfilling  of  certain  purposes  mentioned  in  the  deed, 
which  was  signed  as  a  witness  by  Salmon  Harrison,  his  fourth  and 
only  other  son.     This  was  in  February,  1788. 

To  return  to  our  tiny  meeting-house  on  the  Square.  The  ridge-pole 
ran  north  and  south  the  longer  way  of  the  building,  which  was  forty 
feet.  The  roof  was  plain,  without  belfry,  or  tower,  or  other  pro- 
tuberance whatever.  The  only  door  was  in  the  centre  of  the  east 
side ;  the  only  aisle  led  straight  from  the  door  to  the  pulpit,  which 
filled  the  centre  of  the  west  side  within;  the  pews  rose  up  at  a 
slight  angle  on  both  sides  the  aisle  to  the  north  and  south  ends, 
which  were  thirty  feet  each ;  there  were  two  galleries  on  these  ends, 
reached  by  stairways  on  either  side  of  the  pulpit ;  the  pulpit  was  a 
high  one,  as  was  universal  in  those  days,  and  the  preacher  preached 
at  right  angles  to  the  people;  that  is  to  say,  the  audience  on  the 
south  side  of  the  aisle  below  and  above  fronted  exactly  the  audience 
on  the  north  side  below  and  above ;  and  it  is  no  more  than  charity 
allows  us  moderns  to  infer,  that  the  young  people  certainly  (perhaps 
the  old  ones  too)  watched  each  other  across  the  chasm  more  than 
they  watched  the  minister.  The  windows  were  few,  and  there  was 
no  chimney  at  all,  consequently  the  room  was  relatively  dark  and 
cold ;  the  site  was  high,  in  the  middle  of  the  Main  Street  and  at  the 
junction  of  that  with  the  two  cross  streets,  exposed  to  all  winds  in 
all  weathers,  but  somewhat  protected,  after  all,  in  the  fact  that  there 
was  no  door  or  other  opening  on  the  west  side,  or  either  end. 

As  a  place  of  worship,  nevertheless,  it  was  a  large  improvement 
over  the  log  schoolhouse,  and  also  as  a  legal  place  of  meeting  for  the 
proprietors  ;  and  the  Rev.  Whitman  Welch,  after  having  preached  in 
the  schoolhouse  for  more  than  three  years,  preached  in  it  with  ani- 
mation and  propriety  for  more  than  seven  years,  until  the  autumn 
of  1775 ;  and  the  proprietors  did  not  await  the  conclusion  of  the 
Revolution  to  settle  a  new  minister,  for  the  Rev.  Seth  Swift,  a 
graduate  of  Yale  twelve  years  after  Mr.  Welch,  was  ordained  in 
May,  1779,  and  preached  with  power  and  success  in  the  little  build- 
ing, which  must  have  been  sorely  crowded  at  times,  until  1797,  when 
a  new  church  building  was  erected  in  its  room. 

Before  that  time  the  College  had  been  founded,  and  there  was  no 
place  for  the  students  to  worship  on  Sundays  except  with  the  towns- 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  529 

people,  and  that  was  already  too  strait  for  the  latter,  and  so  Presi- 
dent Fitch  interested  himself  in  the  project  for  a  new  church  edifice, 
and  wrote  out  and  circulated  personally  a  subscription-paper  to  that 
end.  This  paper  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  writer,  and  will  be 
referred  to  more  at  length  on  a  later  page.  The  scheme  was  suc- 
cessful. The  money  was  raised  largely  under  College  influence  and 
necessities.  But  the  old  building  occupied  the  most  conspicuous 
and  central  site  in  the  village,  and  must  accordingly  be  removed  to 
make  space  for  the  new  and  larger  edifice.  In  'fact,  it  was  turned 
half-way  round,  and  hauled  back  a  number  of  rods  due  west,  so  that 
the  single  door  was  now  to  the  south,  and  what  had  been  the  north 
end  was  now  the  east  end.  Nothing  was  altered  within,  —  the  pul- 
pit still  towered,  and  the  opposite  galleries  glared  at  each  other. 
Gradually  it  became  a  scene  of  desolation.  The  regular  meetings 
of  the  proprietors  were  held  in  it  till  1795,  and  afterwards  (and 
perhaps  occasionally  before)  the  regular  town-meetings  until  1828. 

Schools  were  often  held  within  it  in  summer  until  well  into  the 
present  century;  and  it  is  from  the  living  lips  of  one  of  these 
scholars,  —  an  eye  and  ear  witness,  —  that  many  points  of  this 
description  have  been  carefully  derived.  William  Townsend,  a 
graduate  of  Yale  in  1773,  —  always  called  here  "  Master  Townsend," 
perhaps  because  he  took  his  Master's  degree  there  in  1778,  —  was  one 
of  those  who  taught  in  the  old  meeting-house.  He  taught  also  at  the 
South  Part  and  elsewhere.  He  had  married  a  sister  of  the  Skinners, 
two  very  prominent  citizens  here  for  many  years,  and  was  befriended 
by  them  in  later  life  when  he  had  become  intemperate,  and  but  for 
them  homeless..  After  General  Skinner's  death  in  1809,  Deacon 
Benjamin  Skinner  virtually  provided  for  him  till  his  death  in  1822. 
Master  Townsend's  learning  was  ample,  and  his  manners  very  cour- 
teous to  everybody  out  of  school;  but  he  had  made  a  substantial 
failure  in  life,  and  knew  it,  and  became  captious  and  cross  to  his 
scholars,  who  were  crude  and  ignorant  enough.  In  the  dark  and 
dismal  den,  to  which  the  old  meeting-house  had  degenerated,  it 
would  have  been  difficult  for  anybody  to  keep  up  uniform  patience 
and  courtesy.  As  a  matter  of  conspicuous  favor  to  the  largest  boys, 
he  would  sometimes  allow  them  to  study  in  the  pulpit,  but  the  con- 
cession did  not  always  secure  attention  to  study  on  their  part. 
William  Bridges  and  Albert  Smith  were  boys  once  honored  in  that 
manner.  "  None  of  your  pranks  up  there,  William  and  Bill !  I  will 
throw  you  over !  "  Occasionally  he  would  permit,  if  they  desired  it, 
some  of  the  girls  also  to  study  in  one  of  the  galleries ;  but  usually  they 
were  afraid  to  go  up  there  :  the  wlinlo  nl^cp  \v;i<  neopled  with  spooks. 


530  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

When  my  esteemed  informant,  who,  as  a  school-girl,  Mary  Tall- 
madge,  shared  in  the  superstitions  of  the  time  and  place,  became 
Mrs.  Jeremiah  Hosford,  a  name  she  still  retains,  she  kept  house  and 
boarders  in  a  dwelling  very  near  the  old  church,  a  dwelling  that  was 
begun  by  Douglas  Sloan,  and  has  now  been  occupied,  for  more  than  a 
whole  generation,  by  the  Noyes  family.  One  day  in  1828,  Mrs.  Hos- 
ford expressed,  in  the  presence  of  some  of  her  student-boarders, 
one  of  whom  was  Foster  Thayer  of  that  class,  her  disgust  at  the 
proximity  of  the  old  shell,  and  her  desire  that  some  one  would 
burn  it  down.  In  a  few  hours  it  lay  in  ashes.  General  opinion 
fastened  upon  Thayer  as  the  torch-bearer ;  but  as  nobody  regretted 
the  conflagration  of  what  had  become  a  public  nuisance,  he  was 
never  seriously  questioned  or  disturbed.  He  was  from  North  Caro- 
lina, became  a  clergyman,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  teacher  at  the 
South.  "Bad  habits  brought  him  to  a  dishonorable  death,"  says 
Calvin  Durfee,  in  his  "Annals  of  Williams  College." 

The  proprietors  continued  to  experience  difficulty  in  laying  out 
their  own  land  in  successive  divisions.  The  proximate  reason  for 
most  of  this  difficulty  was,  that  they  felt  obliged  to  employ  an 
inferior  surveyor,  because  they  could  get  him  cheap,  who  made  gross 
mistakes  in  his  plotting,  which  gave  rise  to  constant  irritation  and 
interference  and  controversy.  Jedediah  Hubbel  was  a  common 
farmer  of  Lanesboro,  an  excellent  man,  but  a  very  indifferent  sur- 
veyor, who  possessed,  nevertheless,  such  a  good  conscience  in  his 
old  age  that  he  lived  well  into  his  100th  year,  as  one  may  read  on 
his  headstone  in  the  south  cemetery  of  that  town. 

Anno  Domini 
1720 

WAS   BORN   JeDIDIAH    HuBBEL 

DIED  Aug.  14,  1819. 

In  laying  out  the  second  division  of  fifty-acre  lots,  sixty-three  in 
all,  most  of  which  fell  at  the  South  Part,  so  many  and  so  great  errors 
were  committed  by  the  surveyor  and  his  helpers,  that  a  resurvey 
and  attempted  corrections  were  had,  amid  evidences  of  much  dissat- 
isfaction ;  but  ultimately,  through  reiterated  votes  of  the  proprietors, 
Hubbel's  original  lines  were  maintained  just  so  far  as  they  did  not 
clash  with  each  other.  By  sending  to  Northampton,  or  other  Con- 
necticut Eiver  town,  or  to  what  is  now  Belchertown,  where  Captain 
Nathaniel  Dwight  lived,  skilled  surveyors  could  be  had,  and  had 
been  had,  but  that  would  take  much  more  money,  and  the  only  way 
to  raise  it  was  by  a  tax  levied  upon  each  right ;  and  when  the  tax 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  531 

came  to  be  collectible,  it  was  found  that  many  of  the  proprietors 
were  non-residents,  and  their  whereabouts  unknown;  and  even 
when  these  delinquent  rights,  or  portions  of  them,  were  exposed 
for  sale  at  public  vendue  to  meet  these  taxes,  they  fetched  only  a 
paltry  sum,  —  such  a  drug,  in  the  commercial  sense,  were  lands  here 
at  that  time.  For  example,  at  a  public  auction,  Nov.  30,  17G3, 
William  Horsford  bought  one-quarter  of  the  right,  that  is,  the  undi- 
vided land  of  house  lot  No.  9,  for  thirteen  shillings;  and  Isaac 
Searle  bought  another  quarter  of  the  same,  at  the  same  time,  for 
fifteen  shillings. 

At  their  meeting,  March  26,  17G5,  the  proprietors  voted  (1)  '•  To 
Lay  out  another  Division  of  Land  to  Eaich  Right  of  one  Hundred 
acres;  (2)  Chose  Richard  Stratton,  Jonathan  Meaicham,  Josiah 
Horsford,  Samuel  Kellogg,  Titus  Harrison,  Ephraim  Seelye,  and 
Asa  Johnson,  Commetree  men  to  Lott  out  Said  Division ;  (3)  That 
there  be  Nine  Shillings  of  money  Raised  on  Eaich  Proprietors 
Right  to  Pay  for  Laying  out  •'^  Land."  At  a  later  meeting  it  was 
voted,  (1)  "  That  the  Publick  Rights  Shall  be  Drawn  out  by  a  Com- 
mon Lottery  "  ;  and  (2)  "That  the  Proprietors  Will  be  Gin  to  chuse 
for  their  Hundred  acre  Lots  the  Seventh  Day  of  June  A  D  1765." 

Twenty-two  of  these  100-acre  lots  were  located  on  Northwest 
Hill,  Birch  Hill,  and  Bee  Hill,  hills  secondary  to  the  Taconics,  on 
pretty  good  upland,  out  of  which  came  at  length  tolerable  farms, 
though  many  of  them  are  no  longer  ploughed  and  sowed,  but  are 
utilized  as  pasture  and  woodlands ;  beginning  with  No  1  on  the 
North  Adams  lx)undary  line  near  Paul's,  the  public  road  there 
towards  Williamstown  running  through  Nos.  1  and  2  and  just  graz- 
ing the  upper  corner  of  3,  twenty-two  more  of  these  100-acre  lots 
skirt  round  the  base  of  Prospect,  turn  up  into  the  Hopper  to  Bacon's 
and  beyond,  extending  also  south  in  a  continuous  line  along  the 
Potter  road  to  the  New  Ashford  line ;  and  the  remaining  nineteen 
lots  of  this  fifth  division  were  placed  pretty  close  together  in  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  town,  nearly  all  of  them  on  the  Hancock 
Brook  and  its  little  tributaries.  Numbers  45,  46,  47,  and  51  of  this 
division  touch  upon  the  Vermont  line ;  No.  1  only,  as  has  just  been 
said,  is  coincident  in  its  east  line  with  the  line  of  North  Adams ; 
Nos.  25,  36,  and  37  rest  on  the  southern  line  of  the  town;  and 
Nos.  32,  33,  34,  and  35  adjoin  upon  the  original  west  line  of  the 
town,  namely,  the  east  line  of  the  Gore. 

These  100-acre  lots  proved  attractive  to  a  somewhat  different  class 
of  settlers  from  those  who  had  purchased  the  original  house  lots, 
those,  namely,  who  had  no  objections  to  a  sort  of  village  life,  and 


532  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

who  looked  to  the  after-drafts  of  their  house  lots  to  make  up  to 
themselves  either  in  situ  or  by  exchange,  the  requisites  of  an  ade- 
quate farm.  But  100  acres  in  one  piece  was  enough  in  itself  for  an 
average  farm.  The  village  holder,  who  wanted  an  outlot  or  two, 
had,  doubtless,  in  most  cases,  already  supplied  himself  from  the 
three  previous  divisions,  —  two  of  fifty-acre  lots  and  one  of  meadow 
lots  along  the  chief  streams.  Besides  this,  the  new  100-acre  lots  of 
1765  were  mostly  quite  remote  from  the  Square,  and,  moreover,  had 
not  in  general  been  surveyed  out  from  the  more  eligible  patches  of 
land.  Clay  predominated  more  than  was  meet  (or  meat)  in  most 
of  the  lots  near  the  southern  line  of  the  town.  For  example, 
No.  25,  which  has  always  constituted  the  last  farm  in  Williamstown 
on  the  Ashford  road,  and  was  very  early  cleared  up  by  Andrew 
Young,  from  Western,  now  Warren ;  and  Nos.  31-35  on  the  Hancock 
road,  which  have  always  constituted  the  so-called  "  Young  neighbor- 
hood," and  Nos.  29  and  30,  on  which  the  Corbens  originally  settled, 
and  some  of  the  fifty-acre  lots  opposite  them,  became  noted  as 
clay  farms. 

A  scene  once  in  town  meeting  will  illustrate  the  reputation  of 
some  of  these  lands.  The  late  Dudley  White,  who  owned  a  farm 
in  the  Corben  district,  had  occasion  to  appeal  to  the  town  for  some 
legal  alteration  of  a  highway  in  his  neighborhood.  This  was  wittily 
and  successfully  opposed  by  a  neighbor  of  his  in  South  Williams- 
town,  Thomas  Smith,  a  blacksmith,  on  the  ground  of  the  difficulty 
of  making  a  road  on  such  clay,  alleging  that,  "  if  anybody  should 
stand  on  any  one  corner  of  Dudley  White's  farm  in  the  springtime 
and  teeter,  he  could  shake  the  whole  farmP  The  Youngs,  neverthe- 
less, Moses  and  Andrew  and  William,  all  from  Western,  and  the 
Corbens,  Asa  and  Amasa  and  Joseph,  from  New  Haven,  Connecticut, 
and  other  early  settlers  on  these  100-acre  lots  in  the  southwest, 
obtained  a  good  living  for  themselves  from  off  these  lands,  and 
transmitted  to  their  heirs,  fair  farms  and  good  houses. 

Among  the  five  shiploads  of  Scotch-Irish  immigrants  that  landed 
at  Boston  in  August,  1718,  there  were  a  very  few  Celtic-Irish 
families  that  had  become  attached  to,  and  connected  with,  the 
Scotch  people  who  had  settled  in  Ulster  a  long  time  before.  About 
one-third  of  those  who  thus  entered  New  England  at  the  invitation 
of  Governor  Shute,  of  Massachusetts,  permanently  tarried  in  Boston 
and  Andover ;  another  third  proceeded  to  Worcester  that  autumn, 
and  made  a  permanent  settlement  there  ;  while  the  rest,  wishing  to 
look  about  more  before  they  settled  down,  spent  the  winter  and 
spring  on  the  coast  of  Maine,  and  then  sailed  up  the  Merrimack 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  533 

Kiver  and  made  their  settlement  in  and  around  Londonderry,  New- 
Ham  pshire.  Among  those  proceeding  very  shortly  after  their 
arrival,  from  Boston  to  Worcester,  was  a  remarkable  Irish  family 
by  the  name  of  Young.  The  patriarch  of  this  family  was  John 
Young,  who  is  said  to  have  been  over  ninety  years  old  at  the  time 
of  the  immigration.  He  died,  at  any  rate,  June  30,  1730,  and  was 
buried  on  Worcester  Common.  His  son  David,  who  was  thirty-six 
at  the  time  of  the  coming-in,  died  in  Worcester,  Dec.  20,  1776,  and 
was  buried  by  the  side  of  his  father.  David's  son  William  was  a 
stone-cutter,  and  put  up  the  double  stone  on  the  common  in  memory 
of  his  father  and  grandfather,  holding  the  following  inscriptions  :  ^ — 

Here  lies  interred  the  remains  of  Here  lies  interred  the  remains  of 
John  Young,  who  was  bom  David  Young,  who  was  bom  in 

in  the  Isle  of  Bert,  near  London-  the  parish  of  Tahbeyn,  County  of 

derry,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland.  Donegal  and  Kingdom  of  Ireland. 
He  departed  tliis  life,  June  He  departed  this  life,  December 

30,  1730,  aged  107  years.  26,  aged  94  years. 

The  aged  son  and  the  more  aged  father 

Beneath  these  stones.    Their  mould'ring  bones 

Here  rest  together. 

Besides  William,  the  stone-cutter  and  rhymester,  David  Young 
had  sons  David,  John,  and  Moses,  all  born  in  the  old  country ;  and 
Moses  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Williamstown  Youngs.  His  wife's 
name  was  Rebeckah,  and  they  were  married  in  1736.  They  mi- 
grated from  Worcester,  and  made  a  home  near  the  boundary  line 
between  Brimfield  and  Western,  now  Warren.  He  became  a  con- 
stable in  Brimfield,  and  among  his  papers  are  receipts  from  Harri- 
son Gray,  Treasurer  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts,  for  moneys 
thus  paid  in  by  him  in  1764  and  1765.  He  never  came  to  Williams- 
town,  but  three  of  his  sons  and  two  of  his  daughters  had  made  per- 
manent homes  here  before  the  father's  death,  which  fell  Sept.  25, 
1781.  His  son  Moses,  born  April  25,  1747,  came  first  and  "  went  to 
chopping"  on  100-acre  lot  34,  which  is  still  in  the  hands  of  his 
descendants.  Before  he  had  made  much  of  a  clearing,  he  went 
home  to  Western,  and  brought  back  with  him,  his  younger  brother 
Andrew,  who  bought  the  100-acre  lot  25,  on  the  Ashford  road. 
Andrew  had  no  children,  but  was  otherwise  a  prosperous  man,  and 
built  the  two-story  house  on  that  farm  which  was  burned  down 
about  1880.  Not  long  after  Andrew  came  William,  the  third 
brother,  two  years  younger  than  Andrew,  and  seven  years  younger 

1  Lincoln's  Worcester,  p.  50. 


534  ORIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

than  Moses.  He  settled  in  what  is  now  the  hamlet  of  South  Wil- 
liamstown,  in  a  house  that  is  still  standing  substantially  as  he  occu- 
pied it,  and  as  it  had  been  built  by  Captain  Samuel  Clark,  and  came 
to  play  a  conspicuous  part  in  town  affairs,  and  even  in  the  politics 
of  Massachusetts,  as  we  shall  see  at  length  upon  a  later  page.  He 
was  in  the  Legislature  from  William stown,  in  1792,  1793,  1795,  and 
in  1800-1808  inclusive.  He  was  a  Jeffersonian  democrat,  as  have 
been  most  of  the  Youngs  in  Williamstown. 

This  William  Young  married  first  a  daughter  of  Zebediah  Sabin, 
who  had  established  himself  early  on  100-acre  lot  41,  on  which  the 
west  end  of  the  Sloan  road  abuts  directly,  and  which  continued  the 


WILLIAM    YOUNG'S    HOUSE. 

home  lot  of  the  Sabin  family  for  much  more  than  a  century.  This 
Mrs.  Young  died  without  children;  when  the  husband  married  Cur- 
rence  Meack,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Jacob  Meack,  a  German  physician, 
the  first  of  that  profession  to  settle  in  Williamstown.  His  house 
is  still  standing  much  altered  and  enlarged  on  house  lot  No.  12,  in 
the  upper  cemetery,  just  as  one  crosses  the  bridge  over  Hemlock 
Brook  in  the  Main  Street  on  the  right  hand  going  west.  On  account 
of  his  dwelling  on  its  banks  in  the  very  early  time,  the  brook  itself 
was  often  designated  the  "Doctor  Brook."  Mrs.  Currence  Young 
had  several  children,  and  survived  her  husband  many  years.  Her 
daughter,  Zerviah,  married  Lorin  Smith  in  1833,  and  they  spent 
their  married  life  in  the  Young  house,  which  is  now  owned  and 


WILLIAMSTOWN. 


535 


WILLIAM    YOUNG. 


occupied  by  their  son  and  heir,  George  Smith.  The  house  has  still 
a  chamber  in  which  the  Freemasons  are  said  to  have  met  when 
there  was  a  lodge  at  the  South  Part.  Another  daughter,  Betsy 
Young,  married  Harry  Johnson,  who  has  descendants  in  Louisville, 
Kentucky.  The  only  son  of 
"  Esq.  AVilliam  Young  "  went  by 
the  name  of  "  Wicked  Bill,"  and 
died  in  Canada.  William  Young 
went  to  Cambridge  with  the 
minute-men  of  Captain  Samuel 
Sloan's  company  in  1775,  and 
his  powder-horn  (still  extant) 
bears  date  "  ye  4th  of  May,  1775, 
Charleston."  He  carried  the 
same  powder-horn  into  the  bat- 
tle of  Bennington,  1777.  George 
Smith,  his  grandson,  has  a  sil- 
houette picture  of  him,  hereby 
displayed  in  a  woodcut,  and 
valuable  documents  belonging 
to  him.  Also  a  silver  shoe- 
buckle,  and  other  relics. 

When  the  first  Moses  Young  died  in  Brimfield,  Sept.  25,  1781,  his 
three  sons  and  two  daughters  in  Williamstown,  Mrs.  Stephen  Davis 
and  Mrs.  Robert  Harrington,  were  not  pleased  with  the  disposition 
of  his  property  made  by  will  shortly  before  he  died,  and  they  sent 
the  following  letter  from  here  there,  which  is  interesting  on  many 
grounds.  The  original  lies  now  before  the  writer,  and  is  scrupu- 
lously transcribed. 

"Williamstown  March  C  1782 
friends  and  Brothers  after  servis  and  all  due  Regards  we  understand  there  is 
a  will  signed  By  father-young  and  commited  to  your  Care  which  for  sume 
important  Reasons  we  object  against  first  Becaus  he  was  Not  of  A  sound 
memory  secondly  Becaus  Persons  Born  free  are  Not  subject  to  Bondage  By  the 
will  of  any  man  3<*  Becaus  the  persons  are  Coled  Noncompus  mentus  that  have 
been  the  instruments  of  Earning  the  Estate  and  for  Ever  ought  to  have  the 
Benefit  of  it  4''^  Becaus  we  suppose  it  Not  to  Be  the  will  of  the  Deceast  as  he 
inquired  what  thay  was  going  to  do  when  they  asked  him  to  sign  the  will  and 
Persons  then  Present  say  that  he  was  not  himself  —  we  Desire  you  to  Omit  the 
Execution  of  the  will  till  you  favour  us  with  a  Coppy  —  we  Remain  your  Real 
friends  Stephen  Davis 

Robert  Harrington 
Moses  Young 
Andrew  Young 
William  Young 


536  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

This  letter  was  written  and  copied  by  Stephen  Davis,  the  husband 
of  Kebeckah  Young,  an  elder  sister  of  the  three  brothers  here.  He 
was  an  able  and  influential  man.  He  had  gone  to  Lake  George 
from  Western  in  Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight's  company,  —  enlisted 
on  the  news  reaching  there  of  the  battle  of  Lake  George,  in  August, 
while  Dwight's  company  passed  Fort  Massachusetts  and  down  the 
Hoosac,  in  September,  1755.  In  the  Captain's  manuscript  papers 
are  receipts  given  by  Davis,  and  others,  who  were  afterwards  set- 
tlers in  Williamstown,  for  pay  and  arms.  Davis's  home  lot  was  No. 
11  of  the  first-division  fifty-acre  lots,  which  he  bought  of  Eli  Cowles, 
in  October,  1763,  for  £30.  He  subsequently  bought  two  other  lots 
in  close  proximity  to  this,  and  thus  aggregated  a  farm  which  has 
always  been  regarded  as  among  the  best  in  Williamstown.  It  now 
goes  under  the  designation  of  "Farm  B,"  and  is  owned  by  John 
B.  Gale  (Williams  College,  1842),  whose  "Farm  A"  is  next  north 
of  it,  and  separates  it  from  the  "Meacham  Farm,"  —  all  three  on 
Green  Eiver,  to  the  west,  and,  in  the  reverse  order,  next  and  south 
to  the  house  lots.  Stephen  Davis  rose  in  the  militia  to  be  Captain, 
did  excellent  service  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Convention  of  1779-80,  called  to  frame  the 
state  Constitution.  Elisha  Baker  was  the  other  member  from 
Williamstown.  Jonathan  Smith  was  their  colleague  from  Lanes- 
boro,  and  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  the  councils  and  debates 
there. 

Moses  Young,  the  first  of  the  name  to  settle  here,  and  Susannah, 
his  wife,  brought  up  a  very  large  family  of  children,  all  born  between 
1774  and  the  end  of  the  century.  He  never  left  his  original  100- 
acre  lot  as  his  own  homestead,  but  settled  his  several  sons  on 
adjacent  100-acre  lots,  as  they  came  to  maturity,  he  holding  the 
title  to  all  the  lands.  He  built  for  his  own  immediate  family  a 
large  and  strong  two-story  house,  which  is  still  owned  and  occupied 
by  his  grandson,  Erastus  Young,  who  pursues  a  policy  with  his  sons, 
as  to  his  own  broad  lands,  similar  to  that  of  his  grandfather; 
namely,  giving  them  nominal  ownership  only  to  their  farms  during 
his  life.  This  Moses  Young  died  in  1819.  Reuben,  his  firstborn,  — 
which  means  in  Hebrew  "  See  !  a  son  !  "  —  became  a  prominent  citi- 
zen at  the  South  Part,  and  was  commonly  designated  "Squire 
Young."  He  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in  1833.  He  lived 
and  died  near  the  east  end  of  the  Sloan  road,  north  side,  where  the 
late  Dr.  Young  lived.  He  once  brought  from  Boston,  in  his  satchel, 
some  slips  of  willow,  and  a  tree  from  one  of  these  is  still  standing 
west  of  the  house,  and  the  little  brook  that  crosses  the  road  near  by 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  537 

is  often  called  ''Willow  Brook."  Reuben  Young  married  Sally 
Meack,  a  younger  sister  of  Currence,  his  Uncle  William's  second 
wife.     They  had  no  children. 

Reuben  Young's  brother.  Moses,  five  years  younger,  lived  and  died 
on  lOO-acre  lot  31,  the  lot  next  north  of  his  father's  old  homestead, 
on  the  farm  and  in  the  house  long  afterwards  owned  by  Augustus 
Hand,  and  carried  on  for  him  by  a  competent  Irishman  named 
Navin.     This  Moses,  born  in  1779,  married  on  Stone  Hill  Lucy 


REUBEN    YOUNG. 


Brewster,  a  daughter  of  Mrs.  Mary  Brewster,  the  second  wife  of 
"White"  David  Johnson,  who  came  here  from  Middletown,  Con- 
necticut, about  1763,  and  began  the  Bulkley  farm  there,  and  built 
the  house  on  it  torn  down  in  1828  to  make  room  for  the  present 
brick  house  occupied  by  the  Bulkleys  ever  since.  Mr.  Johnson's 
first  wife  was  Phebe  Cole,  from  Canaan,  Connecticut,  and  their  mar- 
riage was  the  first  one  celebrated  here  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Welch. 
Moses  Young  and  Lucy  Brewster  were  the  parents  of  Horace  H. 
Young,  a  distinguished  dentist  in  Troy,  New  York ;  and  of  Betsey 
Ann  YnuTur    ^ho  became  the  wife  of  Dudley  W^hite,  and  later  of 


538  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Titus  Mitchell,  of  Ballston,  New  York ;  and  of  Eliza  A.  Young,  who 
was  first  a  Mrs.  Bardwell,  and  afterwards  Mrs.  Bristol,  of  Utica. 
Mrs.  Bristol's  body  was  brought  to  South  William stown  for  burial 
Nov.  11,  1892,  accompanied  by  her  only  son,  Henry  Bristol,  of 
Chicago. 

The  third  son  of  Moses  and  Susannah  Young,  born  on  the  old 
homestead  in  1781,  was  John,  who  married  Clarissa  Crofoot,  born 
Nov.  21,  1786,  and  the  two  passed  a  very  long  life  together  on  land 
inherited  from  Father  Young,  and  still  owned  and  cultivated  by  their 
children.  They  were  married  in  December,  1807.  Their  son,  Sey- 
mour, has  carried  on  the  farm  for  nearly  fifty  years  ;  and  another 
son.  Orange  E,.,  has  long  been  a  dentist  in  Troy,  associated  in  business 
there  with  his  cousin.  The  Crofoot  family  was  more  highly  gifted 
intellectually  than  the  Young  family ;  both  families  probably  came 
together  from  Ulster  to  Boston  in  1718,  in  the  very  considerable 
migration  of  Scotch-Irish  invited  and  facilitated  by  Governor  Shute  ; 
the  Crofoots,  or  Crawfords,  however,  were  of  the  people  who  had 
previously  migrated  from  Scotland  to  Ireland,  while  the  Youngs 
were  native  Irish ;  the  letter  of  the  first  Williamstown  Youngs  to 
their  immediate  kindred  in  Brimfield,  quoted  but  a  few  pages  back, 
resented  the  imputation  put  upon  some  of  them  by  their  own 
brethren,  that  they  were  ^^non  compos  mentus^' ;  the  records  of 
Worcester,  whither  about  a  third  of  these  immigrants  passed  in 
the  autumn  of  1718,  make  prominent  among  them  both  John  and 
Eobert  Crawford ;  and  there  is  probability,  but  no  known  proof,  that 
the  Crofoots  of  Williamstown  were  the  progeny  of  these  Crawfords 
working  their  way  tvestward  through  the  province  gradually,  with 
many  other  families  of  the  same  race,  like  the  Blairs  and  the  Duncans. 

There  were  something  like  fifteen  of  the  100-acre  lots  located  in  a 
body  towards  the  southeast  corner  of  the  town,  and  accommodated 
by  what  we  now  call  the  "  Hopper  road "  and  "  Potter  road  "  and 
''  Burchard  road.''  Joseph  Crofoot,  then  of  Weathersfield,  Connecti- 
cut, bought  in  October,  1768,  of  Ichabod  Southwick,  of  Williams- 
town, for  £60, 100-acre  lot  No.  12  on  the  Hopper  road.  Isaac  Strat- 
ton  and  Samuel  Clark,  then  the  two  principal  men  in  South  Wil- 
liamstown, sign  the  deed  as  witnesses.  Crofoot's  wife  was  Elizabeth 
Clark ;  and  it  is  possible  that  she  was  related  to  Samuel  Clark,  who 
came  here  from  Washington,  Connecticut,  in  1765.  This  farm,  called 
for  a  century  the  "  Crofoot  farm,"  has  been  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
the  farm  of  John  Lamb,  who,  in  conjunction  with  his  excellent  wife, 
kept  the  town's  poor  upon  it  for  many  years,  until  the  town  bought 
a  small  farm  for  that  purpose  at  "Taylor's  Crotch"  in  1891. 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  539 

Crofoot's  family,  which  was  large,  lived  for  nearly  twenty  years  in 
a  log-house  which  stood  a  little  back,  that  is,  west,  of  the  brick 
house  which  he  proceeded  to  build  in  1785,  when  he  was  sixty  years 
old.  He  was  a  mason  by  trade,  and  he  himself  burnt  the  lime,  and 
made  the  brick,  and  built  the  house.  Limestone  and  clay  lie  con- 
tiguous upon  a  number  of  single  farms  in  Williamstown.  His 
granddaughter,  Mrs.  Anna  Sherman,  is  competent  authority  for  the 
statement,  that  on  the  very  day  he  was  sixty  (June,  1785)  he  struck 
3000  bricks  with  his  own  hand ;  and  she  remembered,  in  1877,  to 
have  seen  in  her  girlhood  brick-molds,  and  trowels  also  of  many 
shapes,  in  the  garret  of  the  brick  house.  He  lived  to  occupy  and  enjoy 
his  new  house  for  nearly  thirty  years.  In  1811,  a  cheese-press  weight 
fell  on  his  foot,  as  he  was  busy  in  making  the  cheese,  and  crushed 
the  big  toe.  Dr.  Porter  was  sent  for,  who  was  then  at  the  height  of 
his  reputation  as  a  country  surgeon,  and  said  the  toe  must  be  ampu- 
tated. "  Strike  home  when  you  do  strike ! "  cried  the  old  man,  as 
he  set  his  foot  upon  a  block,  and  his  son  Joseph  held  him  up,  while 
the  doctor  with  chisel  and  mallet  excised  the  toe.  He  could  not  walk 
well  after  that,  but  would  mount  his  horse  on  occasion  and  ride  off 
like  a  boy.  He  had  just  entered  his  eighty-ninth  year,  when,  being 
alone,  he  went,  as  he  said,  "  to  toggle  the  fire,"  and  somehow  fell 
upon  it  and  was  badly  burned.  He  lingered,  in  great  pain,  from 
Monday  till  Friday,  in  July,  1813,  when  he  died,  and  was  buried  in 
the  Hemlock  Brook  ground  at  the  North  Part. 

John  Crofoot,  eldest  son  of  Joseph,  reared  here  a  family  of  ten 
children,  all  born  between  February,  1776,  and  April,  1792,  one  of 
them  named  Joseph  and  a  twin  brother  with  Benjamin,  and  all  these 
moved  as  a  family  to  Auburn,  New  York,  after  the  death  of  the 
father.  Joseph's  second  son  was  Mark  Crofoot,  who  was  in  the 
battle  of  Bennington  as  one  of  a  full  company  of  sixty-five  men  from 
South  Williamstown,  and  who  seems  to  have  been  the  wit  of  the 
family.  His  brother  next  younger,  Joseph  Crofoot,  Junior,  had  a 
son  named  Joseph,  and  there  were  one  or  two  more  of  the  same 
name  in  the  large  circle  before  the  patriarch  died  in  1813 ;  and  Mark 
used  jocularly  to  designate  the  five  Josephs  —  all  here  at  one  time 
—  as  "  Old  Joe,  Young  Joe,  Young  Joe's  Joe,  Cross-eyed  Joe,  and 
Toe-in  Joe."  Mark  evidently  thought,  also,  that  there  was  scarcely 
room  on  the  Hopper  road  for  so  many  Crofoots  as  were  accumulating 
there,  for  he  moved  from  here  with  several  other  families  about  the 
same  time  to  Granville,  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1818. 

Joseph  Crofoot,  Junior,  bom  March  6, 1768,  and  intermarried  with 
Sarah  "Wilkinson,  always  lived  with  his  father  in  the  brick  house. 


540  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

He  was  lame  in  the  hip  for  life  from  a  cold  caught  after  wading  in 
the  Green  River  in  a  chase  of  a  deer  near  Deer  Hill.  He  was  the 
father  of  Clarissa  Crofoot,  who  was  the  wife  of  John  Young,  and 
who  died  here  as  his  widow  April  4,  1876 :  John  Young  died  May 
12,  1857 :  he  was  the  father  also  of  Orange  and  of  Joseph  3d.  The 
latter  married  Euth  Williams  here  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  1811,  and 
moved  to  Batavia,  ISTew  York,  where  he  died  Thanksgiving  Day, 
1812,  aged  twenty-four.  His  brother.  Orange,  married  his  widow, 
and  they  continued  on  the  brick  homestead  here  until  it  was  sold 
to  another  member  of  the  same  family. 

This  farm  changed  hands  a  number  of  times  before  it  was  bought 
by  John  Lamb,  the  present  owner;  and  the  brick  house  was  con- 
stantly occupied  by  at  least  one  family  for  a  little  over  one  hundred 
years,  when  Mr.  Lamb  took  it  down  and  built  another  commodious 
wood  house  in  its  place ;  and  on  one  of  the  bricks,  as  they  were  taken 
from  the  old  wall,  was  luckily  noticed  the  word  "  Crofoot "  neatly 
written  upon  the  moist  clay  and  perfectly  preserved  in  every  letter 
throughout  the  thorough  burning  and  the  century's  service,  —  a 
pleasant  and  lasting  memorial  of  a  worthy  family,  whose  name 
utterly  disappeared  from  the  town  before  1830,  and  which  does  not 
appear  at  all  in  the  church  or  College  records. 

William  Young,  still  another  son  of  the  original  Moses,  was  settled 
by  his  father  on  another  100-acre  lot  considerably  south  of  the  home- 
stead on  the  same  road.  His  wife  was  Lucy  White,  daughter  of 
Peregrine  White,  who  came  to  Williamstown  from  Hebron,  Connec- 
ticut, about  1800,  when  Lucy  was  eight  years  old.  They  settled  at 
first  on  Northwest  Hill,  and  went  thence  to  Westfield,  Kew  York, 
but  returned  after  no  great  interval  and  located  on  Stone  Hill,  where 
the  daughter  was  married  in  1811.  They  spent  their  wedded  life  on 
this  Young  lot,  but  had  no  children.  Mrs.  Reed  Mills  once  told  the 
writer  in  her  old  age,  that  on  her  sleigh-ride  to  New  Lebanon  to  be 
married,  on  a  bitter  cold  day  in  the  winter  of  1816,  they  stopped  to 
warm,  both  going  and  coming,  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Young  at  their  hos- 
pitable fire  in  this  house  where  Hiram  Smith  has  long  lived  at  this 
end  of  the  century.  It  is  incredible  in  this  more  practical  and  com- 
fortable generation,  how  thinly  clad  brides  would  then  ride  to  their 
weddings  in  the  depth  of  winter.  Mrs.  Young  long  outlived  her 
husband.  Her  brother.  Rev.  Alfred  White,  was  much  with  her  in 
her  later  years,  was  much  respected  both  as  a  man  and  a  minister, 
and  is  buried  beside  her  in  the  cemetery  at  the  South  Part. 

James  Young,  still  another  son  of  the  first-comer,  Moses,  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Narcissa  Bliss,  a  distant  relative,  then  of 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  541 

Georgia,  Vermont,  June  4,  1818;  and  these,  spending  a  long-con- 
tinued married  life  on  the  original  lot,  and  in  the  large  house, 
transmitted  both,  under  certain  restrictions,  to  their  sons  Erastus 
and  Justin,  both  of  whom  have  reared  families  on  the  spot,  and 
both  are  still  tilling  the  ancestral  acres.  Harry  Young,  the  last  male 
scion  of  this  long  line  to  be  mentioned  here,  led  a  highly  respected 
life  on  another  stretch  of  these  broad  Young  lands ;  and  two  of  his 
daughters,  Mrs.  Rand  and  Miss  Sarah  Young,  are,  at  the  present 
writing,  in  1892,  cultured  people  held  in  esteem  in  the  city  of  Troy. 

If  we  pass  over  now  from  the  Hancock  road  and  Young  neighbor- 
hood located  upon  it,  to  the  parallel  Ashford  road,  a  couple  of  miles 
to  the  eastward,  we  shall  strike  a  number  of  100-acre  lots,  that  call 
for  a  brief  notice  at  this  point,  and  especially  No.  24,  next  north  of 
Andrew  Young's  lot  on  the  Ashford  boundary.  Twenty -four  became 
in  a  few  years,  and  remained  for  a  century,  the  most  populous  lot  in 
its  number  of  families,  of  any  one  in  this  fifth  division.  The  land 
was  fertile,  the  Ashford  Brook  flowed  through  it  diagonally,  it  was 
well  served  with  roads,  and  enterprising  and  excellent  i^eople  first 
settled  it.  In  August,  1766,  Barnabas  Woodcook,  Junior,  of  Mil- 
ford,  Connecticut,  seaman,  bought  this  lot  of  Ephraim  Seelye,  land- 
grabber,  for  £30.  It  is  evident  that  this  Barnabas  did  not  intend 
to  abandon  the  sea,  but  that  he  did  intend  to  assist  his  brothers 
Bartholomew  and  Nehemiah  to  keep  comfortable,  in  his  old  age, 
their  honored  father.  The  following  epitaph  in  the  cemetery  at 
the  South  Part  is  significant :  "  Here  lies  interred  the  body  of 
Mr.  Barnabas  Woodcock,  who  was  born  in  Dedham  25  Sept.  1710, 
and  departed  this  life  March  14,  1786,  aged  76  years  5  months 
and  18  days."  About  the  time  his  brother  bought  the  lot  24, 
Bartholomew  purchased  lot  26  adjoining  it  to  the  west,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  settle  upon  it.  The  depression  is  yet  visible  of  the  cellar 
of  the  log-house  which  he  put  up  on  the  east  side  of  the  road,  just 
as  one  driving  south  is  about  to  make  the  sharp  turn  to  the  left  to 
cross  the  bridge  and  strike  the  south  end  of  the  Potter  road.  After 
some  years  of  residence  here,  he  built  the  substantial  framed  house 
still  standing  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  near  by,  in  which  he 
spent  his  active  life,  selling  this  house  and  farm,  in  1820,  to  his 
foster-son,  Andrew  Beers,  for  a  consideration  of  ^2000,  and  buying 
for  himself,  at  about  the  same  time,  the  Isaac  Stratton  place  in  the 
south  village,  where  he  died.  Nathan  Rossiter  and  Lyman  Hubbell, 
both  then  prominent  in  that  village,  witnessed  the  deed  from 
Woodcock  to  Beers. 

Many  stories  with  a  point  to  them  are  still  told  of  Thol.  Wood- 


542  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

cock,  as  he  was  always  called  by  his  neighbors,  the  Christian  name 
Bartholomew  being  quite  too  long  for  those  busy  times.  He  had 
an  agricultural  maxim  and  practice  which  was  probably  more  or  less 
current  at  that  time,  but  has  been  supplanted  by  an  opposite  one,  — 
he  would  never  sow  grass-seed  on  his  land  to  stock  it  down,  saying, 
^'  Land  that  will  not  seed  itself  is  not  good  enough  for  me."  The 
common  usage  is  now  among  farmers  in  Williamstown,  to  sow  a 
bushel  of  seed,  for  that  purpose,  to  each  acre.  Any  one  passing 
Woodcock's  original  farm,  going  south,  will  be  likely  to  notice  on 
the  broad  meadow  to  his  right,  at  some  distance  north  of  the  house, 
a  very  large  elm  tree.  Woodcock  himself  used  to  relate  when  the 
tree  had  become  considerably  grown,  how  he,  while  ploughing  near 
the  spot,  had  bent  the  little  sapling  down  to  the  ground  to  break  it 
off  and  be  rid  of  it,  when  a  chance  suggestion'  of  his  own  mind,  or, 
perhaps,  of  Andrew  Beers,  who  lived  with  him,  led  him  to  spare  it. 
It  has  been  the  pride  of  the  farm  for  three-quarters  of  a  century. 
Woodcock  was  in  the  battle  of  Bennington,  with  all  his  neighbors. 
His  name  is  borne  on  several  other  muster-rolls  of  the  Eevolutionary 
time.  He  did  not,  like  his  brother  ISTehemiah,  rise  into  influential 
positions  in  the  town  and  in  the  state.  Neither  name  is  to  be  found 
on  the  records  of  the  church.  The  epitaph  of  the  one,  however, 
marks  a  difference  between  the  two,  —  "  Erected  to  the  memory  of 
Nehemiah  Woodcock  he  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Williams- 
town,  a  firm  supporter  of  his  Country's  Eights  and  Independence." 
He  died  March  10,  1816,  in  his  seventy-ninth  year. 

Andrew  Beers  came  with  the  Woodcocks  from  Milford,  and  passed 
a  long  and  honored  life  upon  the  same  farm.  He  married  Elisabeth 
Deming,  and  they  both  lived  to  be  very  old,  but  they  never  had 
children.  Early  in  life  he  united  with  the  church  at  the  North  Part, 
and  was  chosen  a  deacon  in  it  in  1828.  Eight  years  later  fifty-one 
members  of  that  church  were  dismissed  in  a  body  to  constitute  a  new 
church  at  the  South  Part ;  and  Deacon  Beers  and  Deacon  William 
Dickinson,  who  had  been  chosen  a  deacon  in  1834,  became  the  first, 
and  for  a  long  time  the  only,  deacons  in  South  Williamstown.  Elisa- 
beth Deming  united  with  the  old  church  in  1806,  and  thirty  years 
later  was  dismissed  with  her  husband  and  the  rest  to  form  the 
new  church.  After  1820,  they  kept  house  by  themselves  in  the 
Woodcock  house,  and  both  died  not  far  from  1870.  As  they  had 
no  children,  they  adopted  a  nephew  of  Mrs.  Beers,  Eli  Eix  Deming, 
whom  they  well  brought  up,  to  whom  they  transmitted  the  farm, 
and  who  carried  it  on  about  fifteen  years  after  their  death  and  then 
migrated  to  Lawrence,   Kansas,  with   other  members  of   his  own 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  543 

family.  He  united  with  the  old  church  in  1831 ;  and  when  he  left 
town  to  go  West  about  fifty  years  later,  he  was  the  only  man  in  town 
bearing  the  name  of  Deming,  which  name  li;vl  ^^^^n  very  luinierous 
liere  for  a  long  time. 

It  was  first  brought  here  in  a  permanent  way  when  Joseph  Dem- 
ing, of  Weathersfield,  Connecticut,  bought  100-acre  lot  23  in  April, 
1769,  for  £(yo.  It  was  bought  of  Hezekiah  Brown.  Isaac  Stratton 
and  Daniel  Burbank  sign  the  deed  as  witnesses.  Deming  was  sixty- 
two  years  old  at  that  time ;  and  his  two  sons,  Titus  and  Aaron,  came 
with  him.  Two  other  100-acre  lots  to  the  west  of  this  were  soon 
bought,  tradition  says,  at  eight  shillings  an  acre.  The  families 
localized  themselves  on  these  lots,  and  clung  to  them  for  three  gen- 
erations ;  and  by  and  by  required  for  their  convenience  the  east  and 
west  road  (long  ago  discontinued)  connecting  the  Ashford  and  Han- 
cock highways.  This  cross-road  runs  straight  along  the  north  line 
of  lots  27  and  28  and  29,  bridging  the  Hancock  Brook  at  a  point 
where  there  is  a  small  mill-privilege,  which  was  utilized  by  the 
Deming  families  for  several  manufacturing  purposes  at  different 
times.  The  father,  Joseph,  built  his  house  near  the  east  end  of  this 
cross-road,  —  a  good  house  that  was  burned  down  in  1876.  There 
was  another  house  a  little  further  west  on  the  same  road,  understood 
to  have  been  built  and  occupied  by  the  son,  Aaron,  and  meml^ers  of 
his  family.  The  Demings  were  diligent  and  thrifty.  The  fathers 
cleared  off  the  lands,  and  the  sons  widened  and  improved  the  clear- 
ings. They  occupied  altogether  about  as  much  land,  and  for  nearly 
as  long  a  time,  as  their  neighbors,  the  Youngs. 

Aaron  Deming  died  March  12,  1837,  lacking  twenty-seven  days  of 
being  ninety-three  years  old.  Two  unmarried  daughters  always  lived 
with  him,  and  his  two  sons,  Joseph  and  Salmon,  lived  in  the  other 
part  of  the  same  house,  which  was  a  custom  also  with  the  Young 
families.  The  father,  Joseph,  had  died  in  1783,  in  his  seventy-sixth 
year.  Captain  Joseph,  the  son  of  Aaron,  died  in  December,  1870, 
seventy-nine  years  old.  Nelson  Deming,  Captain  Joseph's  son,  a  man 
of  admirable  character,  was  the  last  of  the  name  to  operate  the  little 
mill  on  the  brook,  and  the  last  of  the  name  in  town  of  the  line  of 
Aaron.  His  widow  was  the  last  person  in  Williamstown  of  either 
sex  or  of  any  age  to  bear  the  name  of  Deming.  An  easy  lesson  fell 
to  the  officiating  clergyman  to  be  given  at  Nelson  Deming's  funeral, 
namely,  that  the  world  is  passing  away  and  the  lust  thereof,  to  fami- 
lies as  well  as  to  individuals. 

Titus  Deming,  the  other  incomer  here  with  the  father,  Joseph, 
built  his  house  on  the  southern  line  of  lot  No.  2'!  just  at  tlie  point 


644  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

of  junction  of  the  two  roads  from  the  north,  —  the  old  road  from 
Taylor's  Crotch  to  the  Ashford  line,  running  wholly  through  100- 
acre  lots,  and  the  road  from  the  south  hamlet  to  strike  the  other  at 
right  angles,  running  diagonally  over  a  dead  level  of  the  second 
division  of  fifty-acre  lots.  Here  Titus  Deming  reared  his  sons, 
David,  Martin,  Francis,  and  Moses  the  Mormon  who  died  in  1873 ; 
and  his  daughters  also,  Betsey,  Sally,  Sybil,  and  Nancy.  Their 
mother,  Sybil,  died  in  1844,  aged  eighty-two  years.  This  Martin 
was  the  father  of  Eli  Rix,  who  was  adopted  and  reared  by  Deacon 
Andrew  Beers.  Francis  inherited  the  farm,  and  brought  up  in  the 
ample  and  good-looking  two-story  house,  two  sons  and  one  daughter. 
The  eldest  son  was  Richard  Titus  Deming,  called  from  his  grand- 
father Titus,  a  graduate  of  the  College  in  1852,  and  a  classmate  of 
the  present  writer.  He  was  born  in  1825,  and  was  about  three  years 
older  than  the  average  age  of  his  classmates,  a  tall  and  straight  and 
fine-looking  man,  who  assumed  to  say  of  the  society  of  which  he 
was  a  member,  —  "  The  Sigma  Phi  does  not  aim  to  exhibit  scholar- 
ship, but  to  develop  the  practical  man  and  the  gentleman."  He  did 
not,  accordingly,  attain  to  a  rounded  education  in  his  college  course ; 
and  going  afterwards  to  New  York  to  study  and  practise  law,  the 
common  belief  and  report  was,  that  he  was  the  means  of  bringing 
his  father  into  severe  pecuniary  embarrassment,  and  that  his  own 
life  was  shortened  and  made  useless  by  excesses  and  immoralities. 
He  died,  it  was  said,  in  the  street,  in  1868.  At  any  rate,  the  home- 
farm  was  sold  out  of  the  family,  and  his  younger  brother,  Dow  Dem- 
ing, an  intelligent  and  estimable  man,  removed  to  Lanesboro,  where 
he  is  successfully  tilling  a  good  farm. 

Aaron  Deming  was  in  the  battle  of  Bennington.  He  and  his 
brother  Titus  were  out  repeatedly  in  the  militia  service  during  that 
war.  The  following  list,  compiled  from  the  church  records,  contains 
the  names  of  all  the  members  of  the  Deming  family  who  were  mem- 
bers of  the  local  churches  :  — 

Dorcas  Beckley  Deming  Elisabeth  Deming  Beers 

Sybil  Jaffords  Deming  Sarah  Lewis  Deming 

Lydia  Stoddard  Deming  David  Deming 

Cynthia  Deming  Sybil  Deming  Krigger 

Sarah  Chamberlain  Deming  Salome  Wright  Deming 

Martin  Deming  Mary  Utley  Deming 

Salmon  Deming  Francis  Deming 

Nancy  Deming  Mary  Deming  Mills 

Moses  Deming  Amos  C.  Deming 

Ann  White  Deming  Titus  Deming 

Hester  Whitman  Deming  Eli  R.  Deming 

Charlotte  E.  Deming  Harty  Johnson  Deming 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  545 

The  100-acre  lot  that  fell  by  chance  to  Rev.  Whitman  Welch,  the 
first  minister,  was  No.  7,  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  Hopper 
road  not  far  from  the  "  Crotch "  ;  and  over  this  lot  passes  to  this 
day  the  Burchard  road  to  the  centre  of  No.  16,  where  stands  the 
Burchard  house,  which  was  built  under  extraordinary  circumstances 
115  years  ago,  and  which  is  occupied  at  present  by  Chauncy  Whit- 
ney. Samuel  Burchard  was  from  Danbury,  Connecticut.  He  came 
early.  In  1771  he  owned  five  of  the  house  lots,  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  he  ever  lived  in  the  village.  We  run  across  him  first  as 
living  on  what  is  now  called  the  Stratton  road,  east  side,  on  No.  57 
of  the  first-division  fifty-acre  lots,  where  William  Hall  lived  for 
a  long  time,  and  after  him  George  Ford,  and  now  Abner  Town.  The 
house  stands  a  little  way  back  from  the  road.  In  all  probability  a 
farm  was  first  cleared  here  by  Burchard,  who  had  a  family  largely 
grown  when  he  came.  They  soon  moved,  however,  to  this  100-acre 
lot  16,  reaching  it  through  the  Dominie's  lot.  Burchard  and  his 
wife,  Elizabeth  Hamilton,  were  members  of  the  church.  The  father 
was  several  times  out  in  the  Revolutionary  militia  service,  and  one 
of  his  sons  was  so  much  afraid  of  being  drafted  for  the  war,  that  he 
wore  round  an  overcoat  in  summer,  pretending  ague.  The  mother 
was  a  notable  woman,  and  not  afraid  of  anything.  The  late  William 
Torrey  used  to  tell  from  his  father,  a  contemporary,  that  while  the 
men  folks  were  off  in  the  war,  Mrs.  Burchard  herself  struck  the 
brick  for  the  present  house,  the  clay  being  taken  out  from  the  cellar, 
and  her  girls  carried  out  the  moist  forms  from  the  moulds  to  dry. 
Exactly  in  what  service  the  ague  patient  was  then  employed,  tradition 
saith  not.  In  their  old  age  the  Burchards  bargained  away  their  farm  ; 
the  good  lady,  still  active  and  economical,  carried  off  and  threw 
away  a  cartload  of  stuff  from  the  house,  old  shoes  and  other  such 
trumpery,  and  then  when  the  bargain  flew  off,  she  went  out  and  care- 
fully gathered  up  the  old  things  and  brought  them  all  back  again. 

This  Burchard  family  must  not  be  confounded  with  that  of  Joseph 
Bircliard,  wlio  originally  cleared  up  the  Samuel  Foster  farm  on  Bee 
Hill,  a  sixty-acre  lot  of  the  eighth  division,  whose  son  Amos,  after  a 
considerable  residence  in  Treadwell  Hollow,  went  with  his  own  chil- 
dren, and  with  at  least  four  of  his  brothers  and  sisters,  to  Catta- 
raugus County,  New  York,  where,  with  other  families  from  here, 
they  helped  to  found  another  Williamstown. 

The  minister,  Mr.  Welch,  sold  off  his  lot  No.  7,  next  north  of  the 
Burchards's  lot,  to  two  men  of  New  Milford, — with  which  town  he 
kept  up  close  connection, —  Ruggles  and  Hubbell,  for  £30,  April  11, 
1769.     He  had  previousl}'"  '^"^'^  ^^'^^  lirm>;.^  lot  .%.  wliioh  ramp  to  him. 


546  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

as  the  first  settled  minister,  in  gratuity,  and  which  drew  for  him, 
in  succession,  meadow  lot  51,  fifty-acre  lot  (first  division)  48,  fifty- 
acre  lot  (second  division)  51,  pine  lot  53,  oak  lot  5.  He  also  bought 
and  sold  other  lots  upon  occasion;  for  example,  the  meadow  lots 
Nos.  24  and  25  in  the  "Great  Meadow"  on  the  Hoosac  (£40),  in 
June,  1766.  He  seems  to  have  been  an  intermediary,  or  agent,  in 
the  good  sense  of  those  terms,  between  those  of  his  former  towns- 
people in  Connecticut,  who  wished  to  buy  lots  up  here,  and  those  of 
his  own  people  who  wished  to  sell  them.  A  good  number  of  Mil- 
ford  and  New  Milford  citizens  settled  here,  first  and  last.  He 
seems  to  have  been  very  ready  to  help  them  in  their  selection  of 
lots,  and  to  sign  their  deeds  for  them  as  a  witness.  He  also  bought 
and  sold  lots  on  his  own  account,  but  not  to  any  extent,  or  in  any 
manner  interfering  with  his  duties  and  good  name  as  a  pastor.  He 
was  here  as  an  ordained  minister  just  ten  years  (1765-1775),  the 
most  critical  decade  in  the  history  of  Williamstown  ;  and  he  proba- 
bly did  more  than  any  other  person,  in  that  decade,  to  make  the 
place  attractive  and  the  settlement  permanent.  He  gathered  a 
church  of  between  seventy  and  eighty  members  in  that  brief  time ; 
for,  while  there  is  no  list  of  them  then,  at  the  time  of  the  settlement 
of  his  successor,  Eev.  Seth  Swift,  in  1779,  there  were  seventy-nine 
members,  and  we  fortunately  know  their  names. 

Some  time  during  his  pastorate,  Mr.  Welch  bought  lands  on  Green 
River,  at  the  east  end  of  the  Main  Street,  and  probably  on  both 
sides  of  the  river.  The  only  evidence  as  to  the  place  of  his  resi- 
dence while  he  was  pastor  here  is  the  following :  Chloe  Bingham, 
who  is  now  about  eighty  years  old,  and  has  always  lived  in  one  spot 
at  the  west  end  of  the  Green  River  bridge,  has  often  repeated  what 
she  heard  from  her  mother,  —  the  eldest  daughter  of  Theodore  Board- 
man,  whose  home  was  near  the  same  spot,  and  who  was  a  contempo- 
rary of  Mr.  Welch, — namely,  that  the  Welches  lived  directly  opposite 
them,  across  Main  Street,  on  ground  just  east  of  house  lot  63,  be- 
tween that  and  the  river.  This  was,  indeed,  outside  of  the  house 
lots,  and  nearly  a  mile  from  his  meeting-house ;  but  then  it  was  so 
much  the  nearer  to  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  it  was  by  much  the 
safer  end  of  the  straggling  village,  for  the  French  and  Indians  had 
always  come  on  from  the  northwest,  and  it  was  on  Hemlock  Brook, 
and  not  on  Green  River,  that  Captain  Chapin  and  the  Chidesters 
had  been  killed,  in  1756.  At  any  rate,  on  the  4th  of  May,  1775, 
just  fourteen  days  after  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  had 
reached  Berkshire,  and  only  thirteen  days  after  Colonel  John  Pat- 
terson's regiment  of  minute-men  had  left  Berkshire  for  Cambridge, 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  547 

and,  beyond  doubt,  in  some  living  relation  with  those  stirring  events 
to  the  eastward,  Whitman  Welch  deeded  to  Nehemiah  Smedley 
eighteen  and  three-fourths  acres  of  land,  directly  east  of  Green 
River  at  that  point,  "with  an  allowance  for  the  Hic^hway''  (the 
present  main  road  to  North  Adams). 

Those  eighteen  and  three-fourths  acres  from  Wekii  i..  .>umuii-s 
were  evidently  adjacent  to,  and  became  easily  a  part  of,  lands  pre- 
viously bought  by  Smedley,  namely,  firet-division  fifty-acre  lot  28, 
bought  in  June,  1765,  and  same  division  fifty-acre  lot  29,  bought  in 
October,  1766.  These  Welch  acres  thus  sold  seem  to  include  meadow 
lot  No.  14 ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  Cofiin's  map  of  1843  puts  an 
interrogation  point,  as  indicating  *^some  incongruity  of  the  survey 
or  other  cause  of  doubt,"  after  No.  14  of  the  meadow  lots,  as  well  as 
after  Nos.  28  and  29  of  the  fifty-acre  lots,  which,  with  meadow  lots 
10  and  12  and  13,  and  oak  lot  7,  made  up  the  noted  Smedley  farm. 
We  cannot  tell  certainly  on  which  of  the  lots  the  farmhouse  (still 
standing)  was  put  up  in  1772.  Smedley's  oldest  son,  Levi,  born 
Oct.  8,  1764,  believed,  in  his  old  age,  the  house  to  have  been  built  on 
the  lot  bought  of  Welch,  which  could  not  have  been  the  case  if  the 
house  were  raised  in  1772,  for  Welch  did  not  sell  till  1775.  It  is 
more  probable  that  the  house  stands  on  fifty-acre  lot  28,  bought  in 
June,  1765,  of  John  ]\Ioffat,  painter,  of  Boston,  whither  Smedley 
went  personally  to  make  the  purchase.  Besides  Levi's  own  state- 
ment in  favor  of  1772  as  the  date  of  the  house,  there  is  a  strong 
tradition  in  the  family  that  the  house  was  raised  tlie  day  Levi  was 
eight  years  old,  and  that  numbers  of  men  came  from  Bennington  to 
the  "  raising."     That  would  be  Oct.  8,  1772. 

The  deed  of  the  eighteen  and  three-fourths  acres  is  in  ^Ir.  Welch's 
own  handwriting.  The  complicated  surveyor's  description  —  the 
plot  had  nine  separate  angles  —  looks  as  if  he  had  also  surveyed  it, 
which,  as  a  college  graduate  of  that  time,  he  was  doubtless  able  to 
do.  The  deed  was  never  recorded,  and  was  never  questioned.  The 
land  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Smedleys  for  longer  than  a 
century's  time.  The  consideration  paid  was  £75  10s.  This  was 
undoubtedly  the  money  on  which  Welch  himself,  shortly  after,  went 
to  Cambridge,  and  late  in  the  autumn  went  up  the  Kennebec  to 
Canada,  in  Arnold's  column,  in  volunteer  company  with  several  of 
his  own  parishioners.  Nothing  is  said  in  this  deed  about  any  build- 
ings on  the  land;  but  Levi  Smedley  said,  in  1829,  "One  of  the 
barns  now  standing  there  is  much  older  than  the  house,"  which  is 
pretty  good,  though  not  conclusive,  additional  proof  that  the  Smed- 
ley house  was  not  erected  on  the  land  sold  by  Welch  to  Smedley. 


548  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

As  Mr.  Welch  did  not  live  to  return  from  Quebec,  Mrs.  Welch,  who 
was  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Gaylord,  of  New  Milford,  went  back  to 
that  town  with  two  or  three  small  children,  was  married  again  there, 
and  lived  to  an  extreme  old  age.  She  left  growing  in  her  garden  here 
(wherever  it  was)  some  roses  of  the  simple  red  variety,  from  an 
original  root  or  two  brought  with  her  when  she  came.  That  she  was 
highly  esteemed  here,  and  pitied  in  her  strange  widowhood,  seems 
to  be  proven  by  the  fact  that  Mrs.  James  Meacham  and  Mrs.  Betty 
Cox  transplanted  the  rose  in  memory  of  her,  each  to  her  own  front 
yard,  where  they  are  still  growing,  much  multiplied,  with  the  pres- 
ent credible  tradition  attached  to  them,  —  a  tradition  that  Bliss 
Perry  has  wrought  out  imaginatively,  for  publication,  under  the 
title,  "The  Colchester  Rose."  The  Youth^s  Companion  of  March 
21,  1889,  holds  the  story. 

In  the  mean  time,  while  these  outlets  of  the  fifth  division  were 
being  slowly  occupied,  mostly  by  farmers  from  Connecticut  who 
came  up  by  the  rude  road  over  the  watershed  between  the  Housa- 
tonic  and  the  Green  rivers,  a  road  siuce  eulogized  by  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  —  "  From  Salisbury  to  Williamstown  and  thence  to  Ben- 
nington there  stretches  a  country  of  valleys  and  lakes  and  moun- 
tains, that  is  to  be  as  celebrated  as  the  lake  district  of  England  or 
the  hill  country  of  Palestine,"  —  matters  were  moving  more  briskly 
with  the  house  lots  and  householders  of  the  incipient  village. 
Proprietors'  meetings  were  held  frequently,  particularly  during  the 
year  1765,  the  birth-year  of  the  town,  and  the  first  year  of  their 
ordained  minister.  Every  item  of  common  expense  must  pass  sharp' 
muster  in  these  popular  gatherings,  because  every  shilling  of  the 
money  must  come  out  of  the  individual  pocket  of  the  proprietors ; 
roads  were  laid  out  in  all  directions,  and  each  day's  work  of  man  or 
team  must  be  passed  upon  and  voted  "pay  for,"  in  proprietors' 
meeting  viva  voce ;  the  pine  lots  and  the  oak  lots,  all  of  both  being 
located  north  of  the  "  Greate  Biver,"  were  surveyed  out  by  Jedediah 
Hubbell,  and  distributed  by  a  "  common  lottery,"  in  this  year,  1765. 
The  committee,  under  whom  these  surveys  of  the  sixth  and  seventh 
divisions  were  made  and  reported,  were  Elisha  Higgins  and  John 
Smedley  and  Thomas  Dunton  and  Jonathan  Kilborn  ;  and  William 
Horsford,  whose  house  lot  was  44,  directly  north  across  Main  Street 
of  the  later  West  College,  was  the  faithful  proprietors'  clerk  from 
the  beginning  of  1765  till  1774. 

Of  course,  the  need  of  the  common  mechanic  arts  of  all  kinds 
was  soon  felt  in  the  now  growing  hamlet;  and  a  curious  concession 
was  made  in  the  proprietors'  meeting  of  Jan.  14,  1766,  to  Joseph 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  549 

Tallmadge,  a  shoemaker  who  had  recently  come  from  Colchester ; 
making  shoes  and  tanning  leather  were  trades,  at  that  time,  and 
long  afterwards,  in  New  England,  closely  allied,  and  often  united,  in 
the  hands  of  one  man  ;  Tallmadge  had  evidently  asked  the  proprie- 
tors for  the  privilege  of  having  a  tan-yard  on  the  common  land  in 
the  Main  Street,  near  what  has  long  been  called  Hemlock  Brook,  but 
which  was  then  called  "  Hudson  "  Brook,  from  Seth  Hudson,  whose 
house  stood  on  its  eastern  bank ;  and  it  was  accordingly  '*  Voted  to 
Give  Leave  to  Mr.  Joseph  Talmadge  to  Sett  up  a  tan  yeard  on  the 
North  side  of  the  Highway  on  Hudson  Brook  of  one  Quarter  of  an 
acre  of  Land  to  have  the  use  of  Said  Land  ten  year  Not  obstruct  or 
Hinder  Passing  Provided  He  the  Said  Joseph  talmage  can  agree 
with  Mr.  Ebenezer  Cooley  &  obtain  Leave  of  Him."  Ebenezer 
Cooley  then  owned  house  lot  12,  just  west  of  the  brook,  north  side, 
in  front  of  whose  lot  the  tan-yard  would  be.  It  is  not  likely  that 
his  consent  was  secured,  for  he  sold  the  lot  in  June  following,  to 
"Isaac  Searle  Esq.,"  for  £20.  Searle  was,  at  this  time,  the  most 
forehanded  man  in  the  borough,  though  he  had  come  from  Northamp- 
ton as  a  "  cordwainer  "  about  ten  years  before,  and  it  was  not  like 
him  to  buy  encumbered  property,  or  to  agree  to  have  his  own 
encumbered  in  that  way.  Another  thing  that  makes  it  improbable 
that  Tallmadge  actually  gained  the  permission  of  the  owner  of 
No.  12,  is  the  fact  that  he  bought,  himself,  the  next  March,  house 
lot  13,  directly  opi>osite  No.  12,  on  the  south  side  of  the  highway, 
and  only  the  width  of  that  way  above  on  the  same  brook,  described 
in  the  deed  as  "at  the  westernmost  end  of  main  street."  He  X)aid 
£15  for  his  house  lot. 

Whether  Tallmadge  actually  started  a  tannery  at  the  north  end 
of  his  own  house  lot  13  cannot  now  be  determined;  there  is  no 
direct  proof  that  he  did;  tan-bark  is  one  of  the  most  indestructible 
objects  in  nature,  and  none  of  this  has  been  thrown  up  there  by 
plough  or  spade  in  the  memory  of  living  men  while  the  early  exists 
ence  of  a  tan-yard  on  the  east  side  of  the  brook  close  by  is  proven 
by  such  casual  manifestations  there ;  and  besides,  Tallmadge  only 
stayed  on  No.  13,  with  his  newly  married  wife,  Martha  Marks,  for 
three  years,  when  he  bought  in  April,  1770,  his  farm  on  Northwest 
Hill,  on  which  he  lived  and  died.  This  was  fifty-acre  lot  No.  4.  It 
was  the  ministry  lot  of  the  second  division  of  fifty-acre  lots,  drawn 
by  house  lot  38.  Tallmadge  bought  it  of  Samuel  Smedley,  and  the 
deed  was  signed  by  Nehemiah  and  Aaron  Smedley,  as  witnesses,  all 
three  of  these  brothers  from  Litchfield.  This  lot  proved  to  be  as 
productive  as  any  parcel  of  ground  in  Williamstown,  and  has  been 


550  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

often  called  the  best  '^  grain-farm  "  in  town.  Its  northern  line  just 
grazes  the  Hoosac  Kiver,  and  its  southern  line  is  the  straight  high- 
way bounding  the  ends  of  the  house  lots  lying  in  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  entire  plat  of  house  lots. 

If  Joseph  Tallmadge  had  been  content  to  confine  himself  to 
ploughing  his  fields  and  raising  his  crops,  he  would  have  been  a 
prosperous  and  envied  farmer.  Indeed,  he  became  and  continued 
such,  until  in  an  evil  hour  he  concluded  to  utilize  a  fine  spring  to 
the  north  of  his  house,  whose  clear  waters  drop  down  into  a  little 
stream  that  drops  into  Hemlock  Brook  just  before  the  junction  of 
that  with  the  Hoosac,  as  a  means  of  distilling  brandy  out  of  cider, 
which  had  then  become  exceedingly  abundant  in  the  town.  Public 
opinion  had  not  then  turned  against  the  distillation  of  brandy. 
Deacon  James  Smedley  told  the  writer,  that  he  as  a  boy  had  helped 
his  father  carry  cider  to  this  place  to  be  distilled  into  brandy; 
his  father  was  Deacon  Levi  Smedley,  the  head  of  perhaps  the  most 
precise  and  puritanic  family  in  the  town.  Joseph  Tallmadge  did 
not  forfeit  his  good  name  among  his  neighbors  by  setting  up  this 
still :  there  were  at  least  three  others  put  into  operation  not  long 
after  in  different  parts  of  the  town,  all  by  reputable  parties. 
Nevertheless,  the  phrase  above  used,  "in  an  evil  hour,"  is  well 
considered  and  appropriate.  There  was  a  generation  of  drunkards 
raised  up  in  this  town  in  direct  connection  with  these  four  stills. 
Not  one  of  the  four  families  escaped  personal  demoralization  and 
pecuniary  losses.  Tallmadge  had  four  sons.  Each  of  them  became 
compromised  in  turn,  both  in  respect  of  the  personal  habit  and  of 
the  monetary  ruin.  The  very  locality,  though  naturally  prospec- 
tive and  picturesque,  became  a  by-word  and  a  hissing. 

The  beautifully  wooded  little  valley  that  runs  across  the  farm 
with  its  stream  and  its  spring  has  been  called  now  for  a  long  time 
"Flora's  Glen,"  and  A.  L.  Hopkins,  who  owns  this  and  many 
adjoining  lots,  has  lately  built  two  expensive  dams  on  this  stream 
and  thus  made  two  lovely  ponds,  and  also  walled  in  the  spring,  that 
bubbles  out  on  the  very  marge  of  the  lower  pond,  making  the 
whole  region  one  of  peculiar  beauty  and  consequent  attractiveness 
both  to  natives  and  strangers  ;  but  the  late  C.  E.  Taft,  who  was 
more  than  twenty  years  postmaster,  used  to  tell,  that  the  whole 
place  was  a  "turkey-shoot"  when  he  was  a  boy,  and  that  he  him- 
self had  witnessed  the  scenes  of  drunkenness  and  fighting,  that 
always  in  those  days  accompanied  the  cruelty  and  gambling  of  that 
so-called  "sport."  Many  persons  still  living  remember  Phebe 
Holmes,  an  old  colored  woman,  whether  African  or  Indian  was  left 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  551 

in  doubt,  who  lived  and  died  in  an  old  cabin  on  the  little  brook  that 
flows  past  the  College  spring.  Her  husband,  Holmes,  a  well- 
authenticated  Indian,  was  stabbed  and  nearly  killed  at  one  of  these 
turkey-shoots  near  the  "  Still  Spring."  The  name,  "  Phebe's  Brook," 
commemorates  in  a  pleasant  way  the  poor  and  aged  woman ;  the 
only  memorial  of  her  husband  is  the  turning  of  a  point  in  the  de- 
scription of  a  brutal  autumn  festival,  at  once  attracted  by  and 
affiliated  with  Joseph  Tallmadge's  cider-brandy. 

After  the  public  religious  services  of  Thanksgiving  Day,  in  1892, 
the  chief  feature  of  which  was  a  powerful  sermon  by  John  Bascom, 
on  the  nature  and  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  the  penman 
of  these  present  lines  visited  alone  the  Still  Spring  and  its  neighlxjr- 
hood.  Gratitude  to  God  for  the  many  favorable  local  contrasts  as 
between  the  first  and  last  decades  of  the  century  was  tinged  and 
intensified  by  a  personal  gratitude  for  a  lifelong  and  stimulating 
friendship  with  the  fearless  and  profound  and  eloquent  preacher  of 
that  Thanksgiving  Day. 

Joseph  Tallmadge  had  five  children :  Martha,  the  eldest,  born  in 
1768,  married  shoemaker  Stone,  of  Hoosac,  both  excellent  people  in 
all  the  relations  of  life ;  Joseph,  the  second,  was  born  exactly  two 
years  after  his  sister,  Feb.  27,  1770 ;  the  next  son,  Josiah,  married 
Jan.  3,  1793,  a  Williamstown  girl,  Ada  Hickox,  and  they  became  the 
parents  of  Mary  Tallmadge  Hosford,  the  oldest  i^erson  now  living 
in  town,  and  one  among  those  most  highly  esteemed  by  everybody ; 
Ephraim,  born  in  1774,  made  his  home  elsewhere;  and  Asa,  the 
youngest,  born  Oct.  1,  1776,  who  married  Abigail  Tyler,  and  reared 
a  large  family  here,  living  on  Northwest  Hill,  and  in  several  other 
parts  of  the  town,  and  manifesting  in  more  directions  than  one 
(even  to  old  age)  the  untoward  influences  of  the  cider-brandy  still. 
His  son,  Edwin  Tallmadge,  and  his  daughter,  Orcela  Tallmadge 
Blakeslee,  are  the  only  persons  now  in  town  (besides  Mrs.  Hosford) 
perpetuating  a  respected  name.  Edwin  Blakeslee,  the  husband,  was 
lx)rn  and  bred  in  Howe  on  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Deerfield  River, 
in  plain  sight  of  the  vestiges  of  old  Fort  Pelham.  His  grandfather, 
Caleb  Blakeslee,  was  the  composer  of  the  famous  minor  hymn-tune, 
*'  Windham,"  usually  sung  to  the  words,  "  Broad  is  the  road  that 
leads  to  death,"  etc.,  and  very  popular  in  New  England  for  a  century. 
He  sold  the  copyright  of  the  tune  for  thirty  dollars,  to  his  own  and 
others'  subsequent  regret ;  for  the  tune  should  have  borne  his  name. 
He  was  the  son  of  Seth  Blakeslee,  of  North  Haven,  Coniiocticut, 
whence  the  son  came  to  Rowe. 

Edwin  Blakeslee  built  one  of  the  first  houses  on  the  present  .>i)ririg 


552  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Street  in  1847 ;  Thomas  Mole  had  built  the  very  first  one  the  year 
previous,  during  which  the  street  had  been  opened  by  S.  V.  R. 
Hoxsie;  George  Koberts,  and  Charles  Spooner,  and  Edwin  Sander- 
son, and  Frederic  Sanderson,  the  two  last  in  company  for  awhile  with 
Edwin  Blakeslee,  all  tailors,  occupied  houses  on  the  same  street 
within  a  twelvemonth.  Blakeslee  has  practised  his  trade  in  this 
town  and  its  immediate  vicinity  for  more  than  fifty  years.  An 
eccentric  and  disagreeable  character,  JSTathan  Hoskins,  who  was 
graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1820,  a  classmate  and  (as  he 
always  claimed)  a  room-mate,  too,  with  Rufus  Choate,  was  the 
seventh  in  order  to  build  a  house  on  Spring  Street.  All  these 
houses  were  hastily  and  cheaply  constructed,  the  ground  was  origi- 
nally low,  and  otherwise  seemed  unsuitable  for  houses ;  Daniel  N. 
Dewey,  then  treasurer  of  the  College,  opposed  the  opening  of  the 
new  street,  and  Hoxsie  was  angrily  compelled,  owing  to  the  situ- 
ation of  a  corner  of  College  ground,  to  make  his  lay-out  narrow  and 
inconvenient  of  entrance  ;  nevertheless,  the  new  street  was  a  neces- 
sity of  the  time  in  affording  homes  to  many  of  the  young  artisans 
of  the  village;  it  has  been  pretty  steadily  lifted  and  improved  as 
a  place  for  residerjce,  the  town  high-school  building  was  erected 
upon  it  in  1866,  and  business  of  various  kinds  kept  creeping  in  along 
its  whole  length  until  in  1892,  by  the  removal  into  it  of  the  post- 
office,  and  the  bank,  and  several  stores  and  places  of  recreation  and 
amusement,  it  became,  and  will  probably  remain,  the  chief  business 
street  of.  the  town. 

The  next  public  meeting  of  the  proprietors  to  that  which  gave 
the  concession  to  Joseph  Tallmadge  for  a  tan-yard,  was  occupied 
mainly  with  the  vexed  question  of  roads  in  the  different  parts  of 
the  town,  —  a  point  that  made  constant  friction  and  open  dissatis- 
faction for  several  years.  The  principal  clause  in  the  warrant  for 
this  meeting  was  as  follows :  "  To  See  if  the  Proprietors  will  Chuse 
a  new  Commetee  to  Lay  out  E-oads  wheare  they  are  Needed  and  give 
them  Power  to  Prise  Land  that  are  and  Shall  be  Laid  out  for  Eoads 
and  to  make  Return  to  the  Proprietors  of  the  Sum  or  Sums  and  to 
Give  the  sd  Commetee  Power  to  Exchange  Roads  for  Roads  or  Sett 
of  Common  or  undivided  Land  to  make  Restitution  for  Land  taken 
out  of  the  Lots  for  Roads  Belonging  to  any  Person  Whatsoever 
lying  in  this  town."  This  article  was  voted  bodily  April  26,  1766, 
and  a  strong  committee,  consisting  of  Richard  Stratton,  and  Benjamin 
Simonds,  and  Jonathan  Meacham,  and  Samuel  Kellogg,  and  Thomas 
Dunton,  chosen  to  carry  it  out ;  but  at  the  next  meeting.  May  15,  a 
fortnight  later,  the  vote  was  reconsidered,  and  it  was  agreed  "to 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  553 

give  the  Road  Commetee  no  Power  only  to  Lay  out  Eoads  and  to 
veu  others  Roads  in  order  to  Exchange  and  to  veu  Common  Land  in 
order  to  l\ay  for  Land  wheare  it  will  sute  and  Bring  their  Doings  to 
the  Proprietors  for  Exchange."  William  Horsford  had  become 
obnoxious  to  some  of  the  proprietors  in  connection  with  these  road 
and  land  difficulties,  and  there  Avas  a  clause  in  the  April  warrant,  — 
"  To  See  if  the  Proprietors  will  Chuse  a  New  Clerk,"  —  on  which 
the  May  meeting  "  Voted  in  the  Negative." 

Civil  government,  under  any  and  all  circumstances,  everywhere, 
is  always  an  awkward  instrument  by  means  of  which  to  reach  the 
true  ends  for  which  government  itself  is  instituted;  the  radical 
reason  for  this  is,  that  the  persons  selected  to  administer  the  gov- 
ernment, no  matter  on  what  plan,  are  always  possessed  of  the  same 
selfish  tendencies,  which,  in  the  masses  of  men,  make  governments 
needful  at  all;  all  men  esteem  their  own  private  interests  higher 
than  the  interests  of  their  fellows,  and  when  these  two  seem  to 
come  into  collision,  are  ready,  unless  restrained,  to  sacrifice  the 
rights  of  others  to  their  own  apparent  gains ;  this  is  the  universal 
fact  that  makes  governments  necessary ;  but,  unluckily,  the  govern- 
ments are  compelled  to  be  administered  by  men  of  the  same  soi-t  in 
this  respect  as  all  the  rest,  and  political  constitutions  are  framed 
with  the  express  purpose  of  restraining  this  selfishness  of  the  gov- 
ernors, as  laws  are  enacted  to  restrain  that  of  the  governed ;  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  are  ever  wholly  effective,  and  consequently 
the  organization  and  continued  administration  of  governments  are 
always  accompanied  with  frictions  and  difficulties  and  wrong-doings. 
This  is  just  as  true  of  local  governments  of  small  circumference,  as 
of  national  governments  of  the  widest,  —  just  as  true  of  West 
Hoosac  and  Williamstown,  as  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts  in  1780, 
and  of  the  United  States  in  1789. 

The  early  roads  here  made  endless  trouble  and  contention,  partly 
because  individual  proprietors  cut  roads  to  their  outlying  properties 
at  their  own  cost,  expecting  to  be  reimbursed  by  their  road  becoming 
a  public  road,  or  by  exemption  from  taxation  for  other  roads  ;  and 
partly,  because  it  was  impossible  to  foresee  in  what  directions 
population  would  ultimately  become  thickest,  so  as  to  demand  pub- 
lic highways.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  proprietors,  in  chrono- 
logical order,  Oct.  9,  1766,  another  set  of  unavoidable  difficulties 
confronted  them ;  namely,  matters  of  taxes  to  meet  current  and  past 
expenditures.  "  Voted  to  Raise  Nine  Shillings  on  Eaich  Right  to 
make  up  old  Rearridges."  "  Voted  and  Chose  Jonathan  Meacham, 
Stephen  Davis  and  Elkanah  Parris  a  Commetree  to  sell  the  Land  of 


554  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  Proprietors  that  are  Delinquent  in  paying  their  Rates."  "  Ex- 
cepted the  account  of  the  Commetree  of  the  Greate  River  Bridge 
which  is  £48  12  3."  Then  follow  accounts  of  several  publicly 
advertised  "  Vandues,"  "  Published  in  the  Boston  Prints  as  the  Law 
Directs,"  at  which  the  lands  delinquent  went  oif,  for  the  most  part, 
pitifully  low,  many  of  them  to  Ephraim  Seelye,  the  land-grabber. 
One  oak  lot,  No.  12,  was  bidden  off  by  Benjamin  Simonds,  for 
Is.  Ad.  3  farthings  an  acre.  The  only  possible  income  for  the 
propriety  arose  from  lands,  either  the  tax  voted  in  the  proprietors' 
meetings  on  each  "  Right,"  as  it  was  called,  or  the  small  sums 
realized  from  the  sales  of  the  lots  of  those  owners  who  refused,  or 
were  unable  to  pay,  or  had  withdrawn  from  the  settlement  alto- 
gether, abandoning  their  lands.  This  aggregate  income  was  always 
inadequate  to  the  necessary  expenditures.  This  led  to  frequent  mis- 
understandings with  the  successive  treasurers.  The  first  treasurer, 
as  we  have  learned  already,  was  Isaac  Wyman,  long  clerk  and  com- 
mander, both  at  Fort  Massachusetts  and  West  Hoosac  Fort ;  but  as 
treasurer  of  the  proprietors  of  West  Hoosac,  he  soon  fell  into  dis- 
trust and  troubles,  and  left  the  place  entirely,  and  went  to  Keene, 
New  Hampshire,  where  he  was  very  prominent  and  much  trusted, 
becoming  Lieutenant-Colonel  under  Stark,  in  1775,  and  appointed 
Colonel,  in  July,  1776.  The  second  treasurer  was  Josiah  Horsford, 
one  of  the  early  Connecticut  soldiers  here,  whose  wife  was  Jemima 
Smedley,  and  whose  house  is  still  standing  as  the  kernel  of  the 
later  Whitman  house,  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Dr.  Woodbridge  ; 
and  he  kept  to  the  post  patiently  and  uprightly  till  1766,  when  Samuel 
Kellogg  was  chosen  in  his  place.  There  were  frequent  '^  reason- 
ings "  and  ''  reckonings  "  with  the  treasurer  in  all  these  years. 

It  may  be  easily  gathered  from  all  the  foregoing  that  the  stated 
proprietors'  meetings  were  not  specially  attractive  places  to  the 
proprietors  themselves.  The  same  is  betrayed  also  by  a  clause  in 
the  warrant  for  such  a  meeting  issued  Kov.  24,  1766.  "To  Se  if 
the  Proprietors  will  Pay  those  men  that  attend  the  meetings  of  Said 
Proprietors."  Though  at  the  meeting  thus  called  it  was  "  Voted  to 
Drop  this  articiel,"  its  admittance  into  the  public  warrant  reveals 
another  large  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  practical  administering  of 
such  a  pure  democracy  as  that  was.  All  were  on  an  equality  of 
privilege  within  the  government;  but  all,  or  nearly  all,  were  poor; 
great  sacrifices  were  required  of  all  in  order  to  build  up  and  keep 
agoing  the  little  rustic  commonwealth, — roads  and  bridges  and  a 
meeting-house,  and  the  ordination  and  salary  of  a  minister,  were  to 
be  provided  out  of  their  own  slender  gains  or  reserves ;   frictions 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  555 

between  officers  and  non-officers,  and  between  individuals  as  such, 
were  certain  to  arise  under  such  circumstances,  and  between  the 
minority  and  the  majority  on  many  questions  passed  upon;  an  obvi- 
ous way  of  manifesting  those  dissatisfactions  was  to  stay  away  from 
the  authorized  and  only  legal  gatherings  for  governmental  purposes, 
and  at  the  least  it  took  time  and  trouble  to  attend  them ;  and  so,  as 
the  meetings  grew  thin,  it  occurred  to  somebody  to  try  the  experi- 
ment of  a  paid  attendance.  In  their  poverty,  it  is  surprising  that 
this  should  have  been  even  proposed;  more  surprising,  a  great  deal, 
than  that  bank  directors  and  other  members  of  corporations  in  our 
own  day  should  be  actually  paid  out  of  the  common  fund  for  par- 
ticipating in  the  common  counsels  of  the  body  corporate. 

Any  five  of  the  proprietors  could,  at  any  time,  by  request  made  to 
their  clerk,  secure  the  issuance  of  a  public  warrant  by  him,  calling 
a  legal  meeting,  the  warrant  stating  in  order  the  items  of  business 
to  be  acted  on  at  that  meeting,  and  no  other  business  could  then  be 
legally  transacted.  The  painstaking  and  fidelity  manifested  in  gen- 
eral by  the  various  committees  raised  to  prepare  the  reports  on  which 
public  and  final  action  was  to  be  taken,  is  proven  and  illustrated  at 
length  in  the  minutes  of  the  proprietors,  to  which  reference  may  be 
had.  The  original  copy  of  these  minutes  is  in  the  office  of  the  town 
clerk  of  Williamstown ;  and  the  writer  is  possessed  of  a  copy  of 
that,  made  at  his  instance  and  expense,  and  sworn  to  as  to  its  exact- 
ness before  Keyes  Danforth,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  Charles  S. 
Cole,  town  clerk,  Dec.  4,  1878. 

We  will  give  two  specimens  of  these  reports  of  committees,  because 
we  believe  that  the  reader  of  the  future  will  be  pleased  to  see  them 
just  as  they  were  rendered,  bad  spelling  and  all.  The  first  is  the 
report  of  Richard  Stratton  and  Benjamin  Simonds  on  a  new  burial- 
lot,  the  original  lot  for  that  purpose  at  the  end  of  the  North  Cross 
Street  having  been  proved  unsatisfactory,  presumably  on  account  of 
the  steep  hill  by  which  alone  it  could  be  reached. 

October  the  1  AD  1706  we  the  Subscribers  being  chosen  a  Commetee  to  Pro- 
vide a  better  Place  for  a  burying  yard  Have  attended  the  Business  and  the  Best 
Place  we  Can  fiend  is  the  frount  of  mr  John  Newbre  Home  Ix)t :  No  :  14  and 
Part  of  the  Street  Joyning  to  it  we  Suppose  to  Begin  att  the  South  East  Corner 
of  s**  Lot  and  runs  Eight  rods  into  the  Lot  Northward  and  12  rods  and  an  Half 
west  and  5  rods  into  the  Street  we  take  of  mr  Newbre  Land  Half  an  acre  and 
Half  a  Quarter  we  sopose  to  Give  Him  £2  10  0  for  it  what  we  take  from  the 
Street  is  a  quarter  and  Half  a  quarter  and  2  rod  and  an  Half  of  Ground. 

This  is  the  origin  and  nucleus  of  the  West  Cemetery.  It  has 
been  several  times  enln-'-.Ml.  more  specially  towards  the  west  and 


556  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

north ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  current  ideals  of  the  town  at  present, 
that  it  be  again  much  enlarged  towards  the  north  so  as  to  have  the 
shaded  Hemlock  Brook  its  eastern  boundary  for  a  considerable 
stretch,  and  be  beautified  throughout,  as  the  lay  of  the  land  invites 
to  ornamentation  suitable  to  God's  sown  field  and  the  burial-place 
of  the  fathers.  Also  this  report  is  evidence  enough  of  the  little 
esteem  had  by  the  early  settlers  for  the  fifteen-rod  Main  Street  west 
of  the  Hemlock  Brook.  It  did  not  seem  to  them  that  so  wide 
a  street  would  ever  be  needed  so  far  from  the  Square.  This  com- 
mittee proposed  a  burial-lot  of  one  acre,  five-eighths  off  from  one 
end  of  a  house  lot,  and  three-eighths  out  of  the  Main  Street.  The 
proprietors  had  granted  leave  conditionally  only  a  few  months 
before,  to  Joseph  Tallmadge,  to  take  one  quarter  of  an  acre  for  a 
tan-yard  out  of  the  street  at  almost  the  same  spot,  "  not  to  obstruct 
or  hinder  passing."  Passing  was  the  main  matter  with  them,  and 
scarcely  at  all  a  broad  and  beautiful  avenue  for  the  future.  The 
west  end  of  the  Main  Street  has  never  recovered  from  this  levity  of 
the  original  proprietors.  It  is  nowhere  of  the  full  width,  and  much 
of  the  way  quite  narrow  and  neglected. 

The  second  and  only  other  specimen  of  early  action  that  we  will 
quote  here,  is  in  the  form  of  a  report  from  an  important  committee, 
consisting  of  Eichard  Stratton  and  Thomas  Dunton  and  Samuel 
Kellogg. 

Williams  Town  December  the  8  1766  we  the  Subscribers  being  chosen  to  Lay 
out  and  Exchange  Roads  for  the  Propriete  we  Have  Laid  a  road  from  green 
River  Bridge  a  South  East  Coarse  Eighty  two  Rods  to  a  burch  tree  marked  H 
then  Running  South  theirty  five  rods  to  the  old  Road  wheare  the  first  two  rod 
road  goes  of  to  the  South  to  a  maple  tree  marked  H  the  road  runs  through  Der- 
ick  webbs  meadow  Lot  No  14  and  through  Nehe  Smedly  fifty  acre  lot  No  28  the 
Road  to  be  four  rods  wide  and  said  webbs  and  Smedly  to  have  the  old  Road  in 
Exchangue  for  this  We  Have  also  Laid  a  two  rod  road  from  the  above  Said 
Burch  tree  East  forty  eight  rods  through  sd  Smedly  fifty  acre  lot  to  a  maple  tree 
marked  H  thence  a  little  to  the  North  East  Eight  rods  a  Crost  a  Little  Corner 
of  mr.  Kellogg  Land  to  the  old  Road  by  the  meadow  Lots  sd  Smedley  to  have 
the  meadow  Road  through  his  land  to  Pay  for  this. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  present  road  of  egress  from  out  the 
east  end  of  our  village,  towards  IS^orth  Adams.  It  was  a  forked 
road,  starting  single  from  the  bridge,  and  dividing  at  the  foot  of 
what  used  to  be  called  the  "  Smedley  Hill,"  and  afterwards  "  Deacon 
Foote's  Hill"  (who  married  a  Smedley  and  passed  a  long  life  there), 
avoiding  the  hill,  and  striking  the  old  path  to  Fort  Massachusetts  at 
a  point  further  east.     This  straightened,  and,  of  course,  shortened. 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  557 

the  road  to  the  East  Town,  besides  avoiding  a  clay  hill ;  but,  for 
some  reason  (perhaps  because  the  ground  was  wet  as  well  as  clayey), 
the  new  road  was  not  long  maintained,  and  there  has  been,  of  late 
years,  much  talk  of  reopening  it,  or  one  corresponding  to  it,  across 
the  meadow  land  nearer  the  Hoosac. 

The  Derick  Webb  referred  to  in  the  above  report  as  the  owner  of 
meadow  lot  14,  which  not  long  after  became  a  part  of  Nehemiah 
Smedley's  farm,  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  line  of  forts  ten  years 
before,  became  a  very  early  settler  in  West  Hoosac,  and  made  his 
home  on  the  plateau  west  of  Green  River,  and  east  of  the  northeast 
quarter  of  the  village  plat.  This  was  on  hrstnlivision  tifty-acre  lot 
34,  high  ground,  that  skirted  the  meadow  lots  on  lowest  Green  River, 
and  on  the  Hoosac  as  far  as  the  Noble  Bridge.  In  all  probability 
Rev.  AVhitman  Welch  had  his  home  near  to  Mr.  Webb's.  The  latter's 
meadow  lot  Xo.  14  joined  his  own  home  lot,  though  it  lay  mostly 
east  of  the  river.  Thomas  Dunton,  a  man  in  Avhom  apparently  all 
the  proprietors  had  confidence,  a  member  of  this  very  committee 
whose  report  we  are  considering,  the  father  of  five  children,  born 
1762-1771,  had  pitched  his  place  near  the  Noble  Bridge  on  this 
same  fifty-acre  lot,  where  is  now  the  hum  of  a  huge  cotton-factory 
and  the  bustle  of  a  railway  station.  For  some  reason,  partly, 
perhaps,  because  it  was  so  sightly  and  defensible,  this  lot  No.  34, 
which  flanked  the  river  on  one  side  and  the  house-lot  plat  on  the 
other,  was  early  cut  up  into  dwelling  lots  much  more  than  any  other 
fifty-acre  lot  of  either  division.  A  short  time  before  the  death 
of  its  late  lamented  owner,  John  M.  Cole,  he  iX)inted  out  to  the 
writer  the  remains  of  at  least  two  cellars  upon  this  plateau  besides 
those  of  the  three  houses  already  referred  to.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  Derick  W^ebb  found  his  neighbors  here  too  close ;  for  we  find 
him  moving  on  into  Vermont,  after  a  fashion  that  was  much  followed 
later,  and  making  himself  a  new  home  in  Sunderland,  Bennington 
County,  in  tlie  first  company  of  settlers  there  in  17G6.  When  he 
sold  his  Williamstown  lands  in  July,  1768,  he  is  described  as  of 
''  Sunderland  in  the  Province  of  New  York  so-called  "  ;  and  the  deed 
was  acknowledged  in  "  Hoosack  before  John  MaComb  one  of  His 
Majesty's  Justices,"  etc.,  in  December,  1769.  Derick  Webb  was  the 
holder  in  1765  of  house  lot  58  here,  and  sold  to  Joel  Simonds  for 
£40,  three  years  later,  100-acre  lot  9,  and  oak  lot  38,  and  pine  lot  41, 
all  drawn  by  house  lot  oS. 

Just  midway  between  the  two  villages  in  Williamstown,  on  the 
Green  River  road,  is  a  fair  mill  privilege  (formerly  much  better 
than  now),  called  in  all  the  old  records  "  Taylor's  Crotch,"  from 


558  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Samuel  Taylor,  the  first  proprietor  of  land  at  the  junction  of  the 
Green  Eiver  and  the  Hopper  Brook,  which  constitutes  the  Crotch. 
Foreseeing  that  a  mill  would  probably  be  needed  there,  the  original 
proprietors  sequestered  ten  acres  of  land,  including  the  junction  of 
the  streams,  for  public  purposes,  and  called  it  the  "  Mill  Lot."  It 
proves  that  population  had  already  crept  up  the  Green  River  beyond 
that  point,  when  a  proprietors'  meeting  on  the  15th  of  October, 
1767,  "  Voted  to  Give  John  Kriger  Peter  Kriger  and  William  Kriger 
their  heirs  Liberty  to  Sett  up  a  Grist  mill  att  taylor's  Crotch  by  the 
1  Day  of  August  Next  on  those  Conditions  that  they  have  all  the 
Land  on  the  west  Side  of  the  West  Branch  except  what  is  Necesery 
for  Roads  and  as  much  of  the  East  Side  of  the  west  Branch  as  is 
Nessery  to  Dam  or  flow  for  the  use  of  the  Corn  mill  With  Liberty 
to  Cutt  any  timber  for  the  use  of  the  Mill  or  Dam  on  the  ten  acre  of 
Land  theire  Sequestered  Provided  they  will  keep  sd  mill  in  order 
Haveing  a  Sutable  time  to  Repare  said  mill  in  when  it  is  out  of  order 
they  to  Have  the  Privileges  Solong  as  they  keep  a  good  mill  and 
Nolonger."  Under  this  public  encouragement  there  came  into  town 
a  family  of  Dutch  millers,  who  were  then  living  in  Pownal  below, 
and  who  became  good  citizens  for  a  century,  intermarrying  with  the 
Youngs  and  other  old  families,  so  that  even  the  name  has  but  recently 
died  out  here.  "  Krigers'  Mills  "  is  still  the  best  established  name 
of  the  locality  ;  for  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  above  concession  on 
the  part  of  the  proprietors  to  the  three  "  Krigers,"  they  voted  to 
the  same  parties  by  name  "  Liberty  to  Sett  up  a  Sawmill  at  taylors 
Crotch  on  the  East  Branch  Provided  they  will  Sett  up  a  Sawmill 
by  the  first  Day  of  may  Next  on  these  Conditions  that  they  Build 
Said  mill  and  keep  it  in  Good  Repare  So  Long  and  No  Longer 
they  to  Have  it  Haveing  a  Sutable  time  to  Repare  Said  mill  in." 

A  clause  in  the  warrant  for  a  proprietors'  meeting,  to  be  holden 
in  the  new  meeting-house,  Oct.  9, 1769,  reads  as  follows :  "  To  See  if 
the  Proprietors  will  a  Low  or  for  Bid  milstones  Being  Carred  out  of 
Town  that  are  found  on  the  Proprietors  Land  with  out  a  Reasonable 
Satisfaction."  In  the  record  of  that  meeting  these  words  are  found 
in  relation  to  that  item  of  business  :  "  articiel  Dismissed  by  a  Vote." 
Mr.  Dale,  the  United  States  geologist,  who  is  familiar  with  every 
part  of  the  surface  of  Williamstown,  informs  that  those  supposed 
millstones  could  have  been  no  other  than  the  quartzites,  still  found 
in  limited  quantities  on  Stone  Hill  and  near  the  top  of  East 
Mountain.  Quartzites,  he  says,  are  not  well  adapted  to  become  mill- 
stones; nevertheless,  they  were  sometimes  used  for  that  purpose, 
and  the  reference  can  be  to  no  other. 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  559 

Some  proprietors  continued  to  be  delinquent  in  the  payment  of 
the  rates  assessed  upon  them  from  time  to  time,  for  certain  public 
expenses,  such  as  roads  and  bridges,  and  at  length  the  meeting- 
house ;  and  public  auctions  were  ordered,  in  order  to  sell  off  such 
portions  of  the  lands  delinquent  as  might  satisfy  these  claims. 
Many  lots  became  more  or  less  divided  up  in  this  way, — titles  dis- 
putable, and  owners  indifferent.  Frequent  parties  from  Connecti- 
cut, on  their  way  through  the  town  to  new  homes  in  Vermont, 
proved  attractive  to  many  families  and  intlividuals  that  had  been 
less  successful  in  their  choices  or  less  fortunate  in  their  neighbors, 
and  some  of  these  dissatisfied  ones  passed  on  to  the  northward. 
The  ix)pulation,  as  a  whole,  was  considerably  unstable.  The  ele- 
ment that  proved  the  steadiest,  that  had  been  the  most  successful, 
and  that  became,  about  1770,  in  the  good  sense  predominant,  was 
decidedly  the  old  garrison  element ;  that  is  to  say,  the  young  soldiers 
became  settlers,  who  had  done  duty  in  the  line  of  forts  in  the  French 
war,  specially  in  Fort  Massschusetts  and  in  the  West  Hoosac  Fort. 
These  men,  as  a  rule,  became  the  stand-bys  and  the  leaders  while 
peace  lasted,  and  the  strong  defenders  of  colonial  rights  and  liber- 
ties in  the  next  decade. 

The  solidity  of  some  of  those  old  soldiers  is  illustrated  in  connec- 
tion with  the  story  of  the  first  meeting-house.  It  was  a  good  deal  of 
an  achievement  to  build  that  house,  under  all  the  circumstances.  It 
was  first  occupied  by  the  proprietors  for  one  of  their  own  meetings, 
Nov.  7,  1768.  At  that  meeting  it  was  "  Voted  to  Give  Instructtions 
to  the  meeting  House  Commetee  Concerning  the  Pew  Ground  also 
Voted  to  Build  Pews  Voted  that  Said  Commetee  Go  on  and  Build 
Pews  according  to  their  Dischression  and  then  Sect  Said  House." 
At  the  same  meeting,  adjourned,  —  "  Voted  Excepted  the  Hole  of  the 
account  of  the  meeting  House  Commetee  in  the  Hole  —  £149  14«. 
lid."  Who  were  the  persons  entrusted  with  the  delicate  and  much- 
disputed  questions  about  the  first  meeting-house  ?  The  original 
committee  to  build  consisted  of  Richard  Stratton,  and  Xehemiah 
Smedley,  and  Samuel  Sanford.  Sanford  was  from  ^Milford,  Con- 
necticut, the  birthplace  of  Whitman  Welch,  the  minister,  and  was 
probably  put  on  this  committee  as  the  special  friend  of  the  min- 
ister; but,  for  some  reason  unknown  to  us,  Sanford  fell  out  before 
the  work  was  done,  and  in  March,  1768,  the  proprietors  "  Voted  and 
chose  Benjamin  Simonds  a  Commete  man  in  the  Room  of  mr 
Samuel  Sanford  for  Building  the  meeting  House."  Simonds's  name 
is  as  indissolubly  joined  to  the  story  of  the  Massachusetts  Fort  as 
that  of  any  other  man,  unless  it  be  Ephraim  AVilliams ;  and  Smedley 


560  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

was  a  Connecticut  soldier  in  the  garrison  at  West  Hoosac  as  early  as 
anybody  was,  and  his  father  had  bought  house  lot  No.  1,  in  October, 
1752,  which  the  son  purchased  in  his  own  name,  in  March,  1758,  and 
still  held.  There  was  great  difficulty  in  determining  the  place  of 
the  new  house  of  worship,  as  is  shown  by  the  clauses  of  the  warrant 
for  the  meeting  in  April,  1768;  namely,  "to  See  if  the  Proprietors 
will  appoint  a  Place  wheare  to  Sett  a  meeting  House  or  to  Com  into 
any  measures  for  the  Same  "  ;  "  to  See  if  the  Proprietors  will  agree 
with  the  town  to  Chuse  a  Place  for  the  meeting  House  or  to  chuse  a 
Commete  for  the  Same " ;  "  to  See  if  the  Proprietors  will  forbid 
the  Commetee  to  Raise  the  meeting  House  till  such  time  as  there  is 
a  Place  legally  appointed  for  the  Same  " ;  "  to  Give  Instructions  to 
the  Commetee  of  the  meeting  House  that  they  may  know  How  to 
Proceed  concerning  the  Charges  for  Raising  Said  House." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  "  Town,"  as  such,  was  incorporated 
in  1765 ;  but  this  came,  very  slowly,  to  be  able  to  confront,  as  an 
organization,  the  older  and  naturally  stronger  "Proprietary,"  which 
held  in  its  own  hands  the  times  and  modes  of  dividing  up  the  lands 
among  the  proprietors,  and  which  owned  absolutely  all  the  common 
and  undivided  lands  of  the  town.  At  the  April  meeting,  1768,  the 
proprietors  refused  to  let  the  "  town "  have  any  voice  in  hxing  the 
site  of  the  meeting-house.  They  refused,  also,  to  forbid  their  com- 
mittee to  raise  the  house  till  a  place  were  legally  appointed.  They 
voted,  the  same  day,  to  appoint  themselves  a  place  "  to  Sett  up  a 
meeting  House-"  They  decided  that  each  proprietor  should  have  as 
many  votes,  for  or  against  the  "  Square  "  as  the  place,  as  he  was 
possessed  of  acres  in  the  town.  9880  acres  then  voted  for  the  loca- 
tion on  the  Square,  and  5035  acres  voted  to  the  contrary,  and 
finally  (same  day),  "Voted  to  Leave  it  to  the  Discression  of  the 
Commetee  to  Provide  for  the  Raising  Sd  House."  In  October,  1769, 
the  proprietors  "Voted  to  Raise  one  Pound  on  Eaich  Proprietor 
Right  to  finish  the  meeting  House  and  Some  other  old  Rearriges." 
Also,  "Voted  Excepted  accounts  as  follows  to  Benjamin  Simonds 
and  Nehemiah  Smedley  for  finishing  the  meeting  House  :  £4  8s.  3d." 
In  March,  1770,  it  was  "Voted  to  Build  2  Pews  in  the  East  End  of 
the  meeting  House."  Also,  at  the  same  time,  it  was  "  Voted  not  to 
Except  the  meeting  House  as  finished."  The  records  of  the  propri- 
etors contain  no  further  references  to  the  erection  and  equipment  of 
their  meeting-house.  It  is  plain  that  their  building  committee  pos- 
sessed their  entire  confidence  both  as  men  and  as  builders. 

They  had  been  instructed  by  vote  of  the  proprietors  as  to  the  size 
of  the  building,  40  x  30  feet ;  as  to  its  location  on  the  Square,  at  the 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  661 

intersection  of  the  Main  Street  by  the  two  cross  streets  north  and 
south,  on  nearly  the  highest  ground  in  the  entire  stretch  of  the  Main 
Street,  which  is  one  mile  and  three-eighths  in  length  from  Green 
Kiver  to  the  west  branch  of  Hemlock  Brook;  also  as  to  the  pew- 
system  and  body  pews,  and  two  additional  pews  at  the  east  end 
before  the  finishing ;  and  the  same  committee  was  directed  finally 
"  to  seat "  the  meeting-house,  that  is,  to  arrange  the  families  in  the 
pews  for  Sundays  according  to  some  imaginary  order  of  rank  or 
social  worth.  For  the  rest,  the  committea  seems  to  have  gone  for- 
ward at  its  own  discretion,  and  to  have  done  everything  to  the  satis- 
faction of  their  constituents.  The  house  continued  to  be  used  for 
the  worship  of  God  for  just  thirty  years,  —  the  only  one  so  used 
in  the  entire  town.  Towards  the  last,  for  some  unknown  reason, 
Stratton  seems  to  have  retired  more  or  less  from  active  direction  in 
the  building,  and  left  it  to  his  younger  colleagues,  Simonds  and 
Smedley.  Simonds  was  forty -two  and  Smedley  thirty-six  in  17()8. 
It  is  a  noteworthy  fact,  that,  after  building  the  meeting-house  con- 
jointly and  thus  demonstrating  their  capacity  collectively,  each  of 
the  three  committee-men  should  have  erected  his  own  house  not  far 
from  the  same  time,  and  that  all  three  of  these  houses  should  be 
standing  strong  and  in  good  repair  and  substantially  unaltered  in 
this  year  of  Grace,  1893.  All  three  are  two-story  houses,  and  1773 
may  be  fairly  assumed  as  the  avemge  date  of  their  erection. 

Unluckily,  the  original  seating  of  the  meeting-house  has  not  been 
preserved.  There  were  certainly  very  few  grounds  of  social  distinc-  \ 
tion  among  the  proprietors  of  West  Hoosac  in  1768.  They  were  all  j 
farmers  without  exception ;  even  the  minister  and  the  doctor  bought 
and  sold  and  cultivated  lots  more  or  less,  like  all  the  rest.  The 
minister  was  the  only  college  graduate  in  the  place.  The  doctor 
was  Jiicob  Meack,  a  German  or  Hollander,  who  had  probably  strolled 
up  the  Hoosac  from  Albany  or  its  neighborhood.  It  is  likely  that 
he  married  his  wife  here,  although  her  full  maiden  name  has  not 
been  ascertained.  "  Betsey  Meack,  relict  of  Jacob  Meack,  physician : 
she  departed  this  life  6  Nov.  1797,  in  her  57"'  year."  They  reared 
five  daughters  here,  born  1768-76,  and  all  were  married  here;  Han- 
nah to  John  Kilborn,  Junior,  Currence  to  William  Young,  Esq.,  and 
Sally  to  Keuben  Young,  Escj.  Their  home  was  on  Main  Street, 
house  lot  12,  just  over  the  east  branch  of  Hemlock  Brook,  which 
was  often  called  from  this  circumstance  the  "  Doctor  Brook."  The 
house  is  still  standing,  thoroughly  repaired,  after  having  been  occu- 
pied for  two  generations  by  the  Kilborn  family.  Nearly  every  other 
proprietor,  besides  being  a  farmer,  had  learned  and  mnlfl  practise 


562  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

some  mechanical  trade.  One  proprietor,  doubtless,  gained  some  little 
precedence  over  others  by  length  of  time  passed  in  the  settlement 
or  its  neighborhood,  which  tended  so  far  forth  to  make  prominent 
those  who  had  been  soldiers  in  the  two  forts ;  the  few  who  were 
well-to-do  had,  of  course,  the  usual  advantage  over  those  more  strait- 
ened by  the  res  angusti  domi;  and  a  greater  age,  a  better  education, 
and  any  supposed  superior  personal  merit,  other  things  being  equal, 
would  serve  as  principles  of  grading  in  seating  a  small  meeting- 
house. Any  Yankee  has  the  privilege  of  guessing  as  to  the  slight 
precedence  of  1768,  after  the  minister  and  doctor. 

1.  Eichard  Stratton  would  be  likely  to  come  first.  He  was  older 
than  the  rest,  came  earlier  than  many,  was  well  off,  and  he  had 
three  or  four  promising  sons  who  had  nearly  reached  to  man's  estate 
when  he  came  hither  to  make  his  home,  from  Western,  about  1760. 
He  was  moderator  of  the  proprietors'  meeting  in  1761,  and  served 
in  that  capacity  eight  times  more.  There  were  sixty -three  proprie- 
tors' meetings  in  all,  from  1753  till  1802,  and  Stratton  was  moder- 
ator in  one-seventh  of  them.  No  other  citizen  served  so  many 
times.  Josiah  Horsford  served  five  times,  and  James  Meacham  five 
times,  and  all  others  a  less  number  of  times.  The  two  most  notable 
purchases  of  lands  that  Stratton  made,  were  house  lot  58  and  three- 
fourths  of  house  lot  57,  which  is  the  lot  that  runs  at  right  angles  to 
all  the  rest  of  the  house  lots,  on  account  of  the  lay  of  land  and 
water  at  the  east  end  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  the  village  plat. 
He  built  his  house  on  the  front  of  58  in  such  a  masterly  manner 
that  it  is  a  good  house  to  this  day,  and  has  had  a  remarkable  suc- 
cession of  owners  and  tenants.  Stratton  himself  died  in  it,  although 
we  do  not  know  the  date ;  Dr.  Remembrance  Sheldon  lived  in  it 
many  years  at  the  beginning  of  this  century ;  Gershom  T.  Bulkley, 
the  first  postmaster  of  Williamstown,  was  long  a  tenant,  if  not  an 
owner ;  Captain  Isaac  Latham,  also  postmaster  and  a  leading  man, 
owned  and  occupied  it ;  and  James  M.  Waterman,  chairman  of  the 
board  of  selectmen  longer  than  any  other  citizen  has  been  from  the 
beginning,  is  the  present  owner  and  occupant.  The  rear  of  this 
house  lot  is  just  as  it  was  surveyed  out  in  1750.  Some  time  after 
Eichard  Stratton  came  also  his  brother  Ichabod,  who  presently  went 
away.  Eichard's  sons,  Isaac  and  Ebenezer,  who  came  with  him, 
became  leading  men  in  the  next  generation.  Isaac  was  the  first  set- 
tler at  the  south  part,  and  continued  the  most  prominent  man  there 
so  long  as  he  lived.  In  February,  1767,  the  father  sold  his  "  well-be- 
loved son,  Ebenezer,  from  parental  affection,"  for  £5,  the  two  fifty-acre 
lots  of  the  first  division  Nos.  54  and  33  (except  te.n  acres,  north- 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  563 

east  corner  of  33),  and  pine  lot  45,  and  part  of  meadow  lot  53 
adjoining  the  two  larger  lots.  This  virtual  gift  constituted  Deacon 
Ebenezer  Stratton's  farm,  on  what  we  now  call  the  "Stratton  road," 
which  he  cultivated  in  whole,  or  in  part,  until  his  death  in  1814. 
The  father  was  commonly  called  "  Deacon  Stratton,"  and  was  a  Bap- 
tist, but  whether  such  when  he  came  and  when  he  helped  to 
build  and  "  seUt "  the  meeting-house,  is  a  point  impossible  now  to 
clear  up. 

2.  Captain  Isaac  Searle  may  well  have  ranked  second  on  the 
meeting-house  scale  in  1768.  He  was  a  dweller  in  Northampton  in 
1749,  and  sold  land  there  at  that  time.  In  1759,  and  afterwards,  he 
was  a  considerable  buyer  and  seller  of  lands  in  West  Hoosac,  and  is 
designated  as  "  cordwainer  "  in  all  those  deeds.  He  located  early 
on  house  lot  55,  which  is  the  house  lot  that  skirts  Water  Street  on 
the  west,  as  that  street  opens  up  on  Main  Street.  The  Methodist 
meeting-house  and  parsonage  now  occupy  a  part  of  the  front  of 
No.  55,  as  do  also  Sherman's  hardware  store,  and  the  old  and  long 
two-story  house  just  west  of  it.  Searle  lived  on  the  site  of  this 
house ;  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  he  built  it  in  his  old  age. 
A  little  of  the  extreme  west  end  of  house  lot  57,  cut  off  to  the  west 
by  Water  Street  striking  Main  at  right  angles,  is  now  indistinguish- 
able from  the  front  of  house  lot  55;  the  old  ''Union  House," 
so-called,  long  kept  as  a  tavern  by  "  Uncle  Jerry  Hosford "  and 
others,  stood  where  the  church  now  stands,  and  probably  wholly  on 
No.  57 ;  if  so,  the  present  lumber-yard  and  opera-house  of  Water- 
man and  Moore  in  the  rear,  are  mainly  on  57,  and  i)artly  on  the  side 
of  55.  The  Union  House  and  the  present  hardware  store  are  said 
to  have  been  built  by  David  Noble,  a  prominent  character  we  shall 
have  to  study  in  the  sequel ;  at  any  rate,  Isaac  Searle  owned  a  good 
many  lots  of  land  on  both  sides  of  Water  Street,  all  the  after-drafts 
coming  from  house  lot  55,  other  house  lots  too,  and  some  of  the 
after-drafts  from  them  also.  More  than  any  one  of  his  neighbors, 
Searle  was  getting  rich  under  the  circumstances.  In  the  first  year 
of  the  town  government,  1765,  he  was  taxed  for  £700  at  interest. 
Only  one  other  was  taxed  that  year  on  interest  money  at  all,  and 
that  was  Nehemiah  Smedley,  for  £126  in  that  form.  Money  makes 
the  mare  go ;  and  his  increasing  stores  made  Searle  of  too  much 
consideration  to  be  longer  characterized  as  "cordwainer"  in  the 
deeds,  of  which  there  were  many ;  and  he  is  "  Gentleman  "  in  this 
connection  thereafter.  He  buys  and  sells  lands,  too,  in  other  parts 
of  the  county,  e.g.,  in  New  Marlboro ;  and  in  the  Vermont  Gazette, 
10th  July,  1795,  Isaac  Searlo  and  sixty-two  others  were  published 


564  ORIGINS  IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

as  delinquents  in  paying  dues  to  the  new  town  of  "  Stratton " 
on  the  Green  Mountains,  which  derived  its  first  settlers  from 
Williamstown. 

3.  James  Meacham  is  pretty  sure  to  have  been  well  rated  in  the 
meeting-house  list  the  first  time  round.  He  was  a  subaltern  in 
Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight's  company,  rallied  to  the  relief  of  the 
camp  at  Lake  George,  after  the  battle  there,  Sept.  8,  1755,  in  which 
Colonel  Williams  was  killed.  Indeed,  Meacham's  commission  is 
dated  September  10,  and  the  men  were  mustered  for  marching  Sep- 
tember 15.  He  was  then  twenty-two  years  old,  having  been  born  in 
Salem,  March  19, 1733.  When  he  was  four  years  old,  his  father,  Jere- 
miah Meacham,  became  the  pioneer  settler  in  New  Salem,  in  what  is 
now  Franklin  County.  Dwight  led  his  company  up  the  Deerfield, 
and  over  the  Hoosac  Mountain  by  the  old  Indian  trail,  to  Fort  Massa- 
chusetts, and  down  the  Hoosac,  through  what  afterwards  came  to  be 
Williamstown,  and  up  to  Lake  George  by  the  usual  route,  where  he 
stayed  through  the  autumn,  working  part  of  the  time  on  the  luckless 
Fort  William  Henry.  Like  many  another  soldier  from  the  east- 
ward, thus  casually  passing  through  the  gateway  of  the  west,  James 
Meacham  remembered,  from  the  relatively  barren  hills  of  New 
Salem  when  he  had  gotten  home  at  last  from  the  wars,  the  fertile 
leagues  of  land  on  the  sunset  side  of  the  mountain.  A  townsman 
of  his  in  New  Salem,  by  the  name  of  Joseph  Ballard,  had  already 
become  possessed,  in  the  usual  ways,  of  several  desirable  lots  in 
West  Hoosac,  and,  on  the  5th  of  August,  1761,  sold  to  Meacham  for 
£73  8s.  8c?.,  Nos.  7  and  8  of  the  first  fifty-acre  lots,  adjoining  the 
village  plat  on  the  south.  Meacham  came  over  here  to  live  in 
August,  1762,  his  family  consisting  of  father  and  mother  and  three 
little  girls,  the  youngest,  Lucy,  being  only  six  weeks  old.  She 
never  moved  again,  dying  here,  unmarried,  May  6,  1842.  Her 
mother  was  Lucy  Rugg,  one  year  older  than  her  husband,  who  bore 
him  eleven  children.  Both  were  original  members  of  the  church 
here,  and  he  became  its  first  deacon,  serving  till  his  death  in  his 
eightieth  year.  After  he  had  been  more  than  twenty  years  a 
deacon,  he  rode  past  the  old  S medley  place  at  the  east  end  of  the 
village,  of  a  Sunday  morning,  with  his  gun  on  his  shoulder,  to  take 
part  with  Shays's  men  in  their  famous  insurrection  of  1787.  It  is 
scarcely  needful  to  add  that  many  of  his  neighbors,  and  the  Smed- 
leys  among  them,  did  not  sympathize  with  the  good  deacon  in  his 
political  passions.  But  Berkshire  was  very  much  divided  on  the 
questions  then  at  issue.  Shays  made  his  last  stand  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  Deacon  Meacham's  early  home ;  and  it  is  interest- 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  5Q5 

ing  to  conjecture  that  the  man  was  thinking  of  Xew  Salem  that 
Sunday  morning,  as  well  as  of  democratic  equalities,  when  he 
headed  his  horse  to  the  eastward. 

4.  The  second  original  deacon  of  the  Williamstown  church  was 
a  man  of  whom  we  know  little,  and  would  gladly  know  more,  while 
he  was  sure  to  have  a  good  seat  —  probably  in  a  special  deacon's 
seat  —  in  the  new  meeting-house.  His  name  was  Nathan  Wheeler. 
He  came  up  here  from  New  Milford  about  the  time  the  young  pas- 
tor did,  and  perliaps  in  some  connection  with  him,  as  did  certainly 
several  others.  He  continued  a  deacon  till  1784,  when  he  went 
away.  There  is  no  record  of  children  born  to  him  here ;  but  his  son, 
Nathan  Wheeler,  Junior,  came  with  him  and  probably  went  with 
him,  and  was  an  active  church-member.  His  farm  proved  to  be,  and 
has  continued  to  be,  one  of  the  best  in  town.  Its  original  nucleus 
was  tifty-acre  lot  No.  12,  "  lying  on  the  east  line  of  West  Hoosuck,'' 
first  occupied  by  Ephraim  Seelye  from  "  Amenia  Precinct,"  Dutchess 
County,  New  York,  "  Gentleman,"  who  soon  passed  on  to  Pownal, 
whence  his  sons,  Ephraim  and  Reuben,  returned  after  a  few  years, 
the  whole  Seelye  family  becoming  a  large  factor  (especially  in  rela- 
tion to  lands)  for  nearly  a  century  of  time.  Ebenezer  Stratton,  son 
of  Richard,  became  the  successor  in  the  deaconate  to  Nathan  Wheeler 
in  1784,  and  Daniel  Day  his  successor  on  the  farm,  much  enlarged. 
The  farm  afterwards  came  into  possession  of  old  Bissell  Sherman, 
and  was  inherited  by  one  of  his  sons. 

5.  Jonathan  Meacham,  a  cousin  of  the  preceding  Deacon  James 
Meacham,  who  had  also  taken  an  active  part  in  the  French  and 
Indian  war,  and  was,  in  some  respects,  a  more  enterprising  settler 
than  the  deacon  himself,  came  also  from  New  Salem  before  he  did, 
and  left  lasting  marks  of  his  residence  both  in  church  and  town 
records.  He  bought  after  some  other  and  earlier  purchases,  which 
entitled  him  to  a  place  in  the  first  proprietors'  meeting  of  1753,  first 
of  Seth  Hudson  for  £5  house  lot  No.  43,  a  lot  a  considerable  part  of 
which  has  long  been  owned  by  the  writer,  and  on  the  eastern  edge 
of  which  stands  his  present  house.  This  purchase  of  Meacham's 
was  made  Oct.  2,  1760.  He  proceeded  to  set  up  his  house  on  the 
north  front  of  this  lot  on  Main  Street,  very  near  where  the  West 
College  was  afterwards  built.  In  1880,  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  years  after,  it  may  be  presumed,  that  ^leacham  put  up  his  house 
there,  the  College  (now  owning  the  land)  gave  permission  to  the 
Chi  Psi  fraternity,  which  had  built  its  fine  fraternity  house  a  little 
to  the  west,  to  cut  and  use  a  tennis-court  which  happened  to  be  laid 
out  on  tho  wpstfrn  pdc'p  of  hous^  lot  43.     Horo  wov  ♦^i-o"  ...yw>,'OT.of| 


566  ORIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

the  distinct  remains  of  a  house,  some  of  the  bricks  being  entire  or 
nearly  so,  and  many  more  in  fragments ;  and  there  can  be  very  little 
doubt  that  this  was  Jonathan  Meacham's  first  house,  although  the 
^'oldest  inhabitant"  had  no  intimation  that  any  house  ever  stood 
there;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  trustworthy  record,  that,  in  1766, 
Meacham  lived  in  a  house  by  the  College  Spring  on  house  lot  49,  a 
lot  which  he  certainly  owned,  and  on  which  he  had  probably  built 
himself,  and  the  cellar  of  this  second  house  remained  open  till  long 
past  the  middle  of  the  next  century.  It  stood  just  to  the  west  of  a 
big  rock  still  reclining  there.  It  is  a  fair  conjecture  that  Meacham 
found  the  same  difficulty  in  finding  water  near  his  first  house  that 
the  builders  of  the  West  College  experienced  thirty  years  later  ;  and 
that  what  has  been  designated  for  a  long  time  the  "  College  Spring  " 
furnished  the  motive  for  his  move  from  No.  43  to  No.  49.  Some- 
what later,  he  changed  his  residence  again  to  Bee  Hill,  to  the  excel- 
lent farm  on  which  four  generations  of  the  Hickox  family  have  now 
dwelt  without  a  break.  Jonathan  Meacham  was  an  original  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  and  so  was  Thankful  Rugg,  his  w^ife ;  and  the 
first  recorded  instance  of  church  discipline  is  stated  in  the  follow- 
ing words,  the  church  meeting  being  holden  Feb.  13,  1779 :  "  Voted 
that  Sampson  How  and  Nathaniel  Sanford  be  a  committee  to  wait 
on  Jonathan  Meacham  to  enquire  the  reason  of  his  absenting  him- 
self from  communion."  So  far  as  existing  church  records  extend, 
this  committee  never  made  a  formal  report.  Meacham  and  his  wife 
were  not  dismissed  from  the  church,  but  are  designated  among  those 
"  removed  to  distant  parts." 

The  second  case  of  church  discipline,  which  may  be  properly 
enough  conjoined  with  this,  made  pastor  and  people  a  vast  deal  more 
of  trouble,  and  issued  rather  in  their  humiliation  than  in  that  of  the 
offending  brother  disciplined.  Thomas  Dunton,  from  Western  or 
its  immediate  neighborhood,  had  married  there  Mary  Davis,  a  sister 
of  Stephen  Davis,  with  whom  we  are  already  acquainted  as  the 
husband  of  Rebecca  Young.  The  Duntons  came  to  West  Hoosac 
very  early  as  settlers,  made  their  home  on  the  Hoosac  River  near 
to  the  present  Noble  Bridge,  and  took  their  full  share  in  all  the 
forms  of  life  within  the  narrow  limits  of  the  precinct.  Like  the 
rest,  they  bought  and  sold  lands,  the  chief  commodity  at  that  time; 
they  reared  at  least  five  children,  and  he  was  in  no  wise  remiss  in 
his  duties  as  a  citizen-soldier.  "This  church  think  it  their  duty 
to  make  known  and  declare  to  the  world.  That,  whereas,  Thomas 
Dunton  formerly  a  professing  member  of  this  church,  having  been 
repeatedly  guilty  of  excessive  drinking  or  drunkenness  was  and  has 


WILLIAMSTOWX.  d67 

been  as  this  church  trust  dealt  with  according  to  Christ's  rules  and 
directions,"  —  then  follows  a  detailed  account  of  the  pastor's  private 
interviews  with  the  brother,  in  which  the  offence  of  absenting  him- 
self from  the  communion  paved  the  way  to  a  discussion  of  the  more 
heinous  sin  of  ''excessive  drinking";  and  then  an  account  of  an 
interview  between  the  pastor,  accompanied  by  Captain  Israel  Harris 
and  Mr.  Nathan  Wheeler  and  the  member  under  discipline;  and 
this,  too,  brought  nothing  to  a  head.     However, — 

he  said  he  would  see  and  converse  with  the  pastor  in  private  within  a  few 
days.  However  the  pastor  did  not  have  any  opportunity  to  converse  with  him 
till  sometime  after,  when  Mr.  Nathan  Wheeler  Jr.  came  to  the  pastor  and  informed 
him  that  Mr.  Dunton  was  going  to  leave  the  Town  in  a  short  time  and  expressed 
an  opinion  that  he  should  not  leave  the  Town  under  these  circumstances,  there- 
fore desired  that  there  might  be  a  meeting  of  the  church  as  soon  as  might  be  : 
Accordingly  one  was  appointed  and  the  church  met  in  the  meeting  house  and  a 
verbal  complaint  was  exhibited  to  the  church  against  Mr.  Dunton  for  neglecting 
or  absenting  himself  from  the  communion  of  the  church  and  for  being  frequently 
guilty  of  excessive  drinking  or  drunkenness  and  for  persisting  in  these  practices 
impenitent  when  dealt  with  by  his  brethren  or  in  other  words  refusing  to  hear 
them.  The  church  referred  the  matter  and  chose  a  Committee  of  three  Capt. 
Israel  Harris,  Mr.  Nathan  Wheeler  and  Mr.  Daniel  Burbank  who  were  to  convey 
to  him  and  ask  him  to  answer  to  the  above  complaint.  The  Committee  repaired 
immediately  to  Mr.  Dunton  and  laid  the  result  of  the  church  before  him.  But 
he  refused  to  come  and  appear  before  the  church  or  give  any  satisfaction  ;  and 
even  renounced  all  relation  to  or  connection  with  the  church  and  affirmed  that 
he  had  never  been  a  member  of  Mr.  Swift's  church,  tho'  it  had  not  been  known 
to  any  of  the  Brethren  but  that  he  was  satisfied  with  Mr.  Swift  as  to  his  pastoral 
character  or  with  the  conduct  of  the  church  at  the  time  of  his  settling,  for  he 
made  no  objections  but  appeared  pleased  and  spoke  in  favor  of  Mr.  Swift's  min- 
isterial character  repeatedly  and  did  after  his  ordination  apparently  submit  to 
brotherly  discipline  and  reproof  without  pretending  or  intimating  that  he  was 
not  a  member  of  the  church.  However  at  this  time  he  refused  all  relation  and 
connection  to  the  church  telling  the  church  Committee  that  "  he  must  answer  for 
his  conduct  and  they  for  theirs."  This  report  the  Committee  brought  to  the 
church  at  another  meeting.  However  after  this  upon  Mr.  Dunton  intimating 
that  he  had  something  to  say  to  them  the  church  met.  He  appeared  but  said 
very  little  else  than  to  renounce  or  repeat  his  renunciation  of  all  connection  and 
relation  with  the  church  alleging  that  they  had  gone  and  left  him  and  he  thought 
he  had  not  left  them,  though  it  would  not  appear  wherein  unless  every  alteration 
and  reformation  of  practice  be  a  going  away  from  him.  These  being  the  circum- 
stances of  the  affair  between  Mr.  Dunton  and  the  church.  Therefore :  Voted 
and  Resolved  that  this  church  do  view  and  consider  the  said  Mr.  Thomas  Dun- 
ton as  unconnected  with  this  church  and  not  in  the  fellowship  and  communion 
of  them. 

Test.     Seth  Swift  Pastor. 

Wn.LiAMSTowx  the  2  of  July  A.D.  1780. 


568  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Thomas  Dunton,  of  Williamstown, ''  Yeoman,"  sold  to  David  Noble, 
of  Williamstown,  *'  Gentleman,"  two  acres  of  land  on  Hoosac  River 
"  adjacent  to  my  now  dwelling  house  all  the  land  lying  on  the  east- 
erly bank  of  said  river  which  belonged  to  the  meadow  lot  19,  and 
also  a  privilege  to  use  and  occupy  the  river  on  which  said  lot  is 
bounded,"  etc.     So  vanisheth  Thomas  Dunton. 

6.  John  Smedley,  the  eldest  of  a  large  family  of  brothers  and 
sisters  from  Litchfield  (now  Morris),  had  become,  by  1768,  so  prom- 
inent and  prosperous  a  citizen  as  the  proprietor  of  the  chief  saw- 
mill of  the  place,  and  of  the  two  best  pine  lots,  and  several  meadow 
lots  on  the  Lower  Hoosac  as  well  as  of  house  lots  Nos.  29  and  48,  that 
he  would  naturally  have  been  well  seated  in  the  new  meeting-house. 
His  brother  Nehemiah,  next  younger,  was  of  the  building  and  seating 
committee,  but  that  circumstance  would  hardly  have  postponed  the 
claims  of  John  Smedley,  although  very  likely  Smedley  and  Simonds, 
of  that  committee,  would  serve  themselves  later  on  that  account, 
especially  if  they  two  had  combined  to  give  the  other  member  of  the 
committee  the  first  seat,  as  has  been  supposed  above.  John  Smedley 
was  not  a  member  of  the  church.  Neither  w^as  any  one  of  the 
building  committee;  but  Eichard  Stratton's  wife  Avas  an  original 
member,  and  after  his  death  (which  occurred  not  far  from  1779) 
the  church  repeatedly  met  at  her  house,  which  was  then  by  much 
the  best  house  in  the  hamlet.  The  meeting-house  had  been  built 
and  was  always  owned  by  the  proprietors ;  undoubtedly,  the  seating 
proceeded  on  the  basis  of  some  real  or  fancied  precedence  among 
them.  The  concession  has  already  been  described  by  which  the 
proprietors,  in  1763,  permitted  John  Smedley  to  take  the  water  for 
his  sawmill  out  of  Broad  Brook  at  the  north  end  of  the  present 
bridge,  and  to  carry  it  across  the  public  road.  In  the  warrant  for  a 
proprietors'  meeting,  issued  in  February,  1768,  one  of  the  items 
of  business  was,  "  To  chuse  a  Committee  to  Sew  John  Smedley  for 
Not  making  the  Bridge  when  he  turned  the  Brook."  But  at  the 
meeting  itself,  in  March,  it  was  "  Voted  not  to  sew  John  Smedley." 
The  Smedley  family  came  with  Bev.  Peter  Bulkley  from  England, 
and  followed  him  from  Boston  to  Concord,  which  he  founded  in  1636. 
They  were  John  and  Baptist.  Both  became  freemen  in  Concord  in 
1644,  and  John  prominent  there  later.  John's  son,  Samuel,  was  in 
Fairfield,  Connecticut,  in  1690.  His  son,  Samuel,  born  in  1702, 
married  Esther  Kilborn  in  1729.  Their  eldest  child,  born  Jan.  4, 
1731,  was  our  John  Smedley.  He  married  Deliverance  Humphreys, 
and  they  had  eight  children,  three  born  in  Litchfield  and  five  in 
Williamstown.     One  only  was  a  son,  John  ;  the  seven  daughters  all 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  569 

lived  to  be  married;  Deliverance  to  Joel  Baldwin,  Amy  to  James 
Fowler,  Amelia  to  Samuel  Hawkins,  —  these  three  continued  to  live 
in  Williamstown ;  Mary  to  John  Boynton,  who  moved  to  Cornwall, 
Vermont;  Huldah  to  Warren  Uibbs,  who  moved  to  Middlebury,  Ver- 
mont; and  Tryphena  to  Richard  Kinney,  and  Olive  to  Moses 
McMaster,  and  both  of  these  families  removed  to  Georgia,  Vermont. 
Mrs.  Baldwin  lived  here  to  old  age,  and  went  by  the  name  of  "Aunt 
Dill "  in  the  neighborhood  where  she  dwelt,  but  finally  migrated 
with  her  grandnephew,  Lemuel,  to  Great  Bend,  Pennsylvania,  within 
the  memory  of  some  now  living. 

John  S medley,  Junior,  married  Elsie  Williams,  daughter  of  that 
Nehemiah  Williams  whose  acquaintance  we  have  made  as  living  by 
the  big  rock  near  the  Pownal  line,  on  Northwest  Hill,  and  as  wit- 
nessing some  of  the  surrendering  soldiers  of  Burgoyne  filing  down 
the  opposite  Pownal  hills.  Smedley's  home  was  not  far  from  his 
father's,  on  fifty-acre  lot  No.  6,  of  the  first  division,  whicli  holds  the 
famous  Sand  Spring;  and  the  second  John  Smedley  was  the  first 
known  owner  of  that  watering-place,  which  has  had  a  vicissitudinous 
history  as  such  ;  and  the  tradition  is  still  stirring,  adown  its  appro- 
priate lines,  that  old  Aaron  Smedley,  born  in  1750,  who  was  a 
vagrant  hunter,  living  mostly  in  Vermont,  used,  on  his  visits  to  his 
relatives  in  Williamstown,  to  frequent  his  nephew's  rude  bathing- 
place,  for  the  benefit  of  his  eczema.  A  third  John  Smedley,  son  of 
John,  Junior,  born  April  21,  1780,  married  Mary  Morse,  moved 
afterwards  to  Clinton  County,  New  York,  returned  to  Williamstown 
in  1822,  and  then  moved  to  Allen  County,  Ohio,  where  he  died. 
This  Smedley  is  more  interesting  on  account  of  his  posterity  than 
from  anything  in  his  own  biography.  His  daughter  Lois,  born 
March  12,  1783,  was  married  to  Reuben  Stetson  at  Cornwall,  Ver- 
mont, in  July,  1801,  and  thirteen  children  were  the  fruit  of  that 
union.  Mrs.  Stetson  died  the  last  day  of  August,  in  1866.  One  of 
her  sons,  named  Lemuel  Stetson,  after  one  of  her  brothers,  Lemuel 
Smedley,  the  same  who  took  "Aunt  Dill,"  in  her  old  age,  from 
Williamstown  to  Great  Bend,  Pennsylvania,  became  the  father  of 
Francis  Lynde  Stetson,  born  April  23,  1846  (Williams  College, 
1867),  distinguished  as  a  lawyer  in  New  York,  and  particularly  as 
bringing  into  his  law  firm  President  Cleveland,  at  the  close  of  his 
first  administration.  F.  L.  Stetson's  mother  was  Helen  Hascall; 
and  his  father  was  in  political  and  judicial  life  in  the  state  of  New 
York  all  tlie  time  (nearly)  from  1835  to  1862. 

7.  Daniel  Burbank,  of  Western,  referred  to  in  the  above  case  of 
church  discipline  against  Thomas  Dunton  as  a  coadjutor  with  the 


570  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

pastor,  is  written  in  old  deeds  as  of  ''  West  Hoosuck,"  as  early  as 
1761.  He  bought  in  that  year,  in  company  with  Benjamin  Simonds, 
one-half  of  two  fifty-acre  lots  of  the  second  division,  —  :N"os.  56  and 
57, —which,  two  years  later,  became  wholly  his  own,  and  on  the 
latter  of  which  he  built,  shortly  afterwards,  the  first  framed  house 
in  the  South  Part.  It  consisted  of  one  room.  The  next  year  another 
room  was  added,  in  which  Aaron  Deming  was  permitted  to  live 
until  he  could  house  himself  upon  his  own  100-acre  lot,  as  already 
described.  Burbank's  lots  were  level  and  fertile  and  heavily 
wooded.  The  Ashford  Brook  crossed  them  both  not  far  from  their 
eastern  end  and  but  a  little  before  its  junction  with  the  Hancock 
Brook,  and  the  road  to  the  south  crossed  them  diagonally  just  about 
their  middle.  He  had  at  first  but  one  neighbor,  and  that  was  Isaac 
^tratton,  li-ving  then  in  a  log-house  on  No.  53,  just  north  of  the 
Hancock  Brook,  where  that  hastens  to  unite  with  the  Ashford,  in 
the  same  lot,  53,  on  which  is  the  present  site  of  the  Sabin  House,  in 
the  centre  of  the  little  village,  —  a  site  that  has  been  occupied  as  a 
tavern  almost  ever  since.  But  Stratton  soon  crossed  the  brook  upon 
IN"o,  54;  and  built  his  house  on  the  site  occupied  for  life,  a  few  rods 
South,  on  the  west  side  of  the  road ;  and  he  shortly  after  owned  and 
cultivated  No.  55,  also,  which  lay  between  himself  and  Burbank. 
The  latter' s  own  axe  was  the  first  to  make  clearings  on  57  and  56, 
and  his  own  plough  was  the  first  that  ever  stirred  the  rich  intervale 
there.  It  was  long  called  the  Burbank  farm.  Let  it  be  so  called 
forever!  His  wife  was  Mary  Marks,  —  likely  to  have  come  from 
Western,  —  and  the  eldest  of  their  ten  children  was  born  in  Febru- 
ary, 1766.  Both  Burbank  and  his  wife  were  original  members  of 
the  one  church,  and  their  place  of  meeting  was  more  than  five  miles 
from  their  home.  The  roads  were  rough,  and  over  Stone  Hill  very 
steep  both  ways,  but  it  is  altogether  likely  that  they  were  in  their 
pew  in  the  new  meeting-house,  after  1768,  most  of  the  Sundays  of 
the  year,  and  he  was  certainly  often  at  the  church  meetings  on  week 
days.  The  same  was  true  of  Isaac  Stratton,  his  next  neighbor. 
Accordingly,  we  find  the  proprietors  building  a  bridge  for  them  over 
the  Hancock  Brook,  in  what  is  now  the  hamlet  of  South  Williams- 
town,  even  before  they  built  one  over  the  Green  River,  at  the  east- 
ern end  of  the  north  village,  although  there  were  many  more  settlers 
east  of  that  stream  than  south  of  its  tributary.  The  truth  is,  that 
Stratton  and  Burbank  were  pushing  and  prosperous  young  men,  and 
soon  became  prominent. 

The  only  reason  why  the  writer  presumes  that  Burbank  may  have 
been  seated  in  precedence  to  Stratton  is,  that  the  latter  was  son  to 


WILLIiUISTOWN.  571 

that  one  of  the  seating  committee,  Richard  Stratton,  who  would  nat- 
urally take  the  first  seat,  by  the  vote  of  his  two  colleagues,  much 
younger  than  he.  Burbank's  life  was  uneventful,  except  as  he  went 
out  repeatedly  in  the  militia  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  He 
was  in  the  battle  of  Bennington  as  a  private,  though  his  rank  in  the 
militia  at  that  time  was  Lieutenant.  His  eldest  son,  Samuel,  be- 
tween eleven  and  twelve  years  old  at  that  time,  lived  to  tell  William 
Dickinson,  who  told  the  writer,  that  his  mother  directed  him  repeat- 
edly, on  the  memorable  day  of  the  battle,  to  put  his  ear  on  the  ground 
and  listen,  and  that  he  did  so,  and  heard  the  sound  of  the  cannon 
distinctly  and  more  than  once.  The  distance  is  twenty  miles. 
This  son,  also,  transmitted  the  never-to-be-forgotten  remark  of  the 
father,  when  he  had  returned  from  that  battle,  in  which  a  bullet 
had  grazed  his  ear:  ••  After  they  had  fired  once  and  we  had  fired 
once,  I'd  just  as  soon  be  in  the  battle-field  as  in  the  potato  field ! " 

8.  Isaac  Stratton  had  a  much  more  intimate  and  influential  con- 
nection with  the  battle  of  Bennington  than  his  brave  neighbor  Bur- 
bank  ;  but  the  story  of  that  is  best  deferred  until  a  later  chapter  may 
open  up  that  whole  subject.  So  far  as  appears  at  this  late  day,  Isaac 
Stratton,  more  than  any  one  else  in  the  early  times  here,  was  under 
the  dense  shade  of  his  father's  good  name  and  great  activity.  But 
they  lived  about  five  miles  distant  from  each  other,  and  the  son  easily 
held  the  first  place  at  the  South  Part,  as  the  father  did  more  easily  at 
the  North  Part.  Richard  Stratton's  sons  clung  firmly  to  the  old, 
established  church  order,  as  did  also  his  wife,  while  he  himself  became 
a  Baptist,  and  has  no  name  on  the  Congregational  church-record. 
This  does  not  seem  to  have  detracted  at  all  from  his  influence  and 
popularity.  Isaac  was  his  oldest  chikl,  and  seven  others  followed,  all 
born  in  Western.  Isaac's  birth  fell  in  November,  1739,  and  he  was 
consequently  twenty-two  years  old,  if,  as  is  probable,  the  family 
moved  hitlier  in  1761.  Tlie  father  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of 
property  when  he  came.  He  bought,  in  April,  1762,  what  ever  after 
continued  to  be  his  homestead ;  namely,  house  lot  58,  and  a  part  of 
fifty-acre  lot  34,  directly  north  of  the  house  lot,  "  and  supposed  to  be 
about  13  acres."  For  this  he  paid  Derick  Webb  £34,  and  Elkanah 
Parris  and  Isaac  Stratton  signed  the  deed  as  witnesses.  It  is  reason- 
ably certain  that  the  older  Stratton  had  bought,  a  year  or  two  before 
this,  the  two  fifty-acre  lots  at  the  south  part,  Nos.  53  and  54,  which 
soon  became  the  patrimony  of  Isaac,  because  the  evidence  is  com- 
plete that  Isaac  built  his  cabin  on  No.  54  by  the  brookside  in  1761, 
if  not  in  1760.  Professor  Kellogg,  in  "Field's  Berkshire,"  wrote  in 
1829  from  hearstiy :  "  It  was  not  till  about  1760  that  Isaac  Stratton, 


572  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

son  of  Eichard,  began  on  the  spot  ever  since  occupied  by  a  tavern  in 
the  centre  of  the  village.  He  was  there  alone  about  three  or  four 
years."  In  September,  1766,  the  father,  in  consideration  of  £7, 
"  together  with  that  parental  love  and  affection  which  I  have  and  do 
bear  to  him  the  said  Isaac  Stratton  my  well  beloved  son,"  deeded  the 
lots,  53  and  55,  to  the  son.  In  August,  1767,  the  latter  sold  No.  53 
to  Samuel  Sloan,  who  soon  built  and  opened  a  tavern  on  the  site  of 
Stratton's  cabin,  while  the  latter  moved  south  of  the  brook  and 
established  himself  for  life  on  a  pleasant  knoll  on  No.  54. 

Isaac  Stratton  and  Mary  Fox,  his  wife,  had  two  children  born  to 
them  while  they  still  lived  north  of  the  brook,  and  at  least  three 
afterwards  at  their  permanent  home  south  of  it.  Both  were  original 
members  of  the  church,  and  he  died  in  its  communion ;  while,  after 
his  decease  in  1789,  the  widow  married  Eev.  Clark  Eogers  and  left 
the  town  with  him ;  but  when  she  died  in  1812  her  body  was  brought 
back,  and  lies  buried  by  the  side  of  her  first  husband  in  the  burial- 
yard  at  the  junction  of  the  brooks.  Besides  military  services  of  a 
high  character  under  all  the  commissions  in  the  militia  up  to  Major, 
Isaac  Stratton  was  early  commissioned  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and 
began  to  draw  the  simple  legal  writings  needed  in  so  primitive  a 
community.  He  was  town  clerk  also  for  a  long  time.  He  drew  the 
entire  confidence  of  the  people  in  all  parts  of  the  town.  He  was 
pecuniarily  prosperous  in  the  then  current  usage  of  that  term.  After 
the  definitive  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  in  1783,  he  prepared 
to  erect  for  himself  a  new  house  of  two  stories  and  ample  dimen- 
sions. The  materials,  for  the  most  part,  were  close  at  hand,  growing 
upon  his  own  land.  The  timbers  are  still  in  place  and  in  good  pres- 
ervation to  the  present  time.  "The  rafters  are  long  poles  of  quite 
uniform  size,  such  as  grew  then  luxuriantly  on  intervale  land  by  the 
brooksides.  A  bit  of  white  marble  set  in  the  chimney  bears  the 
legend  legible  yet :  — 

I.   o. 

1785 

Stratton  enjoyed  his  new  house  but  four  years,  and  passed  on 
into  a  house  not  made  with  hands.  His  headstone  in  the  cemetery 
nearly  opposite  the  house  to  the  eastward  bears  the  simple  epitaph : 
"Isaac  Stratton  Esq.  died  April  3,  1789,  aged  50." 

The  precedence  of  Isaac  Stratton  at  the  South  Part,  both  in  point 
of  time  and  general  position  over  the  other  early  and  excellent 
settlers  there,  makes  the  appellation  of  "  Stratton  Mountain," 
appropriated  to  the  huge  wedge  of  rock  and  soil  and  forest,  thrust 
northward  into  the  acute  angle  formed  by  the  Hancock  and  Ash- 


WILLIAMSTOWN. 


573 


ford  brooks,  a  good  name  to  the  mountain,  and  a  fitting  memorial  to 
the  man.  On  the  same  day  in  September,  1766,  when  Richard  Stratton 
gave  his  son,  Isaac,  his  farm  in  South  Williamstown,he  also  gave  his 
second  son,  Daniel,  for  £5,  "together  with  that  parental  love  and 
affection  which  I  have  and  do  bear/'  etc.,  a  good  farm  in  the  White 
Oaks,  consisting  of  first-division  fifty-acre  lot  No.  51,  with  parts  of 
two  meadow  lots  adjoining  the  main  lot,  and  two  oak  lots  convenient 
of  access  to  the  homestead.  It  has  been  noted  already  that  the  father 
also  gave  on  similar  terms  to  his  third  son,  Ebenezer,  an  excellent  farm 
on  Green  River,  on  which  this  son  lived  and  died,  the  road  leading  to 
which  has  recently  been  christened  by  the  town  the  "  Stratton  road." 


ISAAC   STRATTON'S   HOUSE. 
Built  1785. 

9.  Not  much  inferior  in  point  of  social  consideration  to  Daniel 
Burbank  was  Thomas  Roe,  from  Canaan,  Connecticut,  who  bought 
of  Asa  Douglas,  then  of  that  place,  for  £30,  in  December,  1764,  the 
fifty-acre  lot  next  south  of  Burbank's,  and  the  last  in  that  tier  of 
lots.  Then  follow  in  that  direction  the  100-acre  lots,  on  which  the 
Demings  first  sat  down.  The  deed  from  Douglas  to  Roe  was  exe- 
cuted in  Canaan,  when  the  latter  was  twenty-eight  years  old,  and 
his  wife,  Mary  Welles,  was  three  years  younger.  She  was  from 
Hartford.  They  undoubtedly  began  on  their  new  lot  in  the  spring 
of  1765.  The  deed  was  executed  in  Canaan  before  John  Beebe, 
Justice  of  the  Peace.  Here  they  lived  to  have  twelve  children,  of 
whom  the  eldest  was  Elisha,  born  Dec.  5,  1768.  Their  lot.  No.  58, 
ran  back  to  the  Ashford  Brook  on  the  east,  and  was  flanked  on  that 


574  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

side  by  Deer  Hill,  one  of  the  foothills  of  the  Greylock  group ;  and 
Elisha  Eoe,  as  well  as  Samuel  Burbank,  reported  in  their  old  age  to 
the  youngsters  that  they  used  to  see  the  deer  sport  and  graze  on 
the  swell  over  the  brook.     Hence  the  name  "Deer  Hill." 

Both  Thomas  and  Mary  K-oe  were  members  of  the  first  church 
here  when  Mr.  Swift  was  settled  in  1779 ;  and  as  there  is  no  list  of 
the  church-members  previous  to  that  time,  and  as,  after  Mr.  Welch 
went  away  to  the  army  in  the  autumn  of  1775,  all  church  matters  were 
in  confusion  for  four  years,  it  is  best  to  regard  Mr.  Swift's  flock  of 
1779  as  the  primitive  sheep  of  the  place.  Forty  of  these  were  hus- 
bands and  wives,  of  whom  eleven  couples  continued  for  life  in  the 
communion  of  the  church,  and  nine  couples  were  dismissed,  or 
removed  from  the  town.  Of  the  remaining  twenty-one,  nine  con- 
tinued in  their  relation  to  the  local  church  till  their  death,  and 
twelve  withdrew  elsewhere.  Tradition  still  continues  to  whisper 
kind  words  about  the  family  of  Thomas  Eoe  at  the  south  part,  but  the 
inexorable  silence  will  soon  set  in.  The  first  and  only  well-authen- 
ticated case  of  ''  bundling  "  in  the  early  times  of  West  Hoosac  has 
been  preserved  in  connection  with  the  hospitable  house  of  Thomas 
Roe.  Old  Aaron  Deming  told  Dan  Foster,  who  owned  and  occupied 
the  Roe  place  during  a  long  and  reputable  life,  that  he  slept  in  the 
Roe  house  the  first  night  he  ever  slept  in  the  town,  and  that  he 
found  a  couple  there  who  were  sparking  and  bundled ;  and  that  he 
slept  with  them  on  the  same  bed,  the  young  lady  on  the  front  side, 
and  the  "  Sparker "  next,  and  he  on  the  outside  ;  "  But  I  didn't 
covet  her ! "  The  second  son,  Welles  Roe,  born  Dec.  29,  1779,  was 
killed  while  driving  into  the  barn  on  a  load  of  hay,  after  a  manner 
somewhat  common  in  Kew  England  in  the  olden  time.  The  eldest 
son,  Elisha,  married  Electa  Hill,  of  Goshen,  Connecticut,  a  daughter 
of  Ambrose  and  Lucy  Beach  Hill.  They  moved  to  Medina,  New 
York,  and  had  eleven  children  between  1799  and  1819.  Four  of 
these  were  still  living  in  1885.  One  of  them,  Mrs.  Roxanna  Roe 
Pratt,  at  that  date  resided  at  3823  Ellis  Avenue,  Chicago,  and  com- 
municated with  parties  in  Williamstown  on  points  relating  to  her 
ancestry.  Elisabeth  Roe,  a  sister  of  Elisha  and  Welles,  married,  in 
1793,  Rev.  Aaron  Simmons,  a  Baptist  minister ;  and  another  sister 
married  Mr.  Martin,  of  Bennington ;  and  still  another,  Mr.  Calkins, 
of  Waterbnry,  Vermont.  The  following  letter,  this  day  received 
from  Mrs.  Roxanna  Roe  Pratt,  a  granddaughter  of  Thomas  Roe, 
herself  born  on  the  old  farm  in  1812,  printed  exactly  as  she  wrote 
it,  may  interest  somebody  long  after  both  writer  and  recipient  (to 
use  her  words)  "  have  past  to  their  long  home  " :  — 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  575 

Professor  Perrv,  f^"'"""'  ""y  ^S.  1893. 

Dear  Sir,  Your  letter  in  answer  to  my  daughters  husband  Mr.  Steele  was 
received  with  many  thanks,  for  your  kindness  in  giving  us  the  information  con- 
cerning the  Roe  family,  Thomas  Hoe  was  my  Granfather,  I  was  the  daughter 
of  his  son  Elisha  Roe.  You  were  correct  in  the  number  of  children  of  my 
Grandfather,  my  Father  hatl  eleven  children.  I  was  the  youngest  of  five  girls, 
and  all  have  pi\st  to  their  long  home,  but  myself  only  waiting  until  the  shadows 
are  a  little  longer  grown.  I  have  the  Old  family  Bible  of  my  Grandfathers,  it 
is  so  old  that  some  of  letters  and  dates  are  Illegible.  I  know  my  Grandfather 
was  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  but  Imve  no  proof  of  it,  but  through  you,  my 
older  brothers  used  to  play  Soldiers  with  his  Regimentals  I  was  quite  young 
when  they  died.  I  think  my  Grandfather  was  eighty  seven,  and  my  Grand- 
mother eighty  two,  I  remember  them  veiy  well,  The  reason  of  this  request,  my 
daughters  wished  to  join  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution.  There  is  a  large 
Society  of  them  in  this  city,  of  all  the  prominent  familes  of  the  eastern  states, 
and  are  quite  Enthusiastic  so  all  join  that  can.  You  remember  my  daughter 
Mrs  Sidley  in  one  of  her  visits  to  see  her  son  William  while  he  was  in  College, 
told  me  of  your  kindness  in  taking  her  to  ride  down  through  South  Williams- 
town,  by  the  old  Homestead,  and  I  feel  very  much  gratified  for  your  kindness 
in  so  doing,  my  Grandson  William  is  a  lovely  man,  he  is  a  Lawyer  in  a  very 
prominent  firm  here,  and  doing  very  nicely. 

He  and  his  Mother  sends  their  kindest  regards  to  you,  hoping  to  see  you  this 
summer  at  our  Worlds  Fair,  and  they  will  give  you  a  most  cordial  welcome  at 
their  home,  Please  excuse  my  long  epistle  explaining  family  matters,  you  can 
p^.o  t),..  (\](\  hand  a  little  shaky,     again  thanking  you  I  remain  your  friend 

Mrs  Roxanna  Pratt. 

10.  In  one  of  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  learned  some 
interesting  facts  in  relation  to  Samuel  Kellogg,  who,  by  the  time  the 
first  meeting-house  was  built  in  1768,  was  well  established  on  his 
farm,  situated  just  half-way  between  the  east  end  of  the  village  and 
the  east  boundary  of  the  town,  and  who  would  doubtless  consider 
himself,  and  be  considered  by  others,  entitled  to  a  pew  of,  at  least, 
the  average  respectability;  especially  as  he  and  his  wife,  Chloe 
Bacon,  were  both  in  personal  covenant  with  the  church,  and  as  they 
had  had  three  children  when  the  "  seating  of  the  meetinghouse  '^ 
took  place.  Samuel  Kellogg,  the  son  of  Benjamin,  Avas  born  in  old 
Hadley  (long  the  seat  of  the  family),  June  9,  1734,  and,  like  many 
another  young  man  of  his  time,  dropped  down  the  Connecticut 
River  into  the  state  below,  and  crept  back  into  Massachusetts  by 
the  Housatonic.  The  fact  is,  the  direct  mountain  barrier  in  Massa- 
chusetts between  the  Connecticut  and  the  Hoosac  and  the  Hou- 
satonic was,  for  a  long  time,  too  formidable  for  direct  assault. 
Kellogg  came  up  from  Canaan,  Connecticut,  in  17G1,  along  a  path 
that   had   l)ei*n   already,    for  ten   years.    i)retty   well  frcfiuented   ])v  ' 


576  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

young  men  both  in  peace  and  war.  The  place  where  he  sat  down, 
after  some  shiftings,  was  on  the  rude  path  between  Fort  Massachu- 
setts and  West  Hoosac  Fort,  midway  between  the  two.  It  was  the 
present  road.  It  was  the  path,  in  reference  to  which  the  West 
Hoosac  proprietors  voted,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1762,  "  To  clear 
a  road  to  the  East  town  for  a  cart  to  get  along."  The  surveyors, 
in  laying  out  the  fifty-acre  lots  of  the  first  division,  caused  ten  of 
those  lots  to  abut  at  their  north  end  upon  this  road,  while  they 
stretched  upon  the  south  towards  Saddle  Mountain;  and  north  of 
this  road  to  the  Hoosac  Eiver  were  two  fifty-acre  lots  (Nos.  26  and 
27)  and  several  meadow  lots.  Kellogg  began  on  the  north  end  of 
No.  19,  but  still  on  the  south  side  of  the  fort  road,  because  the  land 
was  a  little  higher  on  that  side.  His  first  log  house  stood  a  little 
back  of  some  present  poplar  trees  planted  by  his  son,  and  now  (1893) 
very  old.  He  bought,  at  various  times,  adjoining  lands  on  both 
sides  the  road,  and  extending  northwards  as  far  as  the  river,  to  and 
along  which  it  was  only  possible  to  pass,  at  first,  by  jumping  from 
one  prostrate  log  to  another  on  account  of  the  wetness  of  tl^e  land, 
until  he  had  compacted  there  a  farm  of  about  170  acres. 

Of  course,  the  first  thing  for  him  to  do,  as  for  each  other  pristine 
settler  throughout  the  town,  was  to  chop  down  some  trees  at  some 
selected  point,  and  thus  at  once  to  make  a  place,  and  get  the  mate- 
rials for  a  log  cabin  for  shelter  and  an  incipient  home  ;  and  the  next 
thing  was  to  clear  off  more  ground  for  some  arable  land.  All  this 
involved  hard  labor,  and  much  of  it,  and  the  time  could  not  be 
essentially  hastened ;  and  nothing  but  the  plough  could  determine, 
beyond  all  question,  the  quality  of  the  soil.  Kellogg  found  his  land 
south  of  the  fort  road,  and  near  it,  to  be  very  clayey  upon  trial. 
When  he  came  to  be  able  to  put  up  a  framed  house,  and  a  two-story 
one  at  that,  on  his  slowly  expanding  arable  acres,  he  selected  a  site 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  where  the  land,  too,  proved  to  be, 
and  has  continued  to  be  till  this  day,  of  a  more  tractable  and  fertile 
quality. 

Pretty  direct  and  reliable  tradition  maintains  that  Samuel  Kel- 
logg, while  subduing  his  homestead  in  the  early  years,  sometimes 
felt  obliged  to  take  refuge  o'  nights  in  one  or  other  of  the  two  forts 
which  were  about  equally  accessible  to  him.  The  Indians  continued 
to  prowl  along  their  old  war-paths  even  after  the  gen,eral  Peace  of 
Paris  of  1763.  In  the  course  of  twenty  years  or  so,  Kellogg  became 
possessed  of  another  farm  southeast  of  his  homestead  and  at  more 
than  a  mile  interval  from  it,  on  the  high  and  excellent  land  toward 
Saddle  Mountain,  partly  in  the  present  town  of  North  Adams,  to 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  577 

which  and  across  which  ran  then,  as  now,  a  road  parallel  to  the  river- 
road,  hugging  tlie  hills.  Samuel  Kellogg,  Junior,  inherited,  on  his 
father's  death  in  1788,  both  the  homestead  and  the  hill-farm,  and 
some  account  of  these  lands,  as  typical  of  others  like  them  through- 
out the  town,  may,  perhaps,  be  found  on  pages  to  follow.  The  elder 
Kellogg  is  believed  by  his  descendants  to  be  in  the  direct  line  of 
Joseph  Kellogg,  one  of  tlie  original  settlers  in  old  Hadley  in  1660, 
a  Puritanic  family,  and,  as  first  exemplified  in  Williamstown,  intelli- 
gent and  enterprising  and  prosperous  and  patriotic. 

Samuel  Kellogg  was  prominent  among  the  proprietors  here  from 
the  first,  sometimes  presided  at  their  meetings,  and  more  often  was 
assessor  or  other  officer,  and  chairman  of  their  important  committees. 
As  the  questions  that  slowly  culminated  in  the  American  Revolution 
were  developed  one  after  another,  he  took  upon  them  a  decidedly 
patriotic  stand,  perhaps  in  part  on  account  of  the  warm  Scotch  blood 
that  flowed  in  his  veins,  and  certainly  in  sympathy  with  his  relatives 
of  the  same  name  in  Hadley  and  Hatfield.  As  the  war  drew  on,  he 
went  to  Boston  several  times  as  a  member  of  the  local  "  Committee 
of  Safety  "  in  Williamstown,  and  on  other  business  connected  with 
the  colony;  and  he  was  in  the  battle  of  Bennington  with  nearly 
every  other  able-bodied  man  of  the  town.  His  wife's  father,  Daniel 
Bacon,  was  killed  in  that  battle,  as  were  two  other  citizens  of  the 
town.  It  is  believed  by  his  grandson,  Giles  Bacon  Kellogg,  that  he 
was  commissioned  a  justice  of  the  peace  here  under  the  Crown  before 
the  war  broke  out,  and  that  he  bore  the  title  of  "  Esquire  "  from 
that  source ;  at  any  rate,  he  served  as  a  justice  and  bore  that  title 
after  the  war  was  over ;  and  there  is  very  little,  if  any,  doubt  that 
he  tried  in  that  capacity  a  gang  of  counterfeiters  that  had  operated, 
or  were  supposed  to  have  operated,  in  the  depths  of  the  Hopper. 
They  were  betrayed  by  the  smoke  arising  from  their  fires,  and  were 
arrested  on  legal  process  issued  by  him.  Giles  B.  Kellogg  (Williams 
College,  1829)  writes  as  follows :  "  I  know  there  was  a  mysterious 
chest  kept  locked  or  nailed  up  in  the  closet  of  the  southeast  chamber 
of  our  house,  which  was  said  to  contain  the  tools  taken  from  the 
counterfeiters  and  delivered  to  grandfather.  I  never  heard  what 
became  of  the  counterfeiters  or  knew  what  became  of  the  tools." 

Samuel  Kellogg  died  when  he  was  fifty-four  years  old,  leaving 
much  of  his  projjerty  and  of  his  position  to  his  son  of  the  same  name, 
who  was  born  Sept.  29,  1766.  The  father  had  a  half-brother,  Eben- 
ezer  Kellogg,  who  outlived  him  more  than  forty  years,  and  who 
made  his  home  with  him  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  and  who  exem- 
plifies a  sort  of  character  considerably  common  in  New  England 


578  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

during  the  last  part  of  the  last  century  and  the  beginning  part  of 
this.  His  wife  was  Filene  Fuller,  and  they  lived  at  the  eastward 
till  after  her  death,  when,  having  no  children,  he  came  over  the 
mountain  to  his  brother's,  and  never  after  removed,  but  died  here 
about  1831.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  physical  frame  and  of  no  ordinary 
intelligence,  and  was  exceedingly  fond  of  the  unbroken  forests.  He 
was  a  great  hunter  and  fisherman,  and  claimed  to  be  a  skilful  root- 
doctor.  After  his  brother's  death,  he  would  sometimes  leave  his 
nephew's  house  and  be  absent  for  a  week  at  a  time,  hunting  and  fish- 
ing and  searching  for  roots  in  the  woods  and  mountains.  He  came 
and  went  easily,  making  no  reports  of  his  journeys,  nor  seeming  to 
think  of  them  as  worthy  of  any  chronicle.  But  he  had  a  good  mem- 
ory of  the  earlier  times  and  persons,  was  fond  of  reporting  the 
epitaphs  of  the  Kelloggs  in  the  old  Hadley  burying-ground,  and 
some  of  the  facts  above  noted  in  relation  to  Samuel  Kellogg  have 
come  down  through  this  singular  informant. 

11.  Daniel  Bacon,  the  father-in-law  of  Samuel  Kellogg,  was  from 
Middletown,  Connecticut,  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  son  of  Nathaniel 
Bacon,  2d,  of  Middletown,  and  the  best  known  of  the  three  men 
from  Williamstown  killed  in  the  battle  of  Bennington.  His  daugh- 
ter Chloe  married  Kellogg,  in  March,  1764,  and  some  time  after  her 
husband's  death,  in  1788,  she  married  Thomas  Henderson,  a  farmer 
of  Bennington,  and  lived  there  until  1829,  when  she  died,  aged 
eighty-five.  She  was,  accordingly,  twenty-three  years  old  when  she 
married  Kellogg,  and  her  father  must  have  been  older  than  the 
average  incomer  when  he  settled  here.  His  ultimate  farm  con- 
sisted of  two  fifty-acre  lots  of  the  first  division, — Nos.  61  and 
63,  —  adjoining  end  to  end,  and  lying  directly  east  of  Taylor's 
Crotch.  His  nearest  neighbor  was  Absalom  Blair,  who  was  with 
him  and  Kellogg  in  Bennington  Battle.  Bacon's  father  preceded 
him  in  the  buying  and  selling  of  lands  in  Berkshire,  as  appears 
from  certain  deeds  in  the  old  registry.  For  example,  Nathaniel 
Bacon,  2d,  of  Middletown,  gave,  under  the  usual  formula,  his  lots  in 
"  New  Framingham  "  (Lanesboro)  to  his  son  Jacob,  20  Aug.,  1761  ^ 
and  this  Jacob  lived,  in  1765,  in  "Yokuntown"  (Lenox),  and,  still 
later,  sold  the  lands  in  Lanesboro  to  Elijah  Hurlburt.  Daniel  came 
to  Williamstown  before  Jacob  did,  and  in  September,  1766,  bought 
of  Samuel  Payen,  of  Water  Street,  fifty-acre  lot  61,  for  £23;  and 
apparently,  some  time  after,  bought  No.  63,  adjoining,  for  £40,  of 
Aaron  Bacon,  who  may  likely  have  been  another  brother,  though  we 
know  little  about  him.  The  description  of  No.  63  in  the  deed  from 
Aaron  to  Daniel  is  worth  quoting:   "bounded  West  on   highway, 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  579 

East  on  land  belonging  to  Jonathan  Kilborn,  South  on  land  belong- 
ing to  Josiah  Wright,  North  on  a  highway."  This  second  ''high- 
way "  is  what  is  now  called  the  "  Blair  road."  The  cellar  of  Bacon's 
original  house,  on  No.  63,  is  still  visible  enough,  near  a  spring  of 
living  water,  on  the  south  side  of  the  lot.  There  is  an  old  plum 
tree  or  two  still  growing  near  the  cellar-wall.  The  next  house 
built  on  that  lot  was  on  a  knoll  considerably  further  north,  —  a 
brick  house,  in  which  Cai)tain  Isaac  Latham  lived  for  many  yeai-s,  — 
but  the  present  farm-house  is  still  further  north,  and  on  the  very 
edge  of  the  Blair  road.  Daniel  Bacon  seems  to  have  been  a  stirring 
man,  and  ultimately  reached  the  rank  of  "Sergeant"  in  his  militia 
company,  and  would  doubtless  have  been  fairly  seated  in  the  meeting- 
house by  17G8,  which  was  nine  years  before  his  honored  death. 

Though  in  somewhat  rude  lines,  Jacob  Bacon  also  left  deeply  cut 
memorials  of  himself  in  the  town  of  his  final  choice  of  residence. 
He  lived  and  died  on  what  is  now  "  Farm  B,"  belonging  to  John  B. 
Gale  (Williams  College,  1842),  originally  No.  IX  of  the  first  division 
of  the  fifty-acre  lots,  on  the  Green  River  road.  He  died  Dec.  27, 
1819,  in  his  eightieth  year.  His  wife,  Lois,  died  Nov.  23,  1818,  in 
her  fifty-ninth  year.  Their  son  Stephen,  born  Feb.  28,  1771,  made 
his  home  well  up  into  the  Hopper,  where  his  posterity  have  resided 
ever  since.  His  wife's  name  was  Mehitable.  They  were  married 
Feb.  2,  1789,  when  the  groom  was  not  quite  eighteen.  Their  son 
Stephen  was  born  Oct.  7,  1804,  and  practically  spent  his  life  on  the 
Upper  Hopper  Brook.  He  once  told  the  present  writer,  that,  when 
he  was  a  small  boy,  Aaron  Wright  lived  still  further  up  the  brook 
than  the  Bacon  place ;  indeed,  somebody  has  lived  beyond  the 
Bacons  during  the  whole  of  this  centur}',  Stephen  Pettitt  being  the 
last  long-lived  and  well-known  occupant  of  this  obscure  ultima 
Thule.  The  second  Stephen  Bacon  said,  also,  once,  to  the  writer, 
that  he  remembered  his  grandfather  Jacob  perfectly  well,  that  he 
visited  him  often  on  "  Farm  B,"  as  it  was  then,  and  that  he  once 
gave  him  a  penny  !  The  present  Stephen  Bacon,  the  third  of  that 
name  in  regular  succession,  an  intelligent  and  enterprising  and 
excellent  man,  is  still  cultivating  the  ancestral  acres,  and  many 
more  well-rounded  ones  in  extension  of  them ;  in  fact,  the  Upi^er 
Hopper  would  no  longer  be  itself  without  some  hospitable  family, 
with  that  well-known  name  to  give  its  greeting,  and,  perchance,  its 
succor,  to  the  passing  wayfarer  towards,  or  in  return  from,  the  sum- 
mit of  Greylock.  Still,  it  was  an  old  soldier  of  Fort  ^lassachusetts, 
Elkanah  Parris,  becoming  a  Quaker  after  the  Peace  of  Paris,  leaving 
his   own-built  ''regulation"  house  in   <^1i"   vilLige,  on  Green    T>i"v"v 


580  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

(still  standing),  who,  with  his  wife  Grace,  and  four  children,  first 
followed  up  the  beautiful  brook,  and  chose  the  site  and  built  the 
house,  with  its  white-oak  sills  from  north  of  the  Hoosac,  in  which 
four  generations  of  the  Bacons  have  already  dwelt. 

Besides  this  Parris  house,  called  now  for  three-quarters  of  a  cen- 
tury the  "  Bingham  house,"  and  which  is  still  owned  and  occupied 
by  Chloe  Bingham,  there  are  two  other  original  "  regulation  "  houses 
standing  intact  in  this  village,  very  similar  to  this  one ;  namely,  the 
"  Simonds  house,"  originally  built  on  house   lot   22,  but  long  ago 


THE   "REGULATION"    HOUSE   OF   ELKANAH    PARRIS. 

moved  across  the  street  to  a  high  position  opposite,  and  now  form- 
ing the  west  end  of  the  home  of  Mrs.  Patrick  Kelly ;  and  the  second 
one,  now  forming  the  L  part  of  the  old  Bissell  Sherman  house,  itself 
erected  in  1797.  The  General  Court  required,  in  1750,  of  each  pur- 
chaser of  a  house  lot,  in  order  to  maintain  his  landed  rights  in  the 
"propriety,"  that  he  build  a  house  on  it,  within  a  specified  time, 
"  at  least  18  feet  long  and  7  foot  stud." 

12.  It  was  just  fifty  years  after  the  big  immigration  into  New 
England  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians,  in  1718,  that  the  first 
meeting-house  was  built  in  Williamstown.      In  the  mean  time,  the 


WILLIAMSTOWN. 


581 


original  Worcester  contingent  had  colonized  Blandford  and  Coleraine 
bodily,  and  large  numbers  of  families  had  gone  into  Western  and 
other  towns  in  Worcester  County,  and  there  was  a  considerable  ten- 
dency, from  the  original  New  Hampshire  settlements,  of  these  people 
into  these  towns  of  western  Massachusetts ;  and  Berkshire  County 
at  last,  and  even  Williamstown,  felt  the  impulse  of  their  coming. 
Absalom  Blair,  with  Martha  Young,  his  wife,  both  from  Western, 
and  she  a  sister  of  the  Williamstown  Youngs,  who  have  been  already 
considered,  were  among  the  Hrst  of  the  Scotch-Irish  people  to  settle 
in  Williamstown,  and  the  very  first  to  become  anywise  prominent 
here.  Abraham  Blair  was  one  of  the  soldiers  who  distinguished 
himself  for  bravery  and  endurance  in  the  famous  siege  of  the  Irish 
Londonderry  in  1689,  and  he  was  made  free  of  taxes  thereafter  any- 
where within  the  British  dominions.  His  son  Robert,  then  thirty- 
four  years  old,  was  one  of  the  Worcester  incomers  of  1718,  and  died 
there  Oct.  14,  1774,  in  the  ninety-first  year  of  his  age.  His  wife, 
Isabel,  died  nine  years  before,  aged  eighty-two.  They  left  a  very 
large  posterity  in  Worcester  and  in  western  Massachusetts  generally. 
There  was  a  Robert,  Junior,  in  Worcester,  who  had  sons,  —  Robert 
and  David,  —  and  these  also  had  very  large  families.  There  were 
other  Blairs  besides  Robert  —  a  plenty  of  them  —  in  the  great 
immigration  of  1718.  There  was  James  Blair,  "a  man  of  gigantic 
stature  and  of  fearless  courage,"  who  was  one  of  the  pristine  settlers 
of  Londonderry,  New  Hampshire.  Ensign  David  Blair  died  in 
Western  in  1804,  aged  ninety-six.  He  was,  consequently,  ten  years 
old  at  the  incoming.  John  Blair  also  died  in  Western  (now  Warren) 
in  1796,  aged  eighty-six,  and  was  thus  eight  years  old  in  1718.  He 
was  the  father  of  Ezekiel  Blair,  born  in  April,  1742,  who  came  to 
Williamstown  and  bought  his  farm  in  1764.  Blandford,  also,  was 
full  of  Blairs,  among  others  Deacon  Robert,  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  there,  who  owned  and  livod  on  the  "Govv"  ^nvl  'l'''"l  tltr're 
in  1802. 

Absalom  Blair,  who  came  ultimately  to  be  Captain  in  his  militia 
company,  a  patriotic  man  throughout  the  Revolution,  the  father  of 
ten  children,  was  born  in  November,  1742,  and  died  in  April,  1811, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-nine.  His  widow  survived  him  eighteen  years. 
He  settled  on  Green  River  but  a  little  way  below  its  crotch,  and  the 
broad  and  fertile  farm  went  by  the  name  of  "  Blair's "  for  more 
than  a  century.  It  consisted  of  two  or  three  meadow  lots  and  two 
fifty-acre  lots.  The  Green  River  was  bridged  to  reach  the  house, 
which  stood  on  meadow  lot  No.  62,  on  the  north  side  of  the  road 
whoro  is  now  an  orchard,  whilf  tlie  new  and  l>f'tt'pr  lionsp  w:is  built 


582  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

on  higher  ground  on  the  south  side  of  the  road  opposite  to  the  old 
one.  This  Blair  road,  about  half  a  mile  long,  running  due  east, 
strikes  at  right  angles  the  Stratton  road  running  due  south  from 
the  east  end  of  the  Main  Street  at  Markham's.  Absalom  Blair 
seems  to  have  possessed  the  main  characteristics  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
people  in  New  England :  namely,  they  were  rather  rough  in  speech 
and  manner,  wilful  even  if  not  imperious  in  temper;  while  not 
broadly  intelligent,  penetrating  in  intellect;  industrious  and  frugal; 
of  strong  prejudices  not  unlike  grudges;  taking  easily  to  non- 
monarchical  forms  of  governmeiit,  and  lurching  heavily  against  all 
classes  specially  privileged  by  law ;  as  compared  with  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans  not  peculiarly  religious,  but 
perhaps  peculiarly  attached  to  their  old  Presbyterian  forms.  As  a 
rule,  too,  they  had  very  large  families,  and  were  apt  to  live  till  they 
were  very  old ;  and  as  a  general  thing,  they  did  not  seem  to  put  up 
into  as  high  a  notch  on  the  scale  of  the  virtues  as  it  might  always 
well  hang  in  the  virtue  of  personal  cleanliness ! 

Absalom  Blair's  oldest  son,  and  the  inheritor  of  his  farm,  and  the 
transmitter  of  his  name  in  this  town  to  this  day,  was  William 
Blair,  born  in  October,  1765.  He  was  old  enough  at  the  time  of  the 
battle  of  Bennington  —  namely,  twelve  years  old — to  be  set  by  his 
anxious  mother,  who  lived  to  tell  the  tale  to  the  next  generation, 
to  listen  intently  out  of  doors  that  August  afternoon  for  sounds 
from  the  northward.  The  boy  asseverated  at  the  time,  and  ever 
afterward,  and  his  mother  believed  him  and  reported  it  down  to  her 
old  age  (she  died  in  1829),  and  his  father  on  his  return  did  not  dis- 
credit it,  that  he  heard  distinctly,  at  considerable  intervals,  volleys 
of  what  he  supposed  were  cannon ;  and  although  cannon  played  a 
relatively  small  part  in  the  battle  of  Bennington,  they  were  fired 
a  good  many  times,  and  especially  a  good  many  times  in  the  second 
fight ;  and  so  the  boy's  testimony  becomes  credible,  particularly  as 
confirmed  by  that  of  Samuel  Burbank,  who,  though  two  miles  fur- 
ther south,  compensated  that  disadvantage  by  keeping  his  ear  to 
the  ground  for  long  spaces  of  time. 

William  Blair  married  the  most  interesting  girl  there  was  in  Wil- 
liam stown  at  the  time ;  and  she  continued  to  be,  perhaps,  the  most 
interesting  woman  in  Williamstown  till  her  death,  June  26,  1864,  in 
her  ninety-second  year.  Her  name  was  Sally  Train,  and  she  became 
Mrs.  Blair  July  17,  1792.  He  was  twenty-five,  and  she  was  eighteen. 
Her  mother  was  the  first  child  born  in  Williamstown,  Eachel 
Simonds,  born  April  8,  1753,  whose  own  childhood  was  nurtured 
amid   constant  hazards,  French   and   Indian   stratagems,   frequent 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  583 

removals  for  greater  safety  from  the  home  on  the  west  side  of  Hem- 
lock Brook  to  the  fort  upon  the  east  side,  —  including  stays  in  the 
fort  for  months  together ;  when  she  was  three  years  and  a  half  old, 
three  men  from  the  fort  were  killed  by  Indians  on  the  banks  of  the 
brook  within  a  stone's  throw  of  either  home  or  fort;  and  as  she 
grew  up  towards  womanhood  under  kindlier  conditions,  and  in  a 
larger  and  better  home,  as  there  were  apparently  no  eligible  young 
men  for  her  to  marry,  she  married  Thomas  Train,  who  had  been  a 
soldier  or  officer  in  both  forts,  an  excellent  man,  but  twenty  or 
twenty-five  years  her  senior.  We  have  already,  in  another  connec- 
tion, pointed  out  the  place  of  their  brief  home  together  as  marked 
at  present  by  the  sturdy  elm  tree,  and  told  the  story  of  his  strange 
journey  to  Virginia  and  sudden  death  there,  leaving  here  a  youthful 
widow  with  her  infant  daughter,  Sally  Train. 

Mrs.  Train  remained  a  widow  but  for  a  few  years  with  her  little 
daughter  —  both  young  together  —  when  she  was  married  to  Benja- 
min Skinner,  a  young  man  who  came  up  here  from  Colchester  in 
1775  with  an  older  brother,  Tompson  J.  Skinner,  sons  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Skinner,  of  West  Chester,  a  parish  in  Colchester.  The 
older  brother  was  destined  to  play  a  great  part  in  Williamstown, 
and  to  become  celebrated  in  both  senses  of  that  word  throughout 
Massachusetts;  the  younger  one,  who  was  less  gifted  and  conse- 
quently overshadowed,  became,  notwithstanding,  a  very  useful  and 
prominent  man  during  a  long  life.  Mrs.  Train's  second  marriage 
proved  happy  and  fruitful ;  and  Sally  grew  up  with  the  elder  of  the 
Skinner  children,  of  whom  there  were,  in  all,  three  daughters  and 
four  sons.  Each  of  the  daughters  married  distinguished  gentlemen, 
and  two  of  the  sons  filled  also  large  spaces  in  the  public  eye.  The 
other  two  sons  are  mentioned  in  an  uncomplimentary  way  in  the  will 
of  Colonel  Benjamin  Simonds,  who  was  their  grandfather.  The  epi- 
taph of  Mrs.  Skinner  is  quotable :  "  Mrs.  Rachel  Skinner,  amiable 
consort  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Skinner,  b.  8  April  1753,  died  29  Nov.  1802." 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Skinner  united  with  the  church  together  in  1780.  He 
became  one  of  the  deacons  in  1802,  and  continued  as  such  till  his 
death  in  1828,  aged  seventy-eight.  He  was  also  appointed  post- 
master in  1819.  Just  a  year  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  he 
married  Deodama  Noble  ;  and  one  son,  George  Noble  Skinner  (Wil- 
liams College,  1827),  was  the  sole  fruit  of  that  union.  "Aunt  Skin- 
ner," as  she  was  always  called  in  her  old  age,  is  still  remembered  by 
many  persons  not  yet  called  old. 

Mrs.  Sally  Train  Blair  assumed  the  resix)nsibilities  as  mistress  at 
the  Blair  farm  on  her  early  marriage  to  William  Blair,  or  rather. 


584  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

shared  them  at  first  with  her  mother-in-law,  Martha  Young  Blair,  who 
survived  the  marriage  of  her  eldest  son  for  thirty-six  years,  and  con- 
tinued to  sustain  these  responsibilities  with  unusual  cheerfulness  and 
vigor,  until  they  were  shared  in  her  old  age  by  her  unmarried  daugh- 
ter, Maria  Blair,  who  was  born  in  November,  1803.  Besides  this 
daughter  there  were  two  others,  Alice  and  Harriet,  and  six  sons,  two 
of  whom,  Bernard,  1825,  and  George  Train,  1833,  were  graduates  of 
Williams  College.  The  latter,  taking  up  his  residence  in  Troy  directly 
after  graduation,  studied  law,  held  the  office  of  city  clerk  for  several 
years,  was  chosen  surrogate  and  held  the  office  for  ten  years,  was 
appointed  postmaster  of  Troy  in  1861,  and  in  1865  paymaster  in  the 
United  States  army.  He  came  to  Williamstown  on  business  in  1867, 
was  taken  suddenly  ill,  and  died  amid  the  familiar  scenes  of  his  youth, 
April  3,  aged  fifty-seven.  Bernard  Blair,  the  only  other  graduate  of 
that  surname  in  the  first  century  of  the  College,  spent  his  entire 
life  after  leaving  college  in  Salem,  New  York,  both  studying  and 
practising  law  there,  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Twenty-seventh 
Congress  from  that  district,  and  usefully  served  his  generation  as 
president  of  a  local  bank  and  railroad,  and  in  all  other  relations  of 
life.  Edwin  Blair,  another  brother,  ultimately  came  to  carry  on  the 
farm,  and  to  furnish  a  home  for  his  -maiden  sister  Maria;  but  not 
succeeding  well  financially,  and  marrying  also  late  in  life,  he  became 
melancholic,  and  committed  suicide.  At  the  present  writing,  Deacon 
Henry  Blair,  born  in  May,  1812,  and  the  last  survivor  of  the  chil- 
dren of  William  and  Sally,  and  Austin  Blair,  his  son^  named  for  his 
uncle,  Austin  Wing  Blair,  who  was  the  youngest  child  of  William 
and  Sally,  are  the  only  men  left  in  Williamstown  of  that  once  preva- 
lent name.  Alice  Blair,  the  oldest  child  of  William  and  Sally,  born 
in  September,  1796,  still  remembered  by  at  least  one  old  lady  in 
Williamstown  (Mrs.  James  Smedley)  as  a  beautiful  young  lady 
riding  gracefully,  was  married  to  Hiram  Bacon  of  the  family  but 
just  now  characterized  in  these  pages,  and  they  removed  with  their 
family  to  Indiana  in  1822.  Many  of  the  later  descendants  of  the 
Blairs,  and  also  of  the  Kelloggs  and  other  families,  migrated  to 
Georgia,  Vermont,  and  settled  down  there. 

13.  William  Horsford  has  perhaps  been  postponed  in  this  imagi- 
nary order  of  seating  to  a  later  place  than  was  his  due  accorded  to 
him  by  the  committee  at  the  time.  He  was  a  very  early  comer. 
He  was  one  in  a  select  company  of  soldiers  sent  up  hither  by  the 
colony  of  Connecticut  as  the  best  place  at  which  to  guard  its  own 
frontiers  from  the  French  and  Indian  raiders  from  Canada.  It  was 
easy  for  these  to  drop  down  the  Housatonic  into  Connecticut,  if  they 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  585 

could  once  get  by  the  two  forts  on  the  Hoosac,  and  the  watershed  a 
few  miles  to  the  south  of  them.  One  such  raid  actually  penetrated 
through  Stockbridge  into  the  border  towns  below.  But  William 
Horsford  and  his  brothiBr  Josiah  and  Nehemiah  Smedley  and  Allen 
Curtiss  and  John  and  Jonathan  Kilbon,  all  from  Litchfield  or  its 
immediate  vicinity,  had  been  up  to  West  Hoosac  to  prepare  for 
themselves  and  their  families  a  new  home  on  the  soil  some  consid- 
erable time  before  they,  with  others,  enlisted  into  this  select  company 
of  militia.  It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  the  lull  between  the  Peace 
of  Aix-la-Chapelle  and  the  fresh  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1754.  It 
was,  indeed,  their  individual  sense  of  the  hazards  of  proceeding  under 
their  purchase  of  houselot-rights,  some  of  which  had  been  vended 
by  Massachusetts  in  Litchfield  and  its  neighborhood,  that  led  these 
young  men  to  return  to  Connecticut  and  to  report  on  the  prospect  of 
things  here,  and  then  to  enlist  with  many  more  under  public  author- 
ity and  come  back  to  help  garrison  the  West  Hoosac  Fort.  Xot  a 
great  deal  more  was  done  in  the  way  of  subduing  fresh  house  lots, 
although  a  few  kept  along  with  their  work  in  summer,  having  the 
two  forts  as  a  base  of  safety  and  supplies,  until  the  news  came  of 
the  battle  of  Quebec  in  1759.  Then  soon  all  was  astir  again.  Sev- 
enteen hundred  and  sixty  marks  the  beginning  of  settlements  in 
West  Hoosac  on  a  considerable  scale. 

William  Horsford  married  in  Litchfield,  in  1759,  Esther  Smedley, 
born  March  20,  1737,  eldest  sister  to  Nehemiah  Smedley ;  and  their 
first-bom,  Esther,  saw  the  light  in  West  Hoosac,  May  19,  1760. 
Some,  who  were  ignorant  of  the  facts  in  regard  to  Benjamin  Simonds, 
who  already  had  four  children  native  to  this  soil,  used  to  claim  that 
Esther  Horsford  was  the  first  child  of  English  parentage  born  in  the 
town.  Eight  brothers  and  sisters  followed  in  due  succession,  includ- 
ing Rhoda,  the  last,  bom  May  2.3,  1779.  The  mother  of  these  chil- 
dren died  March  1,  1791.  The  primitive  record  ends,  —  '*  Elisabeth 
Horsford  the  aged  Died  May  28,  1781."  This  was  unquestionably 
the  mother  of  W^illiam  and  Josiah  Horsford,  who  had  accompanied, 
or  at  least  followed,  them  into  the  wilderness. 

The  original  holder  of  house  lot  44,  the  lot  directly  north  across 
Main  Street  from  the  West  College,  was  Josiah  Dean,  of  Canaan, 
Connecticut,  and  he  sold  the  lot,  "  and  all  appertaining  to  it,  that  is, 
■^  part  of  West  Hoosuck,"  to  Daniel  and  William  Horsford,  both  of 
Canaan,  for  £260  of  then  lawful  Connecticut  money,  JVov.  i,  1752. 
William  Iwught  out  Daniel's  share,  that  is,  one  half  of  No.  44  and 
all  after-drafts,  for  £26  of  Massachusetts  money  (which  was  then 
silv»M^.  F<'1».  2.  1761.     Daniel  is  called  in  this  deed  "Senior"  — 


586  ORIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

undoubtedly  father  to  William  and  Josiah,  and  husband  to  "  Elisa- 
beth Horsford  the  aged."  The  interesting  point  to  notice  is,  that, 
the  day  before  this  sale  to  the  Horsfords,  namely,  Oct.  31,  1752, 
Samuel  Smedley,  of  Litchfield,  bought  of  Ezekiel  Hinds,  of  Stock- 
bridge  (then  of  Fort  Massachusetts),  for  £27,  house  lot  1  "and  all 
appertaining,"  etc.  Samuel  Smedley  was  the  father  of  Nehemiah ; 
and  the  latter  came  into  full  possession  of  No.  1,  March  21,  1758,  in 
consequence  of  the  father's  death  in  the  mean  time  and  by  virtue  of 
a  deed  then  executed  to  him  by  the  widow  and  the  eldest  son,  John, 
jointly.  Scarcely  any  doubt  can  remain  upon  a  mind  weighing 
closely  all  the  dates  and  circumstances,  that  it  was  in  the  spring  of 
1753  when  these  Connecticut  young  men  first  crossed  the  watershed 
between  the  Housatonic  and  the  Hoosac,  and  made  some  little  begin- 
nings on  their  respective  lots,  — the  main  fact  of  their  coming  about 
that  time,  and  for  that  very  purpose,  being  clearly  testified  to  long 
afterwards  by  Nehemiah  Smedley's  oldest  son,  Levi,  born  in  1764. 
It  will  perhaps  be  remembered  by  the  careful  reader  of  the  preced- 
ing chapters,  that  the  first  proprietors'  meeting  was  convened  Dec.  5, 
1753,  at  the  house  of  Seth  Hudson  on  house  lot  9.  The  proprietors 
certainly  present  at  that  time  were  Allen  Curtiss,  Isaac  Wyman, 
Seth  Hudson,  Jonathan  Meacham,  Ezekiel  Foster,  Jabez  Warren, 
Samuel  Taylor,  Gideon  Warren,  Thomas  Train,  Josiah  Dean,  and 
Ebenezer  Graves.  It  must  not  be  inferred  from  the  attendance  of 
these  eleven  men  at  that  meeting,  that  all  of  them  had  already  built 
houses  on  their  house  lots;  most  of  them,  indeed,  were  then  lodged 
in  Fort  Massachusetts  as  soldiers,  as  was  Isaac  Wyman,  then  com- 
manding there,  and  yet  made  clerk  and  treasurer  of  the  proprietors 
at  that  time ;  the  only  houses  that  are  certainly  knoivn  to  have  been 
already  built  on  the  house  lots  at  the  date  of  that  meeting  were 
Simonds's  on  No.  22,  Curtiss's  on  No.  13,  and  Hudson's  on  No.  9; 
each  of  these  three  was  on  one  side  or  the  other  of  Hemlock  Brook ; 
and  Elisha  Higgins,  a  soldier  in  Fort  Massachusetts,  had  purchased, 
for  £20,  No.  12,,  directly  on  the  brook  the  north  side  of  Main  Street, 
as  Curtiss's  lot  was  opposite  on  the  south  side.  Higgins's  purchase 
was  Oct.  12,  1753.  Higgins  subsequently  bought  house  lot  17,  and 
made  it  his  permanent  homestead.  This  is  the  second  lot  west  of 
Curtiss's,  fairly  on  the  present  Danforth  plateau  south  side  of  Main 
Street. 

When  William  Horsford  came  back  to  West  Hoosac  to  stay,  which 
was  about  the  time  when  Allen  Curtiss  went  back  to  Canaan  to  stay, 
although  the  latter  did  not  sell  out  his  house  lot  13  until  March, 
1762,  the  former  began  to  buy  and  sell  lots  all  over  the  town  (as 


WELLIAMSTOWN.  587 

did  also  his  compeers),  though  he  never  sold  his  homestead  house 
lot  44  until  he  left  the  town  for  good  in  the  last  decade  of  the  cen- 
tury. As  his  family  increased,  he  put  up  on  44  a  good-sized  framed 
house,  which  is  still  standing  enlarged  in  another  part  of  the  village. 
He  was  active  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  propriety  till  the  incorporation 
of  the  town  in  1765,  in  all  whose  further  affairs  he  was  patriotic  and 
influential  for  about  thirty  years  longer.  Why  he  went,  whither  he 
went,  and  exactly  when  he  went  are  questions  that  cannot  now  be 
answered.  His  wife  died  here  in  1791,  and  after  that  there  has  been 
found  no  note  or  sign  of  him  in  Williamstown.  On  the  popular  sub- 
scription-paper for  the  new  meeting-house,  started  in  September, 
1796,  the  original  of  which  is  in  the  writers  possession,  Horsford's 
name  does  not  appear,  although  had  he  been  at  that  time  a  resident, 
it  would  naturally  and  almost  certainly  be  found  there,  inasmuch  as 
the  second  meeting-house  was  built  l)y  the  proj)rietors  as  well  as  the 
first  one,  and  yet  by  subscription.  Both  Horsford  and  his  wife 
united  with  the  church  in  1781.  She  died  in  its  communion  ten 
years  later ;  while  the  letter  "  r  "  appended  to  his  name  in  the  man- 
ual shows  that  he  had  "  removed  to  distant  parts."  It  is  to  be 
presumed,  and  will  probably  some  day  be  ascertained,  that  he  passed 
on  with  many  of  his  neighbors,  and  perhaps  some  or  all  of  his  chil- 
dren, into  the  new  state  of  Vermont.  Tlie  attractive  house  lot  44 
passed  shortly  into  possession  of  General  Samuel  Sloan,  who  soon 
built  upon  its  front  the  fine  residence  now  occupied  by  the  president 
of  the  College.  The  west  corner  of  that  front  was  set  off  from  the 
rest  of  the  lot  for  some  purpose  or  other  a  long  time  ago ;  and  about 
1860  the  Catholics  bought  it  and  erected  upon  it  their  present  hand- 
some church. 

14.  Josiah  Horsford,  the  brother  of  the  foregoing,  was  only  a 
little  younger  than  he,  and  the  lives  of  the  two  in  most  respects  ran 
parallel  with  each  other.  Josiah's  wife  was  Jemima  Smedley,  sis- 
ter of  William's  wife ;  they  too  had  nine  children,  each  of  whom,  as 
a  rule,  was  about  two  years  younger  than  the  corresponding  child 
in  the  brother's  family;  Josiah  bought  early  and  kept  long  house 
lot  No.  42,  the  lot  next  west  of  his  brother's,  and  the  nucleus  of  the 
present  old  house  standing  on  its  front  was  built  by  Josiah  Hors- 
ford,—  probably  his  "regulation  house"  erected  in  1761;  and  the 
last  visible  tracks  made  by  Josiah's  family,  while  in  general  coeval 
with  those  of  the  other  family,  in  one  important  respect,  soon  to  be 
noted,  were  in  contrast  with  them.  Jemima  Smedley  Horsford 
joined  the  church  in  1781,  the  same  year  as  her  sister  and  husband, 
but  her  own  husband  never  became  a  member;  she  was  regularly 


588  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

dismissed  to  unite  with  some  other  church  (such  was  the  custom), 
in  all  probability  a  church  to  the  northwards.  Josiah  Horsford, 
unlike  his  brother,  had  two  sons  who  remained  and  married  here, — 
Josiah,  Junior,  whose  wife  was  Sevelle,  and  who  had  four  children 
between  1790-1801,  and  Roswell,  who  married  Elizabeth  Morse  in 
February,  1792.  The  great  service  of  Josiah  Horsford  was  as  pro- 
prietors' clerk,  succeeding  Hichard  Stratton  in  1765,  and  continuing 
until  the  proprietors'  meetings  were  practically  suspended  in  1774, 
under  the  double  pressure  of  the  oncomings  of  the  Eevolution,  and 
the  consequent  growth  of  the  town  organization  as  such.  The  ill- 
spelled  records  in  Horsford's  own  hand  during  that  quarrelsome 
interval  of  nine  years,  show  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  character 
and  influence  and  persistence.  However,  he  did  not  hold  on  to 
his  homestead,  as  did  his  brother  William.  Like  him,  Josiah  had 
vigorously  bought  and  sold  lands  in  all  parts  of  the  town  in  specu- 
lative times;  for  example,  he  bought  of  Eev.  Whitman  Welch,  for 
£25,  in  October,  1767,  house  lot  36,  the  original  minister's  lot,  that 
cornered  on  the  "  Square,"  and  that  early  came  to  be  the  site  of  the 
chief  public  house  of  the  village  and  has  continued  so  ever  since  ; 
and  he  sold  the  same  year,  in  May,  100-acre  lot  No.  47,  to  ISTehemiah 
Williams,  which  holds  the  big  rock  on  the  northern  slope  of  North- 
west Hill. 

But  it  may  well  have  been  that  his  pecuniary  fortunes  decayed 
in  his  old  age;  and  it  may  possibly  have  been  that  he  became 
addicted  to  strong  drink.  At  any  rate,  the  homestead  was  sold  in 
the  spring  of  1796  to  the  Whitman  brothers  of  Hartford^  who  imme- 
diately opened  a  store  for  the  sale  of  dry-goods  and  groceries  in  the 
east  end  of  the  house,  afterwards  building  two  stores  in  succession 
attached  to  the  house  at  the  east  end,  and  at  last  the  present  store 
detached  from  the  house  and  a  little  further  to  the  east ;  and  in  these 
stores  a  mercantile  business  was  kept  up,  in  the  name  and  interest  of 
the  Whitman  family,  for  over  sixty  years.  For  many  years  now 
lately  past,  Charles  H.  Mather  has  owned  and  occupied,  as  a  mer- 
chant, the  last-named  of  these  stores.  In  a  promiscuous  lot  of  old 
papers  and  bills  belonging  to  the  Whitmans,  that  were  not  long  ago 
discovered  in  the  house  last  occupied  by  them,  was  found  a  bill 
to  Josiah  Horsford  for  liquors  sold  him  "  per  son  Ambrose  "  as  late 
as  1803.  Ambrose  was  Josiah  Horsford's  youngest  son,  born  Dec.  31, 
1781,  and  was  consequently  twenty-one  years  old  when  he  procured 
the  stimulants  at  Whitman's  store  as  agent  for  his  father.  This  is 
absolutely  all  we  know  of  Ambrose  Horsford ;  and  the  last  glimpse 
we  get  of  the  sturdy  old  pioneer,  and  proprietors'  clerk,  and  Kevolu- 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  589 

tionary  soldier,  Josiah  Horsford,  the  never-to-be-forgotten,  is  in 
playing  the  rather  passive  role  of  sending  his  grown-up  son  to  the 
store  for  strong  drink,  and  getting  it  charged.  William  and  Josiah 
Horsford  were  steadily  so  prominent  here,  as  much  to  overshadow 
their  near  relatives  of  the  same  name  and  from  the  same  place 
(Oanaan,  Connecticut),  who  played  no  insignificant  part  in  West 
Hoosac  and  early  Williamstown.  John  and  Daniel  Horsford  bought 
of  Ephraim  Williams,  Junior  (the  founder),  house  lot  No.  10,  for  £30, 
April  14, 1753.  The  same  parties  sell  the  same  house  lot  in  Septem- 
ber, 1765,  to  Daniel  Horsford,  Junior,  for  i^70,  —  an  increase  of 
value  in  twelve  years  of  133  per  centum.  John  Horsford,  Bloomer, 
bought  of  Seth  Hudson,  Gentleman,  house  lot  No.  9,  which  was 
Hudson's  original  draft,  and  directly  opposite  Colonel  Williams's 
original  drafts,  Nos.  8  and  10. 

15.  At  this  distance  of  time,  and  in  the  writer's  real  ignorance  of 
the  exact  condition  of  things  in  1768,  it  seems  quite  likely  that  the 
two  junior  members  of  the  building  and  seating  committee  would 
not  postpone  provision  for  themselves  and  their  families  to  a  point 
later  than  that  to  which  we  have  now  come.  We  have  already 
learned  quite  a  good  deal  about  Benjamin  Simonds,  and  something 
about  Mary  Davis,  of  Northampton,  his  wife.  They  were  married 
in  Northampton  by  the  famous  Joseph  Hawley,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
April  23,  1752.  They  had,  when  the  meeting-house  was  done,  eight 
children,  — 1753-1768.  They  lived,  then,  very  near  to  the  new  place 
of  worship,  namely,  on  the  south  side  of  Main  Street,  in  a  house 
that  they  had  built  themselves  on  house  lot  No.  3,  and  in  which  they 
had  kept  a  tavern,  at  least,  since  1763,  —  the  first  tavern  in  the 
hamlet.  They  owned,  in  1765,  six  other  house  lots  close  by,  on  both 
sides  of  Hemlock  Brook,  including  No.  22,  their  original  purchase, 
and  on  which  they  built  their  first  house,  whose  precise  site  can  be 
pointed  out  to  this  day,  and  some  of  the  stones  of  whose  cellar  or 
underpinning  are  now  scattered  on  the  surface  of  the  ground. 
Simonds  was  enterprising,  and  already  experienced.  He  was  now 
forty-two  years  old.  He  had  the  confidence  of  his  fellow-settlers  to 
a  remarkable  degree.  Neither  he  nor  his  wife  ever  became  members 
of  the  church ;  but,  in  connection  with  the  Searles,  the  Meachams, 
and  the  Strattons,  they  represented  the  indefinable  East-of-the- 
Mountain  sentiment,  in  contradistinction  from  the  j^eculiar  Connecti- 
cut sentiment,  voiced  (we  may  suppose)  by  the  Welches,  the  Hors- 
fords,  and  the  Smedleys.  We  cannot  infer  what  the  differences 
between  these  were,  but  we  perceive  considerable  signs  of  collision 
between  them. 


590  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Simonds  was  laying  the  foundations  in  his  increasing  property, 
in  his  general  enterprise  and  public  spirit,  in  his  broadening  acquain- 
tance as  a  tavern-keeper,  and  in  his  early  experience  and  constant 
interest  in  militia  affairs,  for  the  astonishing  influence,  both  military 
and  civil,  that  he  exerted  in  the  two  decades  following.  We  shall 
recur  to  this  in  the  next  chapter;  here  we  wish  only  to  indicate 
a  few  facts  of  his  personal  and  family  history  not  heretofore  touched 
upon.  The  following  table  is  extracted  mainly  from  the  family 
Bible  still  preserved  in  the  line  of  his  descendants,  the  Blairs :  — 

Benjamin  and  Mary  Simonds,  their  Children. 

1.  Rachel,  born  April  8,  1753.  She  became  Mrs.  Thomas  Train  &  later 
Mrs.  Benj.  Skinner. 

2.  Justin,  born  Feb.  17,  1755.     Nothing  is  now,known  of  his  after  life. 

3.  Sarah  born  July  8,  1757.     She  became  Mrs.  Ithamar  Clark  of  Pownal. 

4.  Marcy  born  Dec.  2,  1759.     She  became  Mrs.  Charles  Kellogg. 

5.  Joseph,  born  April  8,  1762.     He  was  named  from  his  grandfather  Simonds. 

6.  Prudence,  born  Dec.  4,  1763.     She  became  Mrs.  Jonathan  Bridges. 

7.  Ablina,  born  Oct.  8,  1765.  She  became  Mrs.  Joseph  Osborne,  later 
Mrs.  Paddock. 

8.  Electa,  born  in  1768.    She  became  Oct.  21,  1787,  Mrs.  Thaddeus  Edwards. 

9.  Polly,  born  in  1771.    She  became  Mrs.  Perley  Putnam. 
10.   Benjamin  born  in  1773.     He  died  June  16,  1786. 

The  epitaph  of  Benjamin  Simonds  is  as  follows  :  — 

This  monument  erected  in  memory  of  Col.  Benjamin  Simonds,  one  of  the 
first  settlers  in  Williamstown,  and  a  firm  supporter  of  his  country's  Independence. 
He  was  born  Feb.  23,  1726,  and  died  April  11,  1807. 

The  epitaph  of  the  mother  of  his  children  is  as  follows :  — 

Mary  Simonds,  wife  of  Col.  Benjamin  Simonds,  died  7  June,  1798,  in  the  70 
year  of  her  age. 

The  inscription  on  the  tombstone  of  Colonel  Simonds' s  second 
wife,  who  was  the  widowed  mother  of  Perly  Putnam,  one  of  the 
sons-in-law  of  Simonds,  runs  as  follows  :  — 

In  memory  of 

Anna 

Wife  of  Col.  Benj  Simonds 

and  relict  of 

Asa  Putnam  of  Brattleboro'  Vt. 

Died  April  3,  1807,  aged  61  years. 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  591 

The  formal  contract  of  marriage  between  Colonel  Simonds  and 
Mrs.  Putnam,  drawn  by  Daniel  Dewey,  Esq.,  and  entitled  "  Articles 
of  Agreement,"  bears  date  Nov.  4,  1798.  Tompson  Joseph  Skin- 
ner, Esq.,  is  in  this  paper  the  party  of  the  third  part,  widow  Anna 
Putnam  is  the  party  of  the  second  part,  and  Benjamin  Simonds,  Esq., 
is  the  party  of  the  first  part.  She  is  to  have  ^GOO  in  six  annual 
instalments,  if  she  survive  her  husband ;  she  "  shall  have  decent 
and  convenient  accommodations  in  his  now  dwelling  house  for  and 
during  the  term  of  one  year  next  after  his  decease  "  ;  "  his  executors 
and  administrators  shall  during  that  time  support  and  maintain  the 
said  Anna  in  a  decent  and  reputable  manner  suitable  to  her  habits 
and  circumstances  of  life ;  and  shall  likewise  as  soon  as  convenient 
after  the  decease  of  the  said  Benjamin  furnish  the  said  Anna  with 
a  decent  suit  of  mourning,"  etc.  "  As  a  jointure  in  lieu  of  dower," 
said  Benjamin  covenants  to  give  "three  acres  of  land  to  be  taken 
off  the  east  end  of  Oak  Lot  No.  53,  and  to  be  included  between  two 
parallels  across  the  east  end  of  said  lot  to  the  use  of  the  said 
Benjamin  and  Anna  for  and  during  their  joint  lives,  remainder  over 
to  the  use  of  the  said  Anna  to  take  effect  immediately  on  the 
decease  of  the  said  Benjamin,  for  and  during  her  natural  life,  to  hei 
own  proper  use,  behoof,  and  benefit,  with  full  power  and  liberty  for 
the  said  Anna  to  cut,  fell  down,  carry  away  and  dispose  of  any 
wood  or  timber  growing  on  said  land,"  etc.  Anna  Putnam  had  an 
estate  of  her  own,  and  the  "  Agreement "  covenants  that  she  shall 
hold,  enjoy,  and  bequeath  the  same  as  though  she  were  feme  sole 
during  said  intended  intermarriage;  and  if  she  die  intestate,  her 
property  to  go  to  her  children.  T.  J.  Skinner  was  to  be  trustee  of 
the  said  Anna,  to  manage  her  property,  etc. 

John  Putnam,  of  Buckinghamshire,  England,  which  was  the 
county  of  John  Hampden  at  the  same  time,  emigrated  to  Massachu- 
setts in  1G34,  and  settled  in  Danvers,  where  many  of  his  descendants 
are  still  living.  Asa  Putnam,  of  Brattleboro,  was  of  the  fifth  gen- 
eration from  John,  through  the  latter's  son  Nathaniel,  while  General 
Israel  Putnam  stood  in  the  line  of  Thomas,  another  of  John's  sons. 
Asa  Putnam  was  the  son  of  Josiah  Putnam,  of  Western,  now 
Warren,  Massachusetts.  Josiah  was  own  cousin  of  General  Israel 
Putnam.  Josiah's  son.  Captain  Josiah,  who  died  in  1835,  aged  eighty- 
six,  owTi  brother  of  Asa,  sent  two  of  his  sons,  W^illiam  and  James, 
from  Western  to  Williams  College,  at  the  outset  of  the  institu- 
tion. William  entered  in  1793,  when  the  College  opened,  but  died 
three  years  later,  and  without  graduating.  James,  wlio  was  younger, 
entered  later,  but  was  iK»t    i/iaduated.      It    is   iirobable  tliat    Riifns 


592  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

Putnam  (Williams  College,  1804),  was  a  brother  of  these  two.  At 
any  rate,  he  was  from  Western,  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and 
died  in  Eutland,  Vermont,  in  1847,  aged  sixty-four.  The  way  to 
Williamstown  was  thus  paved  for  the  Putnams.  Asa  Putnam,  a 
farmer,  born  in  Western  in  1742,  died  in  Brattleboro,  in  September, 
1795,  aged  fifty-three.  Mrs.  Anna  Putnam  brought  three  of  her 
nine  children,  the  three  youngest,  into  Colonel  Simonds's  family  on 
her  intermarriage  with  him ;  while  her  eldest  son,  Perly  Putnam, 
was  already  settled  in  Williamstown  as  the  husband  of  Polly 
Simonds.  These  three  children  were  Sewell,  Sylvia,  and  Harvey. 
The  last-named,  youngest  of  all,  was  born  in  Brattleboro,  Jan.  5, 
1793.  He  was  four  years  old  when  he  came  to  Williamstown,  and 
lived  with  his  mother  till  her  death  in  1807.  Shortly  after  this,  he 
removed  to  Skaneateles,  New  York,  where  he  was  apprenticed  to 
his  elder  brother  Perly  to  learn  the  saddle  and  harness-making  trade. 
Two  years  at  this,  and  then  he  entered  the  law  office  there  of 
Daniel  Kellogg,  also  from  Williamstown,  and  a  son  of  that  Samuel 
Kellogg  who  has  already  been  characterized  at  length  in  these 
pages.  Harvey  Putnam  studied  his  profession  before  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  practise  it,  as  long  as  Jacob  served  for  Rachel,  and  then 
he,  too,  like  Jacob,  married,  not  indeed  his  own  cousin,  but  one  of 
the  own  granddaughters  of  Colonel  Simonds,  Myra  Osborne.  This 
marriage  took  place  at  Skaneateles,  Aug.  5,  1817.  Western  New 
York  witnessed  thereafter,  in  the  person  of  Harvey  Putnam,  a  dis- 
tinguished lawyer,  a  reputable  member  of  Congress  repeatedly 
elected,  and  an  excellent  judge  in  different  positions,  till  his  death, 
in  1855.  James  0.  Putnam,  of  Buffalo,  long  in  the  public  and 
diplomatic  service  of  his  state  and  country,  is  his  son.  Harvey 
Putnam  was  of  medium  size  and  a  very  light  complexion ;  he  had  a 
quick  and  elastic  step,  and  a  movement  that  gave  one  the  impression 
that  he  was  in  a  hurry ;  he  was  for  thirty  years  a  member  and  officer 
of  the  Presbyterian  church;  and  one  of  his  daughters  was  married 
to  John  B.  Skinner,  2d  (Williams  College,  1842),  son  of  Samuel 
Skinner  (Williams  College,  1816),  and  grandson  of  Deacon  Benjamin 
Skinner. 

When  Colonel  Simonds  made  his  last  will  and  testament  in  1803, 
and  its  two  codicils  also  in  the  two  successive  years,  these  were  all 
witnessed  formally  by  Ephraim  Seelye  (his  nearest  neighbor  across 
the  road),  and  the  two  other  Putnam  children,  Sewell  and  Sylvia. 
The  last-named  was  a  member  of  the  family,  seventeen  years  old, 
when  her  mother  and  the  Colonel  both  died  in  April,  1807 ;  and  in 
her  old  age  caused  to  be  communicated  to  the  writer  her  recollec- 


TVILLIAMSTOWN. 


593 


tion  that  the  Colonel  did  not  care  to  live  after  her  mother  died,  and, 
in  fact,  dropped  away  eight  days  later.  Mrs.  Simonds  was  born  in 
1746,  the  year  of  Simonds's  captivity  in  Canada,  and  was  conse- 
quently twenty  years  younger  than  her  second  husband,  yet  he  out- 
lived her,  and  mourned  her  loss  in  his  eighty-second  year.  Sylvia 
Putnam  married  Mr.  Z.  A.  Hamilton,  and  lived  about  forty  years 
in  Aurora,  New  York,  and  died  in  October,  1883,  aged  ninety-four, 
with  her  daughter,  ^Irs.  Salmon  Johnson,  in  Cattaraugus,  New 
York.  She  was  the  mother  of  General  Charles  S.  Hamilton,  of 
"Wisconsin.  The  present  writer  had  the  pleasure  of  sending  her, 
when  she  was  about  ninety  years  old,  a  photograph  of  Colonel 
Simonds,  taken  from  an  original  portrait  referred  to  in  his  will,  and 
painted  by  W.  Jennys  in  1796.  She  recognized  tlie  picture  in- 
stantly, and  it  moved  her  deeply;  and  as  the  Colonel's  portrait, 
after  many  mutations,  had  then  come  to  be  the  property  of  the 
sender  and  hung  in  his  study,  she  proiX)sed  to  Mrs.  Johnson  to  send 
to  him  an  original  portrait  of  her  own  mother,  which,  she  said,  had 
hung  beside  the  Colonel's  in  her  early  home  in  Williamstown. 
Accordingly,  after  a  separation  of  about  seventy-five  years,  the  two 
portraits  were  united  again  in  Williamstown  for  a  number  of  years. 
It  later  appeared,  however,  that  Mrs.  Hamilton  had  previously 
promised  her  mother's  portrait  to  her  great-granddaughter,  Harriet 
O.  Putnam,  of  Buffalo,  in  whose  hands  it  is  at  the  present  time. 
Mrs.  Hamilton  communicated  other  pleasant  recollections  of  Colonel 
Simonds  in  her  girlhood:  such  as,  for  example,  he  always  wore 
his  military  costume  more  or  less  complete  till  the  last,  as  it 
appears  in  his  portrait, — the  cocked  hat  and  powdered  wig,  the 
white  neck-kerchief  and  frilled  shirt-bosom,  the  regimental  coat 
and  buttons,  and  also  the  short  clothes  and  knee-buckles;  he  always 
went  to  church  in  full  costume ;  and  he  occasionally  offered  family 
prayers,  standing  by  the  back  of  his  chair.  The  late  Dr.  ^Morgan, 
of  Bennington,  told  the  writer  that  when  he  was  a  small  boy  riding 
past  with  his  father,  he  had  repeatedly  seen  the  Colonel  sitting  in 
summer  in  his  front  doorway  in  his  military  toggery,  being  saluted 
by,  and  saluting  in  turn,  the  passers-by. 

The  Colonel's  will  lets  a  good  deal  of  light  into  the  condition  of 
things  in  his  family  at  the  opening  of  the  century.  It  was  drawn 
by  Judge  Daniel  Dewey,  who  was  appointed  one  of  the  two  execu- 
tors, Jonathan  Bridges,  one  of  his  sons-in-law,  being  the  other. 
When  the  will  came  to  probate  in  May,  1807,  the  latter  in  a  good 
hand  waived  administration  on  the  estate  of  Benjamin  Simonds,  and 
requested  the  judge  that  Daniel  Dewey  might  be  appointed  sole 


594  ORIGINS    IN    WILLIAM STOWK.  ' 

executor  of  said  will.  The  first  clause  directs  his  executors  "par- 
ticularly to  pay  to  my  beloved  wife,  Anna  Simonds,  six  hundred 
dollars  at  the  several  times  and  in  the  manner  specified  in  the  con- 
tract made  with  her  before  our  intermarriage/'  —  a  copy  of  which 
contract  was  deposited  with  the  will.  Anna,  his  wife,  was  also  "  to 
have  the  use  of  the  house  in  which  I  now  live,  and  of  the  eight 
acres  of  land  adjoining  for  one  year,''  and  then  all  real  estate  was 
to  be  sold  to  carry  out  the  other  provisions  of  the  will.  By  the 
second  codicil,  added  in  March,  1805,  —  "I  give  and  bequeath  to  m.y 
said  wife,  Anna  Simonds,  my  chaise  with  the  harness  and  horse 
which  I  use  in  the  chaise,  to  keep  and  use  during  her  natural  life." 

Colonel  Simonds  had  had  three  sons  in  all,  but  Justin  and  Benja- 
min had  both  died  before  the  will  was  made,  leaving  only  Joseph, 
who  was  born  in  1762,  and  was  consequently  forty-one  years  old  in 
1803.  Mrs.  Sylvia  Hamilton  had  the  impression,  in  her  old  age, 
that  Joseph  Simonds  was  a  ne'er-do-well ;  at  any  rate,  she  remembered 
very  little  about  him,  and  certainly  very  few  echoes  of  the  man  have 
reached  down  to  the  present  time.  The  grandfather,  Joseph  Simonds,  / 
made  a  very  distinct  impression  upon  his  generation  by  uniting  with 
the  Scotch-Irish  in  the  founding  of  Londonderry,  New  Hampshire, 
by  helping  to  settle  the  so-called  "  English  Kange  "  in  that  town,  and 
becoming  an  early  leader  there,  and  also  later  by  becoming  one 
of  the  pioneers  and  leaders  in  the  settlement  of  "  Ware  River  "  in  / 
Massachusetts,  whence  his  son  Benjamin  enlisted  for  Fort  Massachu- 
setts in  1745  ;  but  this  Joseph,  though  named  after  his  grandfather, 
and  having  before  him  as  an  example  the  great  enterprise  and  success 
of  his  father,  seems  to  have  amounted  to  but  little,  and  is  thus  men- 
tioned in  his  father's  will :  "  Unto  my  son,  Joseph  Simonds,  I  will 
and  bequeath  my  clock  and  the  case  which  contains  it,  my  desk  and 
book-case,  and  my  firelock  and  side  arms  and  my  powder  Flask  and 
all  the  ammunition  I  have  on  hand,  also  all  my  wearing  apparel  of 
every  description  including  buckles  and  buttons." 

When  this  will  was  drawn,  his  eldest  daughter,  Rachel  Train-Skin- 
ner, had  recently  died,  and  also  his  second  daughter,  Sarah  (Mrs. 
Ithamar  Clark),  and  her  husband,  too;  and  these  facts  help  to 
explain  the  terms  of  the  main  clause  of  the  will,  which  was  to  this 
effect ;  namely,  that  the  rest  of  his  estate,  real  and  personal,  should 
be  divided  into  equal  parts,  —  one  each  to  go  to  Benjamin  Skinner 
(Rachel's  second  husband),  Joseph  Simonds,  jCharles  and  Marcy  Kel- 
logg, Jonathan  and  Prudence  Bridges,  Joseph  and  Ablina  Osborne, 
Thaddeus  and  Electa  Edwards,  Perly  and  Polly  Putnam,  and  to  the 
five  sons  of  Sarah  Clark,  deceased,  —  eight  equal  parts  in  all,  but  Ben- 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  595 

jamin  Skinner  and  Jonathan  Bridges  had  already  had  $1000  each, 
and  this  sum  was  to  be  deducted  from  their  shares  respectively ;  but 
*'  all  other  sums  of  money  and  other  things  by  me  given  to  my  said 
son  or  any  of  my  daughters  shall  not  be  taken  into  consideration  "  in 
this  division.  By  the  first  codicil  to  the  will,  the  eight  shares  were 
to  amount  to  $1000  each  and  no  more,  and  the  residue  was  to  go  to 
his  son,  Joseph  Simonds ;  and  by  the  same,  all  claims  of  Rachel 
Skinner's  children  (said  Rachel  having  received  her  portion)  are  cut 
off  by  one  dollar  to  each.  By  the  second  codicil,  Joseph  Osborne 
having  died  since  the  execution  of  the  will,  his  daughter  Ablina  was 
to  have  the  whole  share.  *'  I  likewise  give  to  my  daughter,  Polly 
Putnam,  my  Portrait."  ^*  And  to  my  granddaughter,  Sally  Blair,  the 
wife  of  William  Blair,  my  large  family  Bible  in  two  folio  volumes 
after  the  expiration  of  one  year  from  my  deceas*'.  until  wliicli  timp 
it  is  my  desire  that  it  remain  with  my  said  wife. 

This  Bible  has  already  become  an  heirloom  in  the  iiiair  tamily  lu 
"Williamsto^vn,  being  the  property,  at  present,  of  Deacon  Henry 
Blair,  to  be  inherited  by  his  eldest  son,  Austin  Blair.  The  portrait 
passed  over  by  gift,  or  otherwise,  from  the  Putnams  to  the  Osbornes 
and  their  heirs,  and  by  these  latter  courteously  and  generously  trans- 
mitted to  the  writer,  whose  family  are  in  the  direct  line  of  Colonel 
Simonds  through  Jonathan  and  Prudence  Bridges,  to  the  eldest 
of  whom,  Grace  Perry,  the  portrait  is  destined  to  fall.  This  can 
always  be  identified  by  many  infallible  marks  and  scars,  but  chiefly 
by  the  signature  of  the  arti^^  1)iins»'1f  udoii  tli.*  l>;ir-k  of  the  o.niv.is:. 
''  W  Jennys  pinx'  1796." 

Among  *' the  five  sons  of  Sarah  Clark  deccastd,"  entitled  to  one 
share  out  of  the  eight,  into  which  their  grandfather's  general  estate 
was  to  be  divided  for  distribution,  was  one,  Dr.  Billy  J.  Clark,  who 
became  distinguished,  and  will  always  be  remembered  for  signal  ser- 
vices rendered  to  the  cause  of  temperance  in  this  country.  Some 
account  of  his  early  life,  and  of  the  circumstances  under  which  he 
conceived  an  invincible  repugnance  to  the  drinking  of  intoxicants, 
has  been  put  down  on  the  pages  of  an  earlier  chapter  of  this  book. 
From  a  country  tavern,  kept  by  his  father,  near  Centre  Pownal,  where 
this  repugnance  was  engendered,  he  passed  to  the  study  of  medicine, 
married  Joanna  Paine,  settled  down  for  a  forty  years  of  most  suc- 
cessful practice  in  Moreau,  New  York,  but  closed  his  career  in  the 
neighboring  town  of  Glens  Falls  as  an  apothecary,  and  as  a  temper- 
ance leader  and  organizer.  Appleton's  Cyclopaedia  has  this  to  say  of 
this  son  of  "  Sarah  Clark  deceased  "  :  "  The  earliest  organization  to 
stem  the  tide  of  intemperance  in  this  Republic  would  seem  to  have 


596 


ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 


been  that  of  'The  Temperate  Society  of  Moreau  and  Northumber- 
land,' which  was  instigated  by  Dr.  B.  J.  Clark,  of  Moreau,  in  March, 
1808,  and  constituted  by  the  signature  of  forty-three  members,  mainly 
substantial  farmers  of  the  two  towns  named.  Their  constitution 
stipulated,  that  '  no  member  shall  drink  rum,  gin,  whiskey,  wine,  or 
any  distilled  spirits,  or  composition  of  the  same,  or  any  of  them, 
except  by  the  advice  of  a  physician,  or  in  case  of  actual  disease  (also 
excepting  wine  at  public  dinners),  under  penalty  of  twenty-five 
cents.     Provided  that  this  article  shall  not  infringe  on  any  religious 

ordinance.'  And  further, 
that  '  no  member  shall  be 
intoxicated  under  penalty  of 
fifty  cents.'  And  again : 
'  no  member  shall  offer  any 
of  said  liquors  to  any  other 
member,  or  urge  any  other 
person  to  drink  thereof, 
under  penalty  of  twenty-five 
cents  for  each  offence.' 
Through  Dr.  Clark's  energy 
and  perseverance,  a  special 
act  of  the  New  York  Legisla- 
ture was  obtained,  incorpo- 
rating the  Saratoga  County 
Medical  Society,  the  first 
organization  of  the  kind  in 
the  state.  He  was  also  a 
member  of  the  New  York 
Electoral  College  in  1848. 
He  was  born  in  Northamp- 
ton in  January,  1778.  A  few  years  later  his  parents  removed  to 
Williamstown  (his  mother's  birthplace  and  grandparents'  residence), 
where  he  attended  the  free  school  founded  under  Colonel  Williams's 
will.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  commenced  his  medical  studies 
with  Dr.  Gibbs  in  Pownal,  and  continued  them  with  Dr.  Wicker  in 
Easton,  New  York,  and  commenced  his  practice,  in  Moreau,  in  1799. 
His  wife  died  in  January,  1839,  and  not  long  after  he  moved  to 
Glens  Falls,  where  he  died,  greatly  honored,  in  September,  1866,  in 
his  eighty -ninth  year.  His  son  Walter  was  a  member  of  Williams 
College  in  1831,  but  was  not  graduated.  His  four  brothers,  referred 
to  with  himself  in  Colonel  Simonds's  will,  were  Ira,  Isaac,  Chester, 
and  Sereno. 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  597 

If  Billy  J.  Clark  proved  himself  to  be  the  most  distinguished  scion 
of  the  Sarah  Simonds  branch  of  the  large  paternal  tree,  what  shall  be 
said  of  John  B.  Skinner  as  illustrating  and  making  famous  the  elder 
and  double  Rachel  Simonds  branch  of  the  same  tree?  We  have 
already  spoken  of  the  Blairs  as  springing  from  Sally  Train,  the  only 
child  of  Kachel  Simonds  by  her  first  husbiuid,  to  whom  the  Colonel 
expressly  willed  his  "  large  family  Bible  in  two  folio  volumes  " ;  we 
liave  also  noted  the  disparaging  mode  of  reference  in  the  ColonePs 
will  to  the  children  of  Rachel  Skinner,  of  whom  there  were  five  in 
all,  the  two  eldest  sons  in  which  group,  Harry  and  William,  having 
alreiidy  given  marked  signs  of  intemperance  and  inefficiency;  but 
there  were  two  younger  boys,  Samuel  and  John  Burr,  respectively 
nine  and  five  years  old  when  the  will  was  drawn,  who  showed  them- 
selves in  after  life  to  be  men  of  very  different  character.  Samuel 
Skinner,  born  in  1794  (Williams  College,  1816),  studied  law  with 
his  sister's  husband,  Samuel  A.  Talcott,  of  whom  we  shall  learn 
more  by-and-bye,  till  1819,  when  he  settled  down  in  his  profession  at 
Leroy,  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1852.  Durfee's  "Annals  of  Wil- 
liams "  has  this  to  say  of  him :  "  Mr.  Skinner  was  a  well-read,  safe, 
and  careful  lawyer,  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  clients,  distin- 
guished for  fairness  in  practice,  and  diligence  and  uprightness  in 
business.  He  acquired  a  handsome  fortune,  and  left  an  unsullied 
name.  He  was  for  many  years  a  ruling  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
church  at  Leroy,  an  active,  liberal,  and  devoted  Christian,  possessing 
uncommon  gifts  for  the  duties  of  the  office.  He  exerted  a  wide  influ- 
ence in  the  community,  which  is  still  felt,  and  where  his  memory  is 
cherished  with  the  deepest  tenderness." 

While  the  alcove  picture  is  not  in  terms  overdrawn,  John  r)urr 
Skinner,  l)orn  in  1799,  the  youngest  child  of  Deacon  Benjamin  and 
Rachel  Train-Skinner,  became  a  much  more  famous  and  deeply 
influential  man  and  lawyer  than  his  brother.  In  partial  explanation 
of  his  remarkable  career,  it  should  here  be  premised  that  Deacon 
Skinner  was  a  Jeffersonian  Democrat  and  a  devoted  Freemason ;  he 
was  a  man  of  fine  appearance,  with  a  clear  and  penetrating  voice,  of 
warm  feelings  readily  expressing  themselves  in  manly  tears,  and  a 
natural  leader  in  all  church  matters  and  a  frequent  and  acceptable 
lay  reader  in  public  church  worship.  In  an  atmosphere  diffused  by 
such  a  positive  man  as  this,  John  Burr  Skinner  grew  up,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  natural  influence  of  his  uncle,  General  T.  J.  Skinner, 
who  was  a  consummate  speaker  and  adroit  politician,  and  the  politi- 
cal leader  of  his  party  for  many  years  in  Berkshire  County.  After 
his  graduation  at  Willi '"<<  i"  1818,  youn<r  Skiiin»'r  iiMturiinv  drifted 


598  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

into  democratic  circles ;  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Hon.  Daniel 
Buel,  of  Troy,  New  York,  where  he  formed  a  life-long  friendship 
with  his  fellow-student,  the  late  William  L.  Marcy,  governor  of  New 
York  and  secretary  of  state  under  President  Pierce.  He  completed 
his  preparatory  studies  at  the  then  celebrated  law  school  of  Judges 
Gould  and  Reeves,  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut ;  and  soon  after  estab- 
lished himself  as  a  lawyer  in  the  hamlet  of  Wyoming,  New  York, 
in  the  present  county  of  Wyoming,  both  of  which  names  were  given 
by  himself  to  their  respective  localities-.  His  cousin,  James  0.  Put- 
nam, said  of  him  :  — 

His  success,  solid  and  brilUant,  was  assured  from  the  first.  His  industry,  his 
fidelity  to  professional  trusts,  his  learning  and  his  marvellous  power  before  juries, 
gave  a  leadership  at  the  circuits  which  he  never  lost.  The  jury  trial  was  the 
favorite  theatre  of  his  professional  contests,  and  it  was  as  the  advocate  that  he 
was  without  a  peer.  The  methods  of  conducting  litigation  in  his  time  differed 
from  the  present.  Then  the  great  object  was  to  secure  a  verdict  from  the  twelve 
men.  On  their  decision  hung  the  issues  of  life  and  death  and  fortune.  This 
made  the  counsel  who  could  carry  the  jury,  whether  by  magic  or  storm,  an  indis- 
pensable ally.  Appeals  were  comparatively  few.  Now-a-days  when  the  jury  in 
so  many  trials  is  but  an  incident,  and  law,  as  has  been  said  with  much  humor 
and  some  wisdom,  is  the  power  of  decision  of  the  last  judge  that  can  hear  the 
case,  the  eloquent  advocate  holds  a  position  less  relatively  important  in  the  trial 
of  causes.  But  Judge  Skinner  was  learned  as  a  lawyer,  as  well  as  eloquent 
as  an  advocate,  and  it  was  this  rare  combination  that  gave  him  a  position  so 
distinguished  before  the  courts. 

Ex-President  Fillmore,  Avho  presided  at  a  meeting  of  the  Bar  of 
Erie  County,  convened  to  give  some  expression  of  its  sentiment  on 
the  occasion  of  his  death,  in  1871,  said :  — 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Skinner  commenced  in  1829,  when  he  and  I  were 
both  members  of  the  Assembly.  That  was  my  first  year,  but  I  think  it  was  his 
third  year,  and  he  had  then  an  enviable  reputation  for  so  young  a  man  in  that 
distinguished  body,  as  yet  free  from  the  suspicion  of  bribery,  and  adorned  by 
the  talents  of  such  men  as  John  C.  Spencer,  Erastus  Koot,  Benj.  F.  Butler, 
Frank  Granger,  and  of  others.  The  revision  of  our  statutes,  the  great  work 
which  did  so  much  to  methodize  and  relieve  them  from  the  cumbrous  language 
and  accumulated  contradictions  and  inconsistencies  of  years,  was  then  just  com- 
pleted, and  in  that  great  work  Judge  Skinner  bore  a  conspicuous  part.  I  know 
he  was  listened  to  with  confidence  and  respect,  and  no  member  of  the  House 
seemed  to  exert  a  more  salutary  influence.  My  subsequent  acquaintance  with 
him  was  mainly  at  the  Bar.  Here  he  was  distinguished  for  his  legal  arguments 
and  forensic  eloquence.  I  have  often  felt  a  tremor  of  anxiety  when  I  have  had 
to  meet  him.  He  was  a  man  religiously  devoted  to  the  interest  of  his  client, 
without  ever  compromising  his  own  conscience  or  dignity.  He  prepared  his 
case  with  great  labor  and  assiduity,  and  whatever  could  be  said  in  favor  of  his 
client's  interest  he  presented  with  great  clearness  and  force,  and  when  that  was 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  599 

done  he  conceived  that  he  had  dischai^ed  his  professional  duty,  and  he  patiently 
waited  the  result.  The  highest  encomium  that  can  ever  be  passed  upon  a  man 
of  his  profession  may  with  great  propriety  be  passed  upon  him,  and  that  is,  he 
was  a  learned,  conscientious  lawyer. 

Hon.  James  R.  Doolittle,  late  United  States  senator  from  Wis- 
consin, had  this  to  say,  two  years  after  Judge  Skinner's  death  :  — 

The  late  John  B.  Skinner,  as  a  lawyer  and  advocate,  had  few  equals,  and  no 
superior,  for  many  years,  in  western  New  York.  To  uniform  courtesy,  untiring 
industry,  uuflincliing  and  incorruptible  fidelity  to  his  clients,  you  must  add 
great  tact  and  knowledge  of  human  nature,  as  well  as  great  legal  learning, 
and  oftentimes  the  highest  order  of  eloquence,  to  make  a  just  estimate  of  his 
character.  It  was  before  a  jury  that  he  was,  in  some  resi^ects,  unequalled.  His 
efforts  there  were  entirely  extemporaneous.  Those  who  have  had  great  oppor- 
tunity to  hear  the  most  eloquent  of  American  orators,  say  there  were  occasions 
when  those  extemporaneous  efforts  of  Mr.  Skinner,  in  true  eloquence  and 
power,  surpassed  all  his  contemporaries.  When  fully  roused,  his  language  wa» 
pure  English,  —  chaste,  elegant,  and  concise.  He  spoke  without  apparent  effort, 
with  a  directness,  earnestness,  and  naturalness  that  seemed  almost  inspired. 
His  mind,  like  his  person,  was  high-wrought  and  of  the  finest  mould.  All  his 
appeals  and  all  his  conversations  were  addressed  to  the  better  part  of  our 
nature.  With  truth  it  may  be  said,  no  one  ever  heard  him  at  the  Bar,  or  held 
private  conversation  with  him,  who  did  not  feel  his  nobler  sentiments  strength- 
ened and  elevated  by  his  influence. 

Judge  Martin  Grover,  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  state  of 
New  York,  who  knew  him  very  thoroughly  on  the  circuit,  and 
otherwise,  from  1836  onwards  for  twenty  years,  embodied  his  recol- 
lections, in  1873,  in  a  paper  prepared  for  the  Buffalo  Historical 
Society.     We  quote :  — 

Mr.  Skinner  attended  all  the  circuits  in  Livingston,  Allegheny,  Cattaraugus, 
Chautauqua,  and  Genesee  counties,  and  his  presence  was  regarded  almost  as 
essential  as  that  of  the  Judge.  There  were  then  no  railroads  in  any  part  of  the 
district,  and  Mr.  Skinner  travelled  from  one  country  town  to  another,  in  com- 
pany with  the  Judge,  each  with  his  own  horse  and  sulky.  Extensive  study  and 
large  experience  had  made  Mr.  Skinner  perfectly  familiar  with,  and  master  of, 
nearly  every  legal  question  presented,  and  he  was,  therefore,  able  to  take  a 
leading  part  in  nearly  every  case  tried.  His  clear  intellect  and  capacity  for 
(luick  comprehension  enabled  him  to  try  a  cause  with  great  ability,  without  any 
previous  preparation,  and  with  but  little  consultation  with  his  client  and  the 
other  counsel.  He  would  grasp  the  entire  case  at  once  and  adopt  the  correct 
mode  of  conducting  the  trial.  He  was  very  sagacious  in  the  examination  of 
witnesses.  An  adverse  witness  rarely  succeeded  in  baffling  him,  and,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  he  would  derive  an  advantage  for  his  client  from  the  reluctance  of 
such  a  witness  to  disclose  the  whole  truth.  But  his  great  power  was  in  summing 
up  to  the  jury.  In  this  I  have  never  seen  one  superior  and  scarcely  ever  his 
equal.     His  clear  statements  and  close  logical  arguments  usually  convinced  the 


600  ORIGINS   IN    WILLIAMSTOWN. 

understanding  of  his  hearers,  and  when  to  these  were  added  his  powers  of  per- 
suasion, the  effect  was  overwhehning.  He  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  the 
highest  powers  of  an  orator.  In  listening  to  him  no  one  could  doubt  his  entire 
sincerity,  and  when  he  appealed  to  the  highest  and  noblest  principles  of  human- 
ity it  was  the  outpouring  from  the  heart.  His  words  went  directly  to  the  hearts 
of  the  audience.  His  control  of  their  emotions  was,  for  the  time,  complete. 
Nothing  seemed  to  give  him  greater  pleasure  than  the  exertion  of  these  high 
powers  in  the  cause  of  justice.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and 
exhibited  these  traits  in  all  his  conduct  during  a  trial.  Always  courteous  to 
the  Bench,  though  firm  and  earnest  in  insisting  upon  the  rights  of  his  client, 
his  uniform  politeness  to  the  adverse  party  —  counsel  and  witnesses — had  a 
strong  tendency  to  restrain  undue  exhibitions  of  passion,  too  frequently  wit- 
nessed upon  exciting  trials. 

His  early  friend  and  fellow-studentj  Governor  Marcy,  appointed 
Mr.  Skinner,  in  1838,  to  the  office  of  judge  of  the  eighth  circuit, 
who,  at  that  time,  had  equity  jurisdiction  as  vice-chancellor;  but 
he  declined  the  appointment.  President  Pierce  nominated  him  for 
United  States  District  Attorney  for  the  northern  district  of  New 
York ;  a  position  which  he  also  declined.  In  the  mean  time,  in 
1846,  the  governor  of  New  York  appointed  him  Judge  of  the  county 
court  of  Wyoming,  under  the  new  constitution  of  that  state,  a  place 
which  he  held  but  for  a  few  months,  until  the  election,  which  inau- 
gurated the  new  elective  judiciary  system.  He  failed  of  his  election 
under  that  system,  on  political  grounds,  which  are  clearly  unfolded 
by  his  kinsman,  James  0.  Putnam. 

During  the  period  of  Mr.  Skinner's  service  in  the  Legislature,  a  new  element 
appeared  in  western  New  York  politics,  a  sort  of  Nile  inundation,  breaking  up 
and  sweeping  away  all  old  political  organizations.  I  refer  to  Anti- Masonry.  It 
took  the  form  of  a  political  party,  and  from  the  start  was  at  the  white  heat  of 
popular  passion.  The  tide  kept  rapidly  rising,  and  floated  out  on  the  sea  of 
popular  favor  all  the  men  of  that  generation  in  the  career  of  politics  in  western 
New  York.  To  be  an  Anti-Mason  was  to  be  in  the  realm  of  possibilities  for  any 
position  within  the  gift  of  the  local  constituency.  To  be  of  the  opposition  was 
to  be  whelmed  under  a  flood  of  majorities  which  made  hopeless,  almost  down  to 
the  present  day,  all  its  political  aspirations  through  popular  election.  Mr.  Skin- 
ner's father  was  a  Mason,  and  that  fact  powerfully  influenced  him.  He  could 
not  be  floated  off  on  any  impulsive  tide,  and  he  would  not  hold  an  organization 
responsible  for  a  crime,  atrocious  as  it  was,  of  a  few  individual  members.  He 
united  with  the  opposition  to  the  Anti-Masonic  party,  and  when  the  Anti- 
Masonic  was  merged  in  the  Whig  party,  his  attitude  remained  unchanged  in  the 
Democratic  organization.  The  result  was  that  tho  standard  majority  of  about 
3000  in  "  old  Genesee,"  Anti-Masonic  and  Whig  for  forty  years,  was  as  Ossa  on 
Pelion  and  both  on  Atlas,  over  the  hopes  and  candidacy  of  every  man  of  the 
minority  for  political  promotion.  Mr.  Skinner  was  often  the  candidate  of  his 
party  for  high  honors,  but  the  contest  was  always  a  forlorn  hope,  and  he  led  it 
with  characteristic  courage  and  devotion. 


WILLIAMSTOWX.  601 

No  other  native  of  Williamstown  certainly,  perhaps  it  may  be 
said  no  other  graduate  of  Williams  College,  ever  gained  the  breadth 
and  constancy  and  solidity  of  reputation,  at  once  as  a  lawyer  and  as 
an  orator,  and  as  a  genial  friend  and  gentleman,  and  as  a  high  officer 
and  representative  of  a  great  national  church,  that  was  acquired  by 
John  B.  Skinner  (Williams  College,  1818),  1799-1871,  the  most 
honored  among  the  many  honored  descendants  of  Colonel  Benjamin 
Simonds.  Let  us  listen  for  a  moment  to  what  a  clergyman.  Rev. 
J.  E.  Nassau,  who  knew  him  thoroughly,  said  of  him  two  years  after 
his  death :  "  He  was  a  person  of  the  finest  sensibilities,  that  mani- 
fested themselves  continually  in  his  domestic.  Christian,  and  pro- 
fessional life  and  intercourse.  I  have  often  seen  him  profoundly 
affected  and  moved  even  to  tears  in  religious  meetings  and  public 
addresses,  and  even  in  common  conversation  upon  topics  that  greatly 
interested  him.  And  nothing  took  deeper  hold  of  his  emotion  than 
the  grand  elemental  truths  of  the  Bible,  the  permanent  interests  of 
the  Church,  the  sorrows  and  iovs  of  friends,  or  the  vital  interests 
of  the  Country." 

After  his  removal  to  J-Juiiaio  in  1800, — except  an  interval  of 
eighteen  months  of  foreign  travel,  in  the  course  of  which  he  lost, 
by  death  in  Switzerland,  his  only  child  (Mrs.  Letchworth),  and 
his  only  grandchild,  —  Judge  Skinner  passed  the  last  ten  years  of 
his  life  in  the  varied  duties  of  a  useful  and  honored  citizenship. 
His  last  years,  with  the  exception  of  the  great  sorrow  just  referred 
to,  were  serene  and  happy.  A  paragi-aph  from  an  address  made  by 
him  before  the  American  Bible  Society  in  New  York,  will  exhibit 
some  of  the  traits  of  the  man  and  the  orator :  — 

But  I  have  touched  only  a  single  point ;  —  such  a  view  of  this  subject  would 
be  like  that  relief  which  should  take  the  hopeless,  drowning  man  from  the  fatal 
wreck,  and  carry  him  within  view  of  the  cheering  light,  and  within  sound  of  the 
glad  voices  of  sympathy  and  kindred,  and  leave  him  there  to  die  unblest.  I 
liave  not  referred  to  the  power  of  the  Gospel  to  break  the  fetters  in  which  pride 
and  avarice  and  selfishness  have  bound  up  the  charities  of  the  soul ;  nor  to  those 
fountains  of  benevolence  which  this  week  commemorates,  and  which,  springing 
from  this  source,  have  sent  forth  their  gushing  waters  over  the  dry  earth,  pro- 
ducing moral  beauty  and  verdure  and  loveliness.  I  have  not  alluded  to  that 
noble  institution  in  the  father-land,  whose  jubilee  has  just  been  celebrated,  and 
which  ha-s  shed  Ita  radiance  over  every  clime,  and  whose  light,  mingling  with 
ours,  beams  from  those  bright  spots  Indicated  on  your  missionary  map,  which  a 
kindred  institution  has  rescued  from  the  desert.  I  have  not  spoken  of  that  boon 
of  sympathy  and  brotherhood  which  has  reclaimed  the  drunkard,  and  sought 
out  the  abandoned,  and  carried  the  hopes  of  life  to  the  lost.  These  are  the  fruits 
of  that  Tree  of  Life  whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations.  Nay,  this 
influence  is  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God  in  the  sepulchre  of  Lazarus.    It  penetrates 


602  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

the  grave,  and  rescues  its  tenants  from  corruption  and  the  worm  ;  it  clothes  them 
with  a  robe  of  spotless  righteousness  ;  it  furnishes  them  with  a  passport  to  that 
city  that  hath  foundation,  to  those  joys  which  "  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  nor  hath  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive."  i 

4 

Colonel  Simonds's  third  daughter,  Marcy,  born  Dec.  2,  1759,  be- 
came the  wife  of  Charles  Kellogg,  and  they  the  ancestors  of  a  con- 
siderable number  of  distinguished  men  and  of  admirable  women,  but 
not  of  men  so  much  distinguished  as  some  of  those  springing  from 
each  of  her  elder  sisters.  The  several  Kellogg  families  have  played 
a  prominent  part  in  the  story  of  Williamstown,  and  in  that  of  the 
College  too,  even  down  to  the  present  time.  They  all  sprang  from 
Samuel  of  Hatfield,  through  Nathaniel,  his  eldest  son,  who  settled 
and  remained  in  Colchester,  Connecticut,  whence  came  to  Williams- 
town  Charles  and  Nathaniel,  brothers  of  the  fifth  generation  from 
Samuel  of  Hatfield.  The  Samuel  Kellogg  already  characterized 
in  these  pages,  who  came  to  Williamstown  considerably  earlier  than 
these  two  brothers,  was  of  the  same  lineage  with  them,  while  the 
exact  degree  of  kinship  has  not  been  ascertained.  The  two  lines 
came  together  again,  as  we  shall  shortly  see.  Charles  Kellogg 
probably  married  Marcy  Simonds  in  1775 ;  if  so,  she  could  not  have 
been  more  than  sixteen  years  old ;  the  births  of  five  of  their  children, 
born  in  Williamstown,  are  recorded  in  the  old  proprietors'  book ;  and 
of  these,  Justin  was  born  Jan.  17,  1781.  Charles  Kellogg  was  the 
first  innholder  of  record  in  the  old  Mansion  House,  which  was 
burned  down  in  October,  1872,  and  which  had  a  sort  of  history  very 
closely  interwoven  with  that  of  the  town  and  the  College  ;  and  so, 
for  a  time  at  least,  the  son-in-law  followed  the  vocation  of  the 
wife's  father  here,  but  he  moved  on  about  the  opening  of  this  cen- 
tury into  the  new  promised  land  of  Washington  County,  New  York, 
and  settled  in  Middle  Granville,  where  he  died  in  1828,  aged  sev- 
enty-eight. His  son,  Justin,  went  early  from  Granville  to  Troy, 
and  became  a  merchant  there,  highly  esteemed  and  prosperous,  was 
for  many  years  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  church.  He  was  killed  by  the  overturning  of  a 
stage-coach,  while  descending  Oak  Hill  near  Buskirk's  Bridge,  in 
May,  1839,  in  his  fiftieth  year.  He  left  two  daughters,  Adeline  and 
Harriet ;  the  first  of  whom,  born  in  1816,  a  well-educated  and  beau- 
tiful woman,  intermarried,  in  1836,  with  Giles  B.  Kellogg  (Williams 
College,  1829),  a  grandson  of  the  first  Samuel  Kellogg  of  Williams- 
town. Two  lines  were  thus  happily  united.  Justin  Kellogg 
(Williams  College,  1865),  a  well-known  lawyer  of  Troy,  and  at  the 
present  time  an  alumni-trustee,  as  was  also  his  father  before?  him 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  603 

in  1868-78,  and  Giles  Kellogg  (Williams  College,  1876),  now  a 
business  man  in  Boston,  were  sons  of  this  intermarriage  and  repre- 
sent, among  her  other  numerous  posterity,  ^larcy  Simonds,  who  died 
in  Middle  Granville  in  1834,  aged  seventy -eight.  Justin  A.  Kellogg, 
of  Indianapolis,  is  another  scion  of  this  widely  extended  stock, — 
a  descendant  of  Marcy  and  Cliarles  Kellogg. 

Prudence,  the  fourth  daughter  of  Colonel  Simonds,  bom  Dec.  4, 
1763,  was  married  before  she  was  nineteen  years  old  to  Jonathan 
Bridges,  who  was  ten  years  older,  and  who  migrated  hither  from 
Colchester,  Connecticut,  just  as  the  embers  of  the  Revolutionary 
War  were  being  raked  in.  Jonathan  left  two  brothers  in  Colches- 
ter, Samuel  and  Amasa;  Samuel  always  remained  there,  and  sent 
his  son,  Samuel  A.,  to  Williams  College,  from  which  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1826,  and  became  a  prominent  man  in  Pennsylvania,  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  LL.D.  in  1876,  and  trustee  in  Mirhlenburg  College; 
and  Amasa,  a  blacksmith,  came  much  later  than  his  brother  to  Wil- 
liamstown,  and  lived  (always  poor)  both  on  the  crest  of  North- 
west Hill  and  afterwards  at  its  foot  in  a  small  house  built  by  him, 
and  but  recently  removed  by  Colonel  A.  L.  Hopkins.  After  the 
birth  of  three  children  in  Williamstown,  Jonathan  Bridges  removed 
to  Adams,  where  three  others  were  added  to  his  family,  and  then 
he  returned  here  and  bought  the  farm  north  of  the  Hoosac  River, 
which  has  been  owned  and  occupied  by  his  descendants  —  Samuel 
and  Edwin  and  Charles  in  succession  —  down  to  the  present  time. 
Four  more  children  were  born  to  Jonathan  and  Prudence  during 
theiif  second  sojourn  on  the  Hoosac,  of  whom  the  last  was  Lucy, 
bom  Feb.  2,  1808,  and  still  living  in  1893.  Jonathan  died  in  1818, 
and  Prudence  in  1844.  As  a  rule,  the  posterity  of  the  latter  have 
not  shown  the  conspicuous  talents  nor  gained  the  usual  prominence 
of  the  posterity  of  her  three  older  sisters;  indeed,  she  herself, 
though  a  kindly  and  painstaking  woman  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  her  family,  showed  in  her  old  age  symptoms  and  even  evidences 
of  a  sort  of  harmless  insanity ;  and  her  eldest  son,  Elam,  died  in  an 
insane  hospital  in  Utica,  in  1847.  She  herself  passed  all  the  latter 
years  of  her  life  in  the  family  of  her  youngest  daughter,  Lucy 
Bridges  Smedley,  and  died  under  her  loving  and  watchful  care  in 
her  eighty-first  year.  Mrs.  Smedley's  eldest  daughter  helped  to 
care  for  and  to  comfort  her  grandmother  in  her  latest  years ;  and  it 
is  noteworthy,  and  most  gratifying  to  a  father's  love  to  note,  that 
the  eldest  son  of  this  granddaughter.  Bliss  Perry  (Williams  College, 
1881),  and  professor  both  in  his  own  Alma  Mater  and  in  Prince- 
ton College,  has  been  thus  far  the  only  one  of  the  descendants  of 


604  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

Prudence  Simonds  who  has  enjoyed  and  maintained  what  is  rightly 
and  usually  termed  a  public  reputation.  He  has  already  distin- 
guished himself  both  as  public  teacher,  and  a  literary  worker  on 
the  highest  fields. 

Ablina  Simonds,  the  fifth  daughter  of  the  Colonel,  born  Oct.  8, 
1765,  the  year  of  the  incorporation  of  West  Hoosac  as  Williamstown, 
married,  when  she  was  but  just  over  nineteen,  Joseph  Osborne,  who 
was  an  enterprising  citizen  here  for  many  years ;  and  who,  if  he 
were  the  Joseph  Osborne  "  of  the  mountain  land  west  of  Sheffield, 
yeoman,"  who  sold  land  to  Nathan  Benjamin  of  "said  mountain 
land"  in  1764,  must  have  been  much  older  than  his  wife.  They 
were  married  Dec.  2,  1784.  Three  children  of  this  union,  Emmet 
and  Melissa  and  Julia,  were  all  baptized  here  the  21st  of  July,  1793, 
on  the  occasion  of  both  their  parents  uniting  with  the  church.  The 
fourth  and  last  child,  Myra,  was  born  Dec.  6,  1795.  Both  parents 
were  living  when  Colonel  Simonds  made  his  will ;  but  in  the  second 
codicil  of  the  same,  drawn  in  March,  1805,  Joseph  Osborne's  death 
is  mentioned,  and  a  direction  given  that  his  widow  receive  the  whole 
share  intended  for  them  both.  Mrs.  Osborne  afterwards  married 
Judah  Paddock,  Esq.,  of  Skaneateles,  New  York,  but  there  were  no 
more  children.  Emmet  Osborne,  the  only  son,  —  what  generation  is 
wholly  without  such,  —  proved  to  be  "a  ne'er-do-weel."  Melissa 
Osborne,  born  Nov.  20,  1787,  was  married  to  Pharez  Gould  in  due 
time,  and  one  son  and  one  daughter  were  the  offspring  of  this  union. 
Miss  Gould  became  Mrs.  Addison  G.  Jerome,  of  New  York,  and  she, 
in  turn,  the  mother  of  Eugene  Murray  Jerome  (Williams  College, 
1867),  who  is  now  with  a  beautiful  family  a  highly  respected  and 
influential  resident  of  Williamstown;  and  Mr.  Gould  became  the 
father  of  the  late  lamented  Edward  Osborne  Gould  (Williams  Col- 
lege, 1867),  who  was  a  broker  in  New  York,  and  died  in  1883.^ 
Julia  Osborne  married,  in  1816,  Alfred  Northam,  born  in  Williams- 
town in  1788,  and  a  graduate  of  Williams  in  the  class  of  1808.  He 
was  the  eldest  son  of  Timothy  Northam  and  Eebekah  Meacham. 
He  studied  law  with  Daniel  Kellogg  at  Skaneateles,  New  York,  and 
became  a  partner  with  him  in  the  practice  of  that  profession.  After 
a  residence  there  of  about  fifteen  years,  he  removed  to  Syracuse, 
where  he  acted  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  several  years,  and  where, 

1  Ned  Gould,  as  he  was  called  in  College,  and  by  his  confreres  generally,  was  an 
extremely  genial  student  and  man.  Colonel  Simonds  had  willed  his  own  portrait  to 
the  Putnams,  but  it  had  passed  over  in  some  way  to  the  Osbornes,  and  Gould  claimed 
it  as  his  own,  and  gave  it  to  me.  He  said,  "Now,  Professor,  if  I  should  ever  get 
married  and  beget  sinners  of  my  own,  you'll  have  to  give  this  back  !  "  He  died  a 
bachelor. 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  605 

in  November,  1832,  in  her  fortieth  year,  his  wife  committed  suicide 
in  the  night  by  opening  the  jugular  vein.  This  is  said  to  have  given 
his  system  such  a  shock  that  he  never  fully  recovered  from  it.  He 
removed,  however,  the  same  year  to  Peoria,  Illinois,  but  returned  to 
Syracuse  in  1840,  and  was  cared  for  in  his  old  age  by  Mrs.  Jerome, 
a  niece  of  Mrs.  Northam's,  at  Lockport,  where  he  died  in  1858,  and 
where  some  of  Mrs.  Jerome's  children  remember  him  vividly  as 
swinging  his  cane  with  vehemence  to  keep  them  off  from  his  gouty 
feet!  Mrs.  Julia  Northam  never  had  any  children.  Miss  Myra 
Osborne,  the  youngest  of  the  Colonel's  grandchildren  in  this  family, 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Harvey  Putnam  in  1817,  the  youngest 
of  his  step-sons.  A  great-great-gran-lson  of  the  Colonel,  through 
James  0.  Putnam,  is  now  (1893)  in  attendance  upon  the  Yale  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  the  same  class  with  another  of  his  great-great- 
grandsons,  a  son  of  the  present  writer,  Carroll  Perry. 

The  Colonel's  sixth  daughter,  Electa  Simonds,  born  in  1768, 
married,  when  she  was  nineteen,  Thaddeus  Edwards,  and  died  in 
Skaneateles  without  children  in  1841.  She  was  a  fleshy  woman,  the 
largest  of  all  of  Colonel  Simonds's  daughters.  Polly,  the  youngest 
daughter,  born  in  1771,  married  in  due  season,  that  is  to  say,  early, 
Perly  Putnam,  the  eldest  son  of  her  stepmother.  He  was  a  harness- 
maker  by  trade,  and  lived  for  some  years  on  the  house  lot  originally 
bought  and  occupied  by  his  father-in-law,  No.  22,  and  still  occasion- 
ally called  b}'  old  people  the  "  Putnam  lot."  He  migrated  with  his 
family  to  Skaneateles,  where  his  youngest  brother,  Harvey,  was 
apprenticed  to  him,  where  his  family  was  brought  up,  and  where 
both  the  parents  died.  Their  son,  Henry,  inherited  at  first  his 
grandfather's  portrait  from  his  mother,  to  whom  it  was  specifically 
willed,  whence  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Osborne  cousins. 
Contrary  to  the  wishes  and  judgment  of  both  families,  their  daughter, 
Mary,  a  name  that  now  began  to  expel  the  more  common  "  Polly," 
was  wooed  and  won  (in  a  clandestine  way)  by  Thaddeus  Edwards,  2d, 
a  nephew  of  the  husband  of  Electa  Simonds;  and  another  daughter, 
Electa  Putnam,  became  the  second  wife  of  James  Northam,  of  Wil- 
liamstown,  a  brother  of  Alfred  Northam,  who  was  the  husband  of 
Julia  Osborne.  Thus  the  Northams,  the  heads  of  whose  families 
all  came  from  Colchester  to  Williamstown,  were  intermingled  with 
the  older  Meacham  and  Simonds  families. 

In  connection  with  this  account  of  all  the  children  of  Benjamin 
Simonds,  and  of  his  last  will  and  its  two  codicils,  it  will  be  appro- 
priate'to  copy  the  "Inventory  of  his  estate,  whereof  he  died  seized 
and   possessed "  in   1807.      The  appraisers  were   Deodatus  Noble, 


606  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Ephraim  Seelye,  and  Asa  Northam ;  and  these,  as  such  appraisers, 
took  oath  before  Joshua  Danforth,  Justice  of  the  Peace.  The 
^'shares"  mentioned  in  Simonds's  will  had  all  been  distributed  to 
his  children  previous  to  his  death. 

7  acres  of  land  with  dwelling  house  and  barn $600 

1  Chaise  and  harness 75 

1  horse  $35    2  cows  $42 77 

Clock  and  Case  $35    watch  $15 60 

Silver  hilted  sword  $10    cherry  desk  $12 22 

Case  of  drawers  $25    Feather  bed  and  pillows  $12 37 

2  woolen  rugs  $1.50     7  woolen  blankets  $2.50 4 

Wig  .50    Old  Beaver  Hat  $1     Great  Coat  $2 3.50 

Black  Coat  vest  and  Breeches  $15    arm  Chair  .50     ........  15.50 

7  pewter  plates  $1.25     silver  shoe  buckles  $1.50 2.75 

Pair  knee  buckles  .  50    6  silver  tea  spoons  $4.50 5. 

Ivory  headed  cane  .75    2  cotton  sheets  $2.25 3. 

2  linen  sheets  $2.50    Pair  linen  pillow-cases  .50 3. 

6  linen  sheets  $6    2  pair  table  linen  $1.50 7.50 

Carving  knife  and  fork  .40    warming  pan  $1 1.40 

5  iron  spoons  .50    4  pans  .40    2  skimmers  .12 1.02 

Brass  kettle  $10    7  barrels  Cyder  $10 20. 

>^  barrel  Pork  and  barrel  $8     10  bushels  Wheat  $12.50 20.50 

Brown's  Family  Bible  2  vol,  fol 6. 

Tin  stove  .25    small  chest  .50    axe  $1    shovel  and  tongs  .50   .     .     .     .  2.25 

Iron  fetters  .50    2  linen  shirts  1.50    2  pair  hand  irons  $1 3. 

And  many  other  items  aggregating .•     •     •  $1039.70 

16.  When  the  new  meeting-house  was  built  and  seated,  in  1768, 
the  youngest  member  of  the  building  and  seating  committee, 
Nehemiah  Smedley,  was  thirty-five  years  old.  Some  account  of  his 
ancestry  and  immediate  parentage,  of  his  brothers  and  sisters,  —  of 
whom  there  were  ten,  —  and  of  his  own  movements  from  Litchfield 
to  West  Hoosac,  both  as  a  soldier  first  and  a  settler  afterwards,  has 
already  been  given  in  these  pages.  We  reserve  till  the  next  chap- 
ter all  references  to  his  conspicuous  Kevolutionary  services.  The 
enterprise  and  business  capacity  and  general  good  judgment  of  this 
comparatively  young  man  were  recognized  by  the  proprietors  in  his 
selection  to  serve  upon  these  two  important  committees.  No  por- 
trait or  other  likeness  at  all  of  this  Smedley  has  been  preserved 
to  posterity.  Strange  to  say,  no  headstone  was  ever  erected  over 
his  grave,  and  even  the  place  of  his  burial,  within  the  limits  of  the 
graveyard,  is  unknown.  He  was  not  even  a  member  of  the  church, 
in  which  his  son  and  grandson  served  an  aggregate  of  seventy-five 
years  as  deacons,  and  in  which  one  of  his  great-great-grandsbns  is 
now  a  deacon.     His  personal  education  was  slight,  as  is  manifested 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  607 

in  his  personal  papers,  all  of  which  are  preserved,  and  are  the  prop- 
erty of  the  writer ;  and  yet,  it  may  well  be  questioned  whether  any 
one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Williamstown  —  save  only  each  of 
his  two  senior  colleagues  of  the  church-building  committee  —  exerted 
upon  the  town  a  more  wholesome  and  pervasive  influence.  He 
made  such  an  opening  here  as  rendered  feasible  and  desirable  the 
subsequent  coming  and  settling  of  five  brothers  and  four  sisters. 
He  acquired  property  easily,  and  both  retained  and  increased  it. 
He  built  his  first  house  and  planted  his  first  orchard  on  the  front  of 
house  lot  No.  1,  and  the  next  door  to  the  west  of  him  was  the  first 
tavern-stand  of  the  little  hamlet ;  and  it  is  quite  possible,  perhaps 
even  probable,  that  the  first  five  or  six  families  who  settled  in  Ben- 
nington (about  twenty  persons  in  all)  in  June,  17G1,  who  certainly 
came  over  the  Hoosac  Mountain  on  horseback  in  that  month,  and 
passed  through  West  Hoosac,  and  so  on  through  Pownal,  tarried 
over  night  at  this  tavern  and  in  the  small  houses  adjacent  to  it. 
At  any  rate,  Mary  Harwood,  then  just  sixteen  years  old,  was  in  that 
little  company,  which  was  led  by  Peter  Harwood,  her  brother,  ten 
years  older  than  herself.  Another  brother,  Eleazar,  two  years 
younger  than  Peter,  was  also  along;  and  two  brothers  Robinson, 
Leonard  and  Samuel,  Junior,  from  Hard  wick,  and  Samuel  Pratt  and 
Timothy  Pratt  from  Amherst,  were  the  only  other  adults  in  the 
party.  It  is  much  more  likely  than  not  that  a  part  of  these  persons 
lodged  one  night  in  the  tavern,  another  part  in  the  West  Hoosac 
Fort  opposite,  and  still  other  persons  in  one  or  more  of  the  houses 
on  Hemlock  Brook  close  by. 

It  is  possible  that  Nehemiah  Smedley  opened  his  bachelor  hall  to 
one  or  more  of  these  pioneers  into  the  regions  beyond,  and  that  thus, 
or  otherwise,  he  gained,  at  this  time,  a  speaking  acquaintance  with 
Mary  Harwood.  If  not,  then  such  acquaintance  was  not  long 
delayed  ;  for  in  two  years  time,  at  most,  Mary  Harwood  became  Mrs. 
Smedley,  and  mistress  of  the  "  regulation  "  house  on  No.  1.  Levi 
Smedley,  their  first-bom,  enlivened  the  scene  in  the  aforetime  bache- 
lor hall  on  Oct.  8,  1764.  Seven  other  children  rapidly  followed, 
about  half  of  them  born  in  the  new  and  large  house  (still  standing) 
near  the  junction  of  the  Green  and  Hoosac  rivers.  Indeed,  the 
heavy  oak  timbers  of  this  new  house  were  lifted  into  their  place  on 
the  eighth  birthday  of  little  Levi ;  that  is  to  say,  Oct.  8,  1772,  and 
Harwoods  and  other  friends  from  Bennington  came  down  to  the 
**  raising."  Tlie  war  was  drawing  on ;  and  Captain  Smedley,  twelve 
years  older  than  his  wife,  was  away  from  home  much  of  the  time 
for  several  years,  which,  of  course,  in  such  times,  increased  the  cares 


608  ORIGINS  IN  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

and  anxieties  of  the  mother  with  her  little  flock;  and  just  eight 
days  before  she  became  thirty-seven  years  old,  she  passed  away  into 
a  realm  unvexed  by  wars,  and  leaving  her  youngest  born,  Samuel, 
but  nine  months  old.  In  less  than  a  year  thereafter.  Captain  Smed- 
ley  married  an  old  acquaintance  and  neighbor  of  the  Smedleys  in 
Litchfield,  Mrs.  Lyman  Gibbs,  and  one  son  crowned  this  marriage 
also,  James,  born  Dec.  23,  1783. 

Nehemiah  himself  was  drawing  near  to  his  earthly  end.  He  had 
led  a  life  of  hardships  and  exposure,  and  of  unintermitted  activities. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  perceive  that  the  system  of  house  lots  of 
ten  acres  each,  and  the  rest  of  the  farm  made  up  of  lots  drawn  by 
the  homestead  in  different  parts  of  the  town,  was  ill-adapted  to  a 
community  of  farmers ;  and  he  early  cast  his  eyes  about  to  see  where 
he  could  aggregate  a  good  farm  not  far  from  the  "  Square,"  in  which 
he  could  have  all  the  requisite  kinds  of  land  in  essential  contiguity 
around  his  homestead.  This  end  was  essentially  accomplished  in 
1765.  The  first-division  fifty-acre  lot  No.  28  lay  a  little  to  the  east 
of  the  Green  River  "  on  the  road  to  the  east  town,"  and  was  owned 
by  John  Moffat,  painter,  of  Boston,  the  original  drawer  of  house  lot 
46,  which,  in  turn,  had  drawn  this  fifty-acre  lot.  Smedley  evidently 
went  to  Boston  to  buy  this  lot,  the  consideration  for  which  was  £50 
lawful  money,  and  the  deed  to  convey  which  was  signed  in  Boston 
by  Moffat,  and  witnessed  there  by  Belcher  Noyes,  and  William 
Smibert  of  that  town,  June  21,  1765.  Earlier  in  the  same  year,  two 
meadow  lots  adjoining  this  lot  were  secured,  — No.  12  from  Ephraim 
Seelye  for  £13,  and  No.  13  from  William  Horsford  for  £30,— 
both  of  these  meadow  lots  extending  north  across  the  Hoosac  to  the 
old  Mohawk  trail,  later  developed  into  the  "north  road  to  the  east 
town."  The  autumn  before  he  had  bought  meadow  lot  No.  10  for 
£20,  which  was  near,  but  not  adjacent  to  the  others,  and  which  lay 
mostly  north  of  the  river.  In  October,  1766,  he  bought,  also,  fifty- 
acre  lot  No.  29,  which  lies  directly  opposite  the  home  lot  on  the 
south  side  of  the  road,  and  comes  up  to  the  bridge  over  Green  River 
at  the  east  end  of  the  house  lots.  This  purchase  virtually  completed 
what  has  been  called  for  a  century  and  a  quarter  the  "  Smedley 
farm,"  though  he  bought  of  Rev.  Whitman  Welch,  May  4,  1775, 
eighteen  and  three-fourth  acres  more  of  land  contiguous  to  what  he 
held  before,  and  a  little  afterwards  oak  lot  No.  18,  containing  nineteen 
acres.  When  he  died,  in  1789,  in  his  fifty-seventh  year,  the  public 
inventory  of  his  estate  sets  down  the  "  Homestead  Farm,"  as  con- 
taining 177  acres,  which,  with  the  "  Dwelling  House  and  Barn," 
were  valued  at  £1300  ($4333.33)  ;  one  sixty-acre  lot  at  £60  (|200) ; 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  609 

one  pine  lot  containing  about  three  acres,  at  £4  ($13.33)  ;  the  live 
stock  at  £92  19s.  ($309)  ;  and  furniture  and  all  other  items  at  £109 
148.  (.S308).     Total,  $5224.66. 

When  Smedley  made  his  will,  Dec.  17, 1787,  "being  weak  in  body 
but  of  sound  mind  and  memory  (blessed  be  God!),"  he  made  his 
eldest  son  sole  executor,  who  had  just  passed  into  his  twenty-fourth 
year,  and  who  gave  bonds  in  the  sum  of  £1000.  Two  of  his  near 
neighbors,  Samuel  Kellogg  and  Ira  Baker,  owning  the  farms  next  to 
his  to  the  eastward,  signed  Levi  Smedley's  bond,  and  the  same,  with 
William  Wells,  witnessed  the  will.  The  testator  lived  about  two 
years  after  his  will  w^as  drawn,  and  the  same  was  approved  by 
the  Judge  of  Probate  March  2, 1790.  The  father's  methods  of  doing 
business  are  shown  in  the  accounts  of  his  executor;  namely,  the 
debts  due  to  the  estate  at  the  testator's  death  were  £6  5s.  Orf.,  all 
but  nine  shillings  for  hay  sold  to  sundry  persons ;  the  nine  shillings 
were  owed  by  William  Towner,  Esq.  The  debts  owed  by  the  estate 
were  £4  8«.  Orf.,  more  than  half  of  wliich  was  due  to  Dr.  Sheldon, 
his  attending  physician,  and  eight  shillings  to  Dr.  Porter,  presumably 
for  counsel.  Tradition  has  it  that  Nehemiah  S medley  died  of  con- 
sumption, and  alleges  as  corroborative  proof  that  it  was  noticed 
long  before  his  death,  that  when  he  crossed  the  Hoosac  in  his  boat  to 
those  parts  of  his  farm  north  of  that  river,  and  returned,  the  matter 
he  expectorated  sank  into  the  water  instead  of  floating,  which  was 
supposed  to  be  sure  proof  of  the  presence  of  blood  from  the  lungs. 

After  the  father's  death,  the  two  eldest  sons  carried  on  the  large 
farm,  for  many  years  in  company,  and  both  brought  up  large 
families  under  the  one  roof  in  harmony ;  but  they  finally  resolved 
to  divide  between  themselves  the  farm  which  they  had  jointly 
increiised  by  considerable  purchases  of  land,  and  especially  by  the 
"  Luce  lot,"  at  the  same  time  resolving  to  take  no  outside  counsel 
over  the  division,  and  to  make  no  after  complaints  about  it  in  any 
case.  This  mutual  understanding  was  carried  out  in  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  it  to  a  good  old  age  of  both  parties.  Levi  naturally  took 
the  homestead,  and  died  in  1849,  aged  eighty-five.  He  and  his  wife, 
Lydia  Gibbs  from  Litchfield,  united  with  the  church  in  1792,  and 
he  became  a  deacon  in  1828,  and  served  twenty-one  years.  Elijah 
Smedley  and  his  wife,  Liicy  Gibbs,  a  cousin  of  the  other,  united 
with  the  church  in  1793.  After  the  division,  these  lived  in  a  house 
southeast  of  the  old  homestead,  and  both  died  there  in  an  honored 
old  age.  Asahel  Foote  (Williams  College,  1827)  married  their  daugh- 
ter Mary,  assumed  the  care  of  the  farm,  taught  a  successful  private 
school  in  the  bouse  for  many  years,  became  a  deacon  in  the  church 


610  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

in  1838,  and  died  in  the  old  house  in  1882.  Charles  Eollin  Foote 
(Williams  College,  1859),  now  a  citizen  of  California,  was  their  only 
son.  Besides  Levi  and  Elijah,  Captain  Neheiniah  Smedley  had  four 
other  sons,  Moses,  Elisha,  Samuel,  and  James.  The  two  first  men- 
tioned migrated  early  to  Hinesburg,  Vermont.  Any  other  air  than 
that  of  Williamstown  does  not  seem  to  be  wholesome  to  the  S med- 
leys, either  physically  or  morally.  George,  the  son  of  Elisha, 
returned  to  Williamstown  in  1856,  and  bought  the  Kellogg  farm, 
next  east  of  the  old  homestead.  Frederic  George  (Williams  Col- 
lege, 1864),  now  a  prosperous  lawyer  in  New  York,  still  owning 
and  occupying  in  summer  the  old  Kellogg  farm,  is  his  only  son. 
Frederic  Miller  Smedley  (Williams  College,  1893)  is  the  only  son 
of  Frederic  George.  Samuel,  who  went  from  here  to  New  Lisbon, 
Otsego  County,  New  York,  did  not  leave  behind  him  there  a  savory 
reputation ;  but  James,  the  youngest  son  of  Nehemiah,  who  married 
Emily  Wheelock,  daughter  of  John  Wheelock,  who  was  a  drummer- 
boy  in  the  Eevolution,  became,  like  his  father-in-law,  a  pious  man 
and  a  good  citizen,  both  in  Hinesburg,  Vermont,  and  in  Lockport, 
New  York.  Of  the  children  of  Deacon  Levi  Smedley,  Levi,  born 
in  1795,  inherited  the  farm  in  due  time,  lived  a  long  and  useful  life 
upon  it,  represented  his  town  in  the  General  Court  for  one  year,  and 
did  good  service  in  forwarding  the  cause  of  the  Hoosac  Tunnel,  then 
before  the  Legislature.  He  did  not,  however,  show  the  vigor  and 
enterprise  as  a-  farmer  and  citizen  that  the  good  deacon  exhibited 
before  him ;  and  the  good  deacon  himself  was,  perhaps,  inferior  in 
those  respects  to  the  good  Captain  Nehemiah.  The  "  Western 
fever  "  struck,  at  last,  Chauncy,  Levi's  son,  after  he  had  owned  and 
operated  the  ancestral  acres  for  half  a  lifetime,  and  he  sold  out 
and  migrated  to  Illinois,  and  his  son,  Leveus  Smedley,  is  now  a 
farmer  in  Indiana.  The  deacon's  youngest  son,  James,  born  Dec.  1, 
1804,  spent  his  whole  life  in  Williamstown,  except  for  two  brief 
intervals,  and  died  on  Good  Friday,  1892,  in  his  eighty -eighth  year. 
Like  his  fathers  before  him,  he,  too,  dwelt  among  his  own  people. 
His  lot  in  life  was  comparatively  obscure,  not  succeeding  well  in  the 
medical  profession,  which  he  learned  in  his  youth,  on  account  of 
abnormally  quick  sensibilities,  which  would  not  allow  him  to  sleep 
whenever  he  had  a  critical  case  on  his  hands.  He  lacked  a  needful 
confidence  in  his  own  knowledge  and  judgment,  and  necessarily, 
after  a  little,  the  medical  confidence  of  the  communities  in  which  he 
practised.  He  enjoyed,  however,  the  moral  confidence  of  those  com- 
munities to  a  remarkable  degree,  and  to  an  extreme  old  age.  He 
fell  back  early  on  the  life  of  a  small  farmer  and  fruiterer;  and  was 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  611 

half-way  through  the  eighty-eighth  year  when  his  call  came.  He 
was  chosen  a  deacon  in  the  church  in  1838,  and  served  in  conjunction 
with  his  father  for  eleven  years,  and  then  onward  for  forty-three 
years  longer.  During  the  long  period  of  tifty-four  years  of  an 
unbroken  deaconate,  this  good  man  was  not  absent  from  his  place  at 
the  memorial  table  more  than  two  or  three  times  all  told.  Next  to 
the  native  church,  of  which  he  stood  an  unblemished  member  for 
just  seventy  years,  his  interest  centred  in  Williams  College,  which 
he  watched  very  closely  all  his  life.  He  attended  the  commence- 
ment of  1810,  and  all  the  succeeding  commencements  but  five  up  to 
and  including  that  of  1890.  He  studied  one  year  in  College,  and 
then  passed  to  the  medical  school  at  rittstield,  at  that  time  a  depart- 
ment of  the  College,  at  which  he  was  regularly  graduated  in  1829. 
He  knew,  personally,  each  of  the  six  successive  presidents  of  the 
College  from  the  first,  and  could  well  describe  their  looks  and  char- 
acteristics. He  had  a  remarkable  memory  for  the  names  and  faces 
and  residences  of  the  students  of  many  generations,  and  they,  in 
turn,  were  fond  of  seeing  him  and  hearing  his  fluent  accounts  of 
the  men  and  days  of  old. 

Tlie  following  appreciative  words  are  from  the  admirable  funeral 
sermon  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  John  Bascom :  — 

Deacon  Smedley  was  a  plain,  simple-hearted,  and  very  devout  man.  He  was 
an  excellent  illustration  of  the  strength  of  character  and  breadth  of  influence 
w^hich  are  secured  by  an  unfailing  hold  in  the  invisible  things  which  pertain  to 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  His  long  life  and  very  long  deaconry,  without  quite 
covering  the  early  era  of  the  Willianistown  church,  fully  embraced  and  expressed 
its  spirit  and  methods.  He  clung  tenaciously  to  the  good  men,  the  memories, 
and  the  religious  experiences  of  his  youth.  The  definite  and  very  positive  faith 
of  those  eariy  times,  with  a  periodic  fervor  of  enforcement,  were  with  him  the 
familiar  type  of  an  earnest  Christian  life.  The  less  stringent  but  more  compre- 
hensive beliefs,  the  less  incisive  but  more  inclusive  religious  action,  we  are  slowly 
approaching,  had  the  appearance,  to  him,  somewhat  of  the  subterfuges  of  a  lax 
and  shifty  generation.  Deacon  Smedley  was  a  fine  example  of  one  of  the  many 
forms  of  profitable  and  commanding  character,  which  are  built  up,  each  in  its 
own  fa-shion,  by  the  progress  of  our  very  variable  and  very  complex  Christian 
faith. 

Deacon  Smedley  married  Lucy  Bridges,  a  granddaughter  of 
Colonel  Simonds,  and  thus,  in  one  way,  these  two  sturdy  stocks 
were  engrafted  into  each  other;  and  her  brother,  Samuel  Bridges, 
intermarried  also  with  Irene  Smedley,  a  sister  of  the  deacon;  and  a 
number  of  the  present  families  in  Williamstown  sprang  from  these 
two  unions.  The  deacon's  eldest  daughter,  Mary,  married  A.  L.  Perry 
(Williams  College,  1852) ;  and  Grace  Perry  (Wellesley,  1881),  Bliss 


612  ORIGINS   IN    WILLI AMSTOWN. 

Perry  (Williams,  1881),  Walter  Perry  (Williams,  1887),  and  Car- 
roll Perry  (Williams,  1890)  are  of  that  line;  while  Lucy,  the 
deacon's  youngest  daughter,  was  united  in  marriage  to  Jonathan 
Wadhams  (Williams  College,  1867).  Another  of  Deacon  James's 
sisters,  Lydia,  born  and  bred  like  him  by  the  riverside,  married  Noah 
Sheldon  (Williams  College,  1815)  ;  and  two  of  their  sons,  Charles 
and  Samuel  (both  Williams  College,  1847),  were  honored  in  their 
graduation,  one  with  the  Philosophical  Oration,  and  the  other  with 
the  Salutatory.  Another  of  these  sisters  married  Manning  Brown, 
a  native  of  Cheshire,  and  a  successful  farmer  and  manufacturer  in 
Williamstown  and  Adams ;  and  their  son,  Timothy  M.  Brown  (Wil- 
liams College,  1859),  has  long  been  a  prominent  citizen  and  lawyer 
in  the  city  of  Springfield  on  the  Connecticut  Eiver.  Deacon  James 
Smedley's  widow,  her  son  AVilliam  and  wife,  who  care  for  her  in 
her  extreme  age,  and  two  orphan  children  of  her  youngest  son, 
Edward,  who  was  in  the  Signal  Corps  on  Commodore  Farragut's  flag- 
ship in  the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay,  a  son  and  a  daughter,  are  the  only 
persons  in  Williamstown  bearing  the  name  of  Smedley  as  the  nine- 
teenth century  draws  to  a  close.  What  a  contrast  in  point  of  num- 
bers as  compared  with  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  here ! 

17.  There  came  to  Williamstown  in  1764,  from  Weathersfield, 
Connecticut,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Josiah  Wright.  His  wife's  name 
was  Abigail,  and  both  became  members  of  the  Williamstown  church, 
it  is  to  be  presumed,  by  letter.  They  had  a  son,  Josiah  Wright, 
Junior,  and  probably  several  other  sons.  There  was  a  Gideon  Wright 
and  his  wife  Sarah,  who  were  also  very  early  members  of  the  church; 
and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  a  pew  was  set  aside  in  the  meeting- 
house of  1768  for  the  Wright  family.  There  is  an  epitaph  in  the  old 
burial-ground  by  the  Hemlock  Brook,  —  "  Mr.  Jonathan  Wright,  who 
died  April  10,  A.D.  1766  in  the  30'^  year  of  his  age."  Justice  Wright 
and  his  wife,  Mercy,  had  children  born  in  town,  1779-1782 ;  and  Ste- 
phen Bacon,  2d,  told  the  writer  that  when  he  was  a  small  boy — that 
is,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century  —  there  was  an  Aaron  Wright, 
who  lived  on  the  Upper  Hopper  Brook  above  Bacons'.  But,  as  we 
shall  see  shortly,  interest  in  the  Wright  family  turns  rather  on  a 
locality  than  on  persons  particular.  Josiah  Wright,  Junior,  bought 
of  Samuel  Clark  in  July,  1772,  for  £5,  the  meadow  lot  No.  63,  which 
is  the  meadow  lot  directly  south  of  Blair's  (now  Hubbell's).  As  we 
have  seen  before,  Blair's  original  house  stood  north  of  the  road,  in 
what  is  now  an  orchard ;  and  there  is  some  considerable  evidence 
that  Wright  owned  meadow  lot  No.  62  as  well  as  63,  and,  at  any 
rate,  his  access  to  63  must  have  been  past  the  present  Hubbell  build- 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  613 

ings  to  the  south.  However  this  may  be  (and  it  is  not  important), 
it  is  certain  that  Josiah  Wright's  son  settled  not  long  after  his 
arrival  in  town  on  first-division  fifty-acre  lot  No.  61,  the  northern 
end  of  which  comes  up  to  the  Blair  road  before  that  road  turns 
sharply  north  into  the  Stratton  road.  The  eastern  side  of  Wright's 
lot  61  Hanks  what  was  then  Aaron  Bacon's  lot  63  (these  were  both 
fifty-acre  lots),  and  Bacon  must  have  come  out  to  the  Blair  road 
very  near  where  the  senior  Wright  built  his  first  house.  This  house 
was  superseded  after  a  while  by  a  brick  house,  which  has  only  lately 
been  taken  down,  and  about  which  cluster  a  series  of  weird  tradi- 
tions, which  the  future  novelist  of  the  town  (may  God  speed  his 
coming !)  may  likely  enough  work  up  into  a  tale  that  shall  outlive 
these  imperfect  records  now  being  woven  into  a  loose  fabric  that 
may  ravel  out  in  time. 

It  is  not  at  all  certain,  hardly  probable,  that  the  brick  house 
was  built  while  the  elder  Wright  was  still  in  the  saddle  there.  If 
not,  it  was  certainly  built  by  one  or  more  of  his  sons.  The  family 
remained  in  possession,  and  gradually  acquired  a  bad  reputation. 
The  father  and  mother  moved  on  to  Arlington,  Vermont,  where 
Abigail  died  in  February,  1795,  and  Josiah  in  February,  1799,  he  in 
his  eighty-seventh  year  and  she  in  her  seventy-ninth ;  and  at  some 
time  between  the  close  of  the  war  and  the  close  of  the  century,  the 
inmates  of  the  brick  house  were  thought  so  ill  of  by  their  neighbors 
that  the  latter  lent  a  ready  ear  to  a  story  of  murder  committed  by 
the  former,  and  repeated  it  over,  little  by  little,  with  ghostly  details 
and  additions,  to  their  children,  from  several  of  whom  the  writer 
has  derived  it  directly,  though,  of  course,  with  quaint  and  consider- 
able varijitions.  This  is  not  history,  nor  does  it  aspire  to  become 
such ;  but  there  must  have  been  some  basis  of  fact,  and  surely  a 
stiff  basis  of  locality,  for  a  story  that  has  been  told  under  breath, 
and  not  without  shudders,  for  several  generations,  in  the  Blair  fam- 
ily and  in  the  Williams  family,  —  the  two  nearest  neighbors,  —  and 
also  in  the  Corbin  and  other  families  at  the  South  Part.  It  is  the 
only  tale  of  robbery  and  murder  and  ghosts  that  connects  itself, 
even  in  dimmest  outline,  with  the  early  story  of  Williamstown,  and 
runs  in  general  in  something  like  the  way  following :  The  Wrights 
had  become  considerably  indebted  to  a  certain  pedlar  driving  one 
horse,  who  frequented  those  parts  in  quest  of  the  usual  driblets  of 
gain.  The  neighbors  had  seen  him  drive  up  to  the  brick  house,  had 
watched  for  his  return,  and  liad  not  discovered  it.  In  the  mean 
time,  mysterious  movements  were  observed  in  and  around  the  house. 
Lights  were  seen  at  unusual  times,  and  in  usually  unfrequented 


614  ORIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

parts  of  the  house.  The  suspicions  of  the  neighbors,  that  something 
wrong  was  going  on  in  and  around  the  Wright  house,  were  thor- 
oughly aroused,  and  these  suspicions  were  mutually  inflamed  by 
communicating  them.  In  a  day  or  two,  all  was  still  and  apparently 
abandoned  at  the  brick  house.  Neighbors  combined  in  fear  and 
dread,  but  with  all  due  resolution,  to  search  for  the  body  of  the 
pedlar  and  for  his  various  effects.  Possible  places  of  interment  or 
hiding  away  were  scrutinized,  sheds  and  barn  and  cellar  were  exam- 
ined, and  nothing  was  found  anywhere  of  a  questionable  character, 
until  at  last  the  pedlar's  horse  was  discovered  in  the  best  room  of 
the  brick  house,  with  cloths  wrapped  round  his  hoofs,  apparently  so 
that  his  stampings  on  the  floor  might  not  be  heard  by  the  neighbors, 
before  the  inmates  had  gotten  a  good  ways  off  from  the  premises. 
No  stampings  or  neighings  from  the  real  horse  had  then  been  heard 
by  anybody ;  but  years  and  years  afterwards,  and  to  many  successive 
occupants  of  the  house,  mysterious  sounds  issued  from  that  room, 
slight  but  distinct,  treadings  on  that  floor,  deadened  as  if  falling  on 
cloths,  and  neighings,  not  equine  and  earthly,  but  stifled  and  super- 
natural, as  if  the  ghost  of  the  pedlar  had  come  back  to  seek  for  his 
horse,  and  the  horse  had  greeted  his  old  master  with  at  least  the 
distant  echoes  of  accustomed  sounds.  There  are  old  people,  still 
living,  who  have  confessed,  in  the  writer's  hearing,  to  strange  per- 
turbations of  mind  as  they  have  entered  or  quitted,  or  even  thought 
of  (in  the  night),  the  square  room  of  the  old  brick  house  above 
Blair's. 

18.  Titus  Harrison  was  from  Litchfield,  and  owned,  in  1765,  house 
lot  No.  39,  the  third  lot  east  from  South  Street,  and  the  one  on 
which  Eli  Porter  lived  a  great  many  years,  and  on  which  the  late 
Dr.  Samuel  Duncan  built  the  present  house  owned  by  his  children. 
Harrison  soon  quitted  the  Main  Street,  even  if  he  ever  occupied  his 
house  lot  39,  and  established  himself  on  Water  Street,  where  he 
utilized,  for  the  first  time,  the  successive  falls  in  the  Green  River  at 
that  point,  for  milling  purposes.  He  built  a  house  there  on  the 
bank  of  the  river,  and  had  for  near  neighbors  Joseph  Osborne  and 
Samuel  Payen.  The  last-named  was  a  carpenter  from  Dutchess 
County,  New  York,  who,  like  many  others  before  and  after  him, 
was  drawn  towards  the  mill-privileges  on  the  lower  course  of 
Green  Eiver.  There  are  three  or  four  of  these  natural  falls  in  the 
stream,  near  the  east  end  of  the  Main  Street  and  to  the  south  of  it, 
and  one  (lower  down)  to  the  north  of  it.  The  last  one  was  not  util- 
ized for  a  water-privilege  till  after  the  Civil  War,  when  the  Arnold 
brothers,  of  North  Adams,  and  other  capitalists,  using  Professor 


WILLIAMSTOWN.  615 

Chadbourne  as  a  sort  of  partner,  or  rather  agent,  availed  themselves 
of  it,  in  connection  with  a  local  fall  in  the  Hoosac,  to  obtain  power 
for  the  present  large  cotton-mill  at  their  junction;  but  the  falls 
above  drew  attention  to  themselves  at  the  very  first,  and  occupied 
the  minds  of  many  projectors  and  many  purchasers  before  Titus 
Harrison  first  practically  made  them  tell.  The  standing  difficulty 
was,  that  first-division  fifty-acre  lot  No.  30,  which  covered  all  the 
land  contiguous  to  the  falls  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  was  about 
sixty  feet  below  the  nearest  point  of  access  to  the  Main  Street  from 
any  prospective  mill  or  mills,  and  this  point  of  access  was  a  regular 
jumping-otf  place  at  that,  —  rocky  and  precipitous.  In  June,  1761, 
Gideon  Warren,  formerly  a  soldier  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  but  then  a 
yeoman  of  West  Hoosac,  sold  to  Samuel  Payen,  for  £6,  "two  acres 
on  Green  river,  part  of  a  lot  known  as  No.  30,  beginning  at  the 
N.W.  corner  of  M.  L.  47,  thence  North  20  rods,  thence  East  16  rods 
across  Green  river,  thence  South  20  rods  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river,  thence  West  across  the  river  16  rods  to  the  place  of  begin- 
ning, with  privilege  of  flowing  the  river  bank  as  hie  up  as  ye  top  of 
ye  upi)er  falls  " ;  "  and  also  a  strip  of  land  two  rods  wide  by  the 
west  side  of  said  river  beginning  at  the  north  side  of  said  land 
I  sold  to  said  Payn,  and  running  north  by  said  river  to  the  mouth  of 
the  brook  [Phebe's  Brook],  and  up  the  hill  to  the  lot  now  enclosed 
and  so  out  to  the  main  road  or  Highway,  to  be  a  highway  for  the 
use  of  the  town."  Isaac  Stratton  and  Daniel  Stratton  sign  this 
deed  as  witnesses. 

This  was  a  very  important  deed.  Gideon  Warren  and  Samuel 
Payen  solved  the  mill  question,  opened  up  Water  Street  into  Main 
just  as  it  runs  to-day,  and  went  part  way  towards  justifying  the  loca- 
tion of  the  house  lots  as  a  site  for  a  permanent  village.  There  can 
be  little  or  no  doubt  that  the  commissioners  sent  up  by  the  General 
Court  in  the  spring  of  1750  to  lay  out  the  house  lots  —  that  is,  the 
prospective  village  —  were  a  good  deal  controlled  in  their  selection  of 
a  site,  in  many  respects  unfortunate,  by  the  situation  of  these  Green 
River  Falls.  If  they  had  carried  fully  out  their  original  scheme  of 
a  uniform  rectangle,  one  quarter  of  the  lots  in  number  coming  into 
each  angle  of  their  Greek  cross  constituted  by  the  Main  Street  and 
North  and  South  Streets  bisecting  it,  these  falls  would  have  fallen 
into  two  individual  house  lots,  otherwise  almost  worthless  on  account 
of  the  high  and  abrupt  wall  dividing  the  Main  Street  from  the 
tumbling  stream.  Hence,  they  threw  out  five  house  lots  altogether 
from  the  east  end  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  their  rectangle,  and 
ran  one  lot  (No.  57)  parallel  with  the  Main  Street,  while  all  the  rest 


616  ORIGINS   IN  WILLI AMSTOWN. 

were  at  right  angles  to  it.  At  the  same  time  the  falls  might  serve 
the  hamlet  fairly  well,  though  they  were  at  one  extreme  corner  of  it. 
The  plot  was  laid  out  too  long  for  its  width  (one  mile  and  three- 
eighths),  and  on  very  uneven  ground,  apparently  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  as  many  lots  as  possible  into  contiguity  with  running  water, 
and  also  of  bringing  the  whole  plot  into  neighborhood  with  those 
successive  mill-privileges.  Posterity  will  never  find  fault,  on  the 
whole,  with  the  commissioners  of  1750.  They  had  a  difficult  task 
to  fulfil.  They  did  not  know  whether  or  not  wells  could  be  suc- 
cessfully sunk  into,  or  through,  or  towards  the  limestone  rock.  They 
managed  to  get  in  sixty-three  house  lots  of  ten  acres  each  (and 
more),  twenty-one  of  which  were  traversed  by  one  or  other  of  the 
two  tributaries  of  Hemlock  Brook,  or  by  the  united  stream;  the 
Green  Kiver  skirts  the  eastern  ends  of  both  the  eastern  quarters  of 
the  quadrangle  in  their  entire  extent;  and  there  are,  at  least,  eight 
or  ten  copious  springs  of  water  within  the  designated  area.  For 
some  reason  Gideon  Warren  did  not  feel  warranted  in  facing  the 
practical  difficulties  involved  in  his  mill-privileges,  so  he  sold  them 
to  Payen  with  a  way  out  into  the  street  above ;  three  years  later  he 
sold  off  from  his  lot  No.  30  eleven  acres  more  from  the  southern  end 
to  James  Meacham ;  and  the  very  last  glimpse  that  we  reach  of  our 
old  soldier  and  early  settler,  Gideon  Warren,  is  as  proprietors'  clerk 
in  the  brand-new  town  of  Pittsford,  Vermont,  March  19,  1771. 

Neither  did  Samuel  Payen  ever  reach  the  point  of  opening  an 
actual  sawmill  for  logs,  or  a  grist-mill  for  grain  to  be  ground  for  toll, 
on  his  new  Green  Kiver  privileges.  He  was  enterprising  and  appar- 
ently well-to-do ;  he  bought  of  Titus  Harrison,  at  one  time,  October, 
1765,  first-division  fifty-acre  lot  61,  and  second-division  fifty-acre  lot 
30,  and  100-acre  lot  46,  all  drawn  in  succession  by  Harrison's  house 
lot  39;  he  bought,  also,  of  Jedidiah  Smedley,  the  next  year,  a  pai*t 
of  Smedley's  home  lot  No.  30  on  upper  Water  Street,  what  is  now 
Gale's  "  Farm  A  "  ;  he  seems  to  have  been  the  most  influential  man 
on  Water  Street  up  to  his  time ;  he  doubtless  co-operated  with  the 
then  owner  of  that  stretch  of  house  lot  57,  across  which  the  proposed 
road  up  the  steep  hill  from  Water  Street  must  pass  into  Main,  for  it 
was  alike  the  interest  of  both  parties,  and  of  all  parties,  to  have  the 
road  built ;  nevertheless,  it  was  reserved  for  Titus  Harrison,  the  next 
owner  of  the  privileges,  to  erect  the  mills,  and  set  things  agoing  on 
Water  Street.  He  gradually  bought  a  large  estate  in  lands  in  that 
vicinity,  —  three  meadow  lots,  at  one  time,  on  Green  Eiver,  of  Judah 
Williams,  for  £168,  in  1782.  He  sets  himself  down  as  "  Miller  "  in 
his  deeds.    He  was  probably  past  middle  life  when  he  migrated  from 


WLLLIAMSTOWN.  617 

Litchfield  to  Williamstown.  He  had  many  sons  and  daughters  ;  and 
while  neither  he  nor  they  were  professing  Christians  in  1768,  he  was 
too  prominent  a  proprietor  to  be  passed  by  in  the  pew-distribution, 
and  his  family  was  large  enough  to  fill  up  the  pew.  His  wife,  Anna, 
could  not  write,  but  made  her  mark  upon  the  deeds,  by  which,  near 
the  close  of  the  decade  of  the  eighties,  he  began  to  divide,  among 
his  sons,  his  real  estate,  including  his  grist-mill.  The  cares  of  a 
large  business  were  likely  enough  a  burden  to  him.  He  gave  to  his 
son,  Noah,  the  thirty  acres  bought  of  Judah  Williams.  He  deeds  to 
his  sons.  Almond  and  Truman,  his  remaining  lands  on  Green  River, 
which  amounted  to  eighty-two  acres,  in  consideration  of  their  joint 
bonds  for  the  fulfilling  of  certain  specified  purposes.  This  act  con- 
veyed the  grist-mill,  whose  wheel  has  not  ceased  to  turn,  nor  its 
stones  to  revolve,  from  that  day  to  this.  As  is  usual  and  inevitable 
in  such  cases,  Titus  Harrison's  sons  crowd  him  out  of  the  field 
of  view  thereafter,  and  off  from  the  records  of  the  time. 

Noah  Harrison  and  his  wife,  Huldah,  brought  up  a  family  of 
children  on  Water  Street  who  did  credit  in  life  to  their  parents 
and  grandparents.  Lois,  the  eldest  of  these,  married  Hendrik 
Willey,  who  operated  for  a  time  a  small  woollen-mill  (the  first  one 
of  its  kind  in  the  town)  on  one  of  the  Green  River  falls  next  above 
the  one  where  stood  and  stands  the  grist-mill.  John  AVilley,  a 
brother  of  this  Hendrik,  took  out  in  marriage  Julia  Stratton, 
Deacon  Ebenezer's  daughter,  who  lived  a  little  east  of  the  Green 
River  mills  on  the  present  Stratton  road.  Polly  Harrison,  another 
daughter  of  Noah,  was  married  in  due  time  to  Asahel  Stratton. 
Almond  Harrison,  another  son  of  Titus,  bore  a  very  considerable 
part  for  a  lifetime  in  the  measures  and  enterprises  of  his  town. 
He  married  Jerusha  Bacon,  a  daughter  of  old  Jacob  Bacon,  of 
whom  we  have  already  spoken,  and  the  fortunes  of  the  two  families 
became  much  intermingled.  His  home  farm,  on  which  he  built 
a  brick  house  still  standing,  is  the  one  next  but  one  north  of  the 
Stone  Church  on  the  Green  River  road ;  and  he  brought  up  a  large 
family  there.  He  also  bought  of  Ephraim  Seelye,  the  land-grabber, 
1300  acres  on  Bald  Bluffs  for  31000,  and  gradually  cleared  up  the 
land  there,  built  a  good  log-house  near  what  has  long  been  the 
Greylock  summer  camp,  where  the  stones  of  the  cellar  and  the  cel- 
lar itself  may  still  be  seen,  and  in  which  a  succession  of  respectable 
tenants  helped  him  to  raise  there  good  crops  of  wheat  and  other 
cereals.  He  sold  tliis  land  after  a  time  for  about  what  he  gave  for 
it  to  his  brother-in-law,  Stephen  Bacon,  who  improved  the  road  to 
it,  and  thus  accustomed  his  family  to  the  slopes  of  the  Hopper  and 


618  OKIGINS   IN   WILLI AMSTOWN. 

to  the  Hopper  itself,  which  has  supported  the  Bacons  in  plenty  for 
three  or  four  generations.  Almond  Harrison,  however,  who  had 
a  cider-mill  near  his  homestead,  transformed  it  afterwards  into 
a  cider-brandy  still,  the  frame  of  which  is  yet  doing  duty  in  situ 
as  a  barn,  and  became  himself  addicted  to  that  stimulant  to  his 
ruin,  so  that  Deacon  Levi  Smedley  was  appointed  guardian  of  his 
children  and  their  property. 

Chloe  Harrison,  Almond's  eldest  child,  born  in  1785,  was  married 
to  Oliver  Barrit,  a  son  of  Peter  Barrit,  of  the  North  Part  of  the 
town.  Almy,  the  second  daughter,  married  Dr.  Ebenezer  Stratton, 
Deacon  Ebenezer's  son,  and  the  doctor  died  in  his  father's  house 
on  Stratton  road,  and  Ebenezer  Harrison  Stratton  (Williams  Col- 
lege, 1828),  in  1893  the  oldest  living  graduate  of  the  College  except 
David  Dudley  Field,  notes  in  his  name  the  two  families  of  his  birth- 
place from  which  he  sprang,  in  which  place  there  is  now  no  person 
of  either  name.  Jerusha  and  Lucy  Harrison  were  married  respec- 
tively to  a  Dr.  Thacher  and  a  Mr.  Walker,  both  of  whom  lived  in 
Manchester,  Vermont,  and  the  writer  had  the  privilege,  many  years 
ago,  of  talking  over  with  Mrs.  Walker  the  matters  of  auld  lang 
syne  in  Williamstown.  Clement  Harrison,  the  oldest  son  of  Almond, 
born  Feb.  8,  1789,  inherited  the  Green  River  farm  of  his  father  and 
its  appurtenances,  and  did  not  escape  unscathed  the  temptations 
arising  in  connection  with  the  cider-brandy  still ;  but  he  reformed, 
abandoned  the  bad  associations  of  place  and  neighborhood,  purchased 
the  Fort  Massachusetts  farm  in  North  Adams  originally  owned  by 
Colonel  Ephraim  Williams,  united  with  the  Methodist  church  there, 
and  died  in  a  prosperous  and  honored  old  age.  It  was  he  who  first 
pointed  out  to  the  present  writer,  when  he  was  a  senior  in  College, 
the  lines  of  the  old  fort,  over  which  he  had  often  guided  the  plough 
with  his  own  hands,  and  permitted  him  to  remove  to  the  College 
the  last  headstone  remaining  complete  in  the  little  old  burial-ground 
attached  to  the  fort.  Six  years  afterwards,  the  same  persons  scru- 
tinized the  site  of  the  fort  a  second  time  more  carefully,  with  refer- 
ence to  planting  an  elm  tree  in  the  centre  of  the  open  parade-ground 
of  the  fort.  The  owner  of  the  farm  felt  sure  that  he  designated 
very  nearly  the  exact  spot,  and  the  other  party  opened  the  ground 
for  the  tree  then  and  there ;  but  the  present  tree  was  set  a  year 
later  (1859),  because  the  first  one  did  not  thrive  in  its  new  environ- 
ment. Bradford  Harrison,  the  son  and  successor  of  Captain  Clement, 
though  he  had  the  blood  of  the  good  old  Pilgrim  governor  in  his 
veins,  recurred  to  the  habits  engendered  by  the  cider-brandy  still  on 
the  Green  River  farm  of  his  grandfather. 


WILLIAM  STOWN.  619 

Joel  Harrison,  a  younger  brother  of  Clement,  who  married  Eliza 
Wells,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Truman  Paul,  migrated,  with  others,  into  the 
state  of  New  York,  where  he  became  a  General  in  the  militia. 
Three  of  Clement  Harrison's  brothers.  Almond  and  Salmon  and 
John,  all  married  daughters  of  the  Hickox  family  living  on  Bee 
Hill,  where  dwelt  also,  at  that  time,  Colonel  William  Waterman,  the 
father  of  a  large  and  reputable  family  here.  At  the  wedding  of 
John  Harrison,  who  had  joined  the  church  in  1826,  Mrs.  Hickox, 
the  mother  of  the  bride,  enlarged  to  Colonel  Waterman,  a  neighbor 
and  a  guest,  on  the  general  merits  of  the  incipient  son-in-law,  adding, 
"  And  what  is  more,  Colonel,  he  can  make  just  as  good  a  prayer  as 
Mr.  Gridley  ! "  Rev.  Ralph  W.  Gridley  was  the  peculiarly  fervent 
and  excellent  pastor  of  the  church  from  1816  to  1834. 

19.  If  the  lines  here  drawn  of  most  of  the  old  settlers  and  their 
families  seem  stiff  and  hard  and  become  monotonous  to  the  modern 
reader,  it  may  be  in  part  because  of  the  nature  of  the  meagre 
records  from  which  even  the  outlines  of  these  pictures  are  derived. 
Only  now  and  then  there  steps  into  view  from  out  the  general  dim- 
ness of  the  old  time  a  man  or  woman  about  whose  person  plays,  if 
not  a  fuller,  at  least  a  rosier,  light.  Such  is  cei*tainly  the  fact  in 
regard  to  Elkanah  Parris  and  his  wife,  Grace  Parris.  We  know 
but  little  about  either  of  them,  and  never  shall  know;  but  the  little 
we  do  know  begets  a  strong  desire  to  know  more.  They  had  at 
least  four  children  born  in  town,  and  these  between  the  dates 
1763-1770.  He  was  a  soldier  in  Fort  Massachusetts  for  a  consider- 
able time.  He  appears  in  the  scanty  records  in  intimate  and  re- 
peated relations  with  Daniel  Donalson  of  Coleraine,  one  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  immigrants  of  1718,  when  he  was  about  twelve  years 
old.  Donalson  became  the  original  proprietor  of  house  lot  No.  63, 
the  one  lying  nearest  to  the  last  stretch  of  Green  River,  but  he 
seems  never  to  have  become  a  resident,  although  he  too  was  a 
soldier  in  Fort  Massachusetts,  and  as  such  became  interested  in 
West  Hoosac.  After  a  little,  he  sold  his  lot  to  John  Chamberlin, 
of  Stockbridge,  for  £13.  The  deed  bears  date  Oct.  10,  1751. 
Elisha  Chapin  and  Samuel  Brown  witnessed  it.  Chapin  and 
Chamberlin  were  fellow-soldiers  with  Donalson  in  the  line  of  forts, 
and  Brown  was  a  leading  citizen  of  Stockbridge.  Chamberlin  sells 
the  lot  and  all  its  after-<lrafts  to  Elkanah  Parris,  expressly  desig- 
nated in  the  deed  as  of  "  Fort  Massachusetts,"  and  received  there- 
for £38.  When  the  propriety  became  a  town  in  1765,  this  lot  is 
set  down  as  belonging  to  Elkanah  Parris ;  and  six  years  later,  it  is 
put  down  in  the  name  of  "Daniel  Donalson  per  Elkanah  Parris." 


620  ORIGINS   IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

Instead  of  building  his  "regulation  house"  on  his  house  lot  ^3, 
which  lies  on  relatively  high  ground  above  the  river,  he  preferred 
for  some  reason  to  build  it  upon  the  other  side  of  the  Main  Street, 
and  outside  of  any  house  lot,  on  the  low  bank  close  by  the  river,  and 
on  land  then  of  little  or  no  value,  belonging  to  fifty-acre  lot  No.  30. 
There  it  stands  to-day  almost  precisely  as  he  built  it.  The  motive 
in  placing  it  down  there  rather  than  on  the  high  and  sightly  ground, 
later  occupied  by  the  fine  two-story  brick  house  still  in  excellent 
condition,  was  in  all  likelihood  the  facility  of  getting  water.  How- 
ever, he  did  not  stay  there  very  long,  perhaps  because  the  ice  in  the 
spring  freshets  as  Green  Kiver  then  was  may  have  threatened  the 
east  end  of  his  house;  the  river  has  worn  its  way  to  the  east  at 
that  point  more  than  three  times  its  breadth  since  Parris  built  his 
house  there,  and  in  1869  a  sudden  "  flood "  not  only  carried  away 
the  bridge  entire,  but  also  cut  a  passage  through  the  bank  at  its 
east  end  considerably  wider  than  the  bridge  was  long.  For  some 
reason,  at  any  rate,  Parris  moved  about  half  a  mile  to  the  east,  near 
to  Samuel  Kellogg's  house,  probably  into  the  house  afterwards  occu- 
pied by  Lieutenant  Sampson  Howe,  on  the  south  side  of  the  road. 
Whether  it  were  the  Quaker  principles  which  he  imbibed  and  pro- 
fessed after  the  close  of  the  French  and  Indian  War,  or  a  natural 
love  for  solitude  and  contemplation  amid  the  vast  works  of  God, 
he  moved  next  into  the  Hopper,  and  built  the  good  house  with  its 
white-oak  sills,  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Stephen  Bacon,  3d. 
His  is  the  only  well-authenticated  Quaker  family  that  ever  dwelt 
in  Williamstown.  He  owes  to  this  circumstance,  and  to  the  con- 
trast between  his  early  life  in  the  line  of  forts,  and  in  marches 
between  them  and  very  likely  also  to  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point 
and  his  later  life  in  the  great  gorge  crowned  by  Greylock,  a  weird 
distinction  and  a  sort  of  halo  that  will  never  wholly  fade  out. 
There  are  those  who  are  willing  to  take  the  risks  of  the  conjecture, 
that  his  wife,  Grace  Parris,  was  a  quiet  and  beautiful  woman. 
That  he  was  a  kindly  and  neighborly  man  seems  to  ba  shown  by 
the  frequent  recurrence  of  his  autograph  as  a  witness  in  the  deeds 
and  other  documents  of  his  time.  He  owned,  at  one  time,  the  whole 
of  house  lot  57,  and  sold  the  west  end  of  it  to  Isaac  Searle  for  £15 ; 
and  in  1771  the  whole  lot  is  put  down  to  Caleb  Parris. 

20.  Perhaps  the  last  family  to  be  provided  for  in  the  narrow 
quarters  of  the  new  meeting-house,  was  that  of  Asa  Johnson,  who 
was  from  Canaan,  Connecticut,  and  who  fixed  himself  about  1762 
on  a  sightly  swell  just  north  of  the  house  lots  and  near  to  the  first, 
but  soon  abandoned,  burial-ground.     The  old  county  road  ran  past 


WILLI  AMSTOWN.  621 

his  house  from  Pittsfield  to  Bennington.  That  portion  of  the  county 
road  that  passed  over  "  Johnson  Hill,"  as  it  has  been  recently  pro- 
posed that  that  broad  and  comely  height  should  be  named,  was  long 
ago  discontinued;  but  several  elegant  residences  now  crown  the  hill, 
conspicuous  among  them  those  of  Mr.  Jerome,  Professor  Hewitt, 
and  Mrs.  Huntoon.  Asa  Johnson  and  Thankful,  his  wife,  had  a 
daughter  born  to  them  in  Canaan,  named  Hannah,  on  the  29th  of 
October,  1760.  When  they  arrived  in  West  Hoosac  a  year  or  two 
later,  he  seems  to  have  shown  a  certain  enterprise  and  vigor  in  buj^ing 
and  selling  lots,  and  in  various  dealings  with  the  leading  settlers 
who  had  preceded  him  ;  but  evidence  of  bad  management  and  want 
of  thrift  soon  begins  to  peer  out  between  the  lines  of  various  old 
records ;  he  gets  heavily  into  debt  to  Robert  Henry,  of  Albany,  a 
merchant  there,  from  whom  other  settlers  also  purchased  their  sup- 
plies in  part ;  in  September,  1766,  Henry  sued  Johnson,  and  obtained 
judgment  against  him  in  £141  lis.  lid.  debt,  and  £3  lis.  costs; 
Samuel  Kellogg,  Richard  Stratton,  and  Jonathan  Meacham  took 
oath  to  apprise  the  real  estate  in  order  to  satisfy  this  execution; 
Johnson  sold  in  November,  in  part  satisfaction  of  this  debt,  to  Ben- 
jamin Simonds  for  £37  10s.,  meadow  lots  29  and  32,  oak  lot  15,  and 
pine  lot  3;  but  the  large  debt  would  not  wholly  down,  until  in 
1770  he  sold  to  Henry  directly,  for  £45,  his  homestead,  twelve  and 
one-half  acres,  the  remnant  that  was  left  to  him  of  fifty-acre  lot 
No.  37,  including  his  dwelling-house  and  outbuildings.  This  patch 
is  bounded  in  the  deed  as  follows :  "  northerly  on  land  of  said  Robert 
Henry,  westerly  on  William  Hosford's  land,  southerly  on  the  burial 
yard,  and  easterly  on  the  County  Road."  This  patch  of  land  soon  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Robert  Hawkins,  of  New  Milford,  Connecticut, 
and  later  was  long  occupied  as  a  home  by  Solomon  Wolcott,  of  Col- 
chester, and  later  still,  by  Colonel  Samuel  Tyler,  who  lived  for  some 
time  in  the  same  house  with  Wolcott.  The  writer  remembers  the 
old  house  well,  and  it  was  taken  down  not  far  from  1852.  Asa  John- 
son and  his  wife  removed  from  Williamstown,  poor,  but  not  dis- 
couraged, to  what  is  now  Rutland,  Vermont,  and  their  daughter, 
Chloe,  was  born  there  Oct.  3,  1770,  the  third  white  child  to  be  born 
in  Rutland,  the  two  previous  births  having  happened  within  ten  days 
before,  —  William  Powers  on  September  23,  and  William  Mead  on 
the  next  day.  Rutland,  however,  had  been  a  focus  of  Indian  travel, 
and  of  white  men's  military  marches,  long  before  1770.  After  Fort 
Dummer  was  built  in  1724,  Rutland  lay  in  the  most  accessible  path 
from  the  Connecticut  River  to  Lake  Champlain.  Massachusetts 
sold  goods  at  Fort  Dummer  cheaper  tlian  the  French  sold  the  same 


/ 


622  ORIGINS    IN   WILLIAMSTOWN. 

in  Canada ;  and  hence  a  brisk  Indian  trade  across  the  highlands  of 
Vermont.  Three  times  in  the  course  of  the  year  1759,  brave  sights 
were  seen  at  the  crossing  of  the  Otter  Creek  in  what  is  now  Centre 
Rutland :  first,  800  New  Hampshire  troops  with  axes  and  shovels 
and  hoes,  cutting  down  trees  and  levelling  hummocks,  and  making 
a  military  road  from  Charleston,  New  Hampshire,  to  Crown  Point, 
in  order  the  better  to  co-operate  with  General  Amherst,  in  his  part 
towards  the  conquest  of  Canada ;  second,  soon  after,  400  fat  cattle 
in  five  droves,  passing  over  this  new  road  to  diminish  (if  possible) 
the  scurvy  in  the  great  garrison  at  Crown  Point;  and  third.  Major 
Kobert  Eogers,  the  great  ranger  and  indomitable  forester,  with  a 
new  corps  of  rangers,  recruited  at  Charleston,  on  his  return  from  the 
exploit  of  destroying  the  Indian  village  of  St.  Francis  on  the  St. 
Lawrence,  the  pest  of  New  England,  and  now  after  two  months' 
absence  on  his  way  to  rejoin  Amherst  at  Crown  Point. 

It  only  remains  in  this  long  chapter  to  quote  verbatim  the  differ- 
ent orders  taken,  in  well-warned  proprietors'  meetings,  in  relation  to 
the  erection  and  occupation  of  this  first  meeting-house  of  1768. 

Voted  to  Build  a  meeting  House  also  voted  that  Said  meeting  House  be  forty 
feet  in  Length  and  thirty  feet  in  Breadth.  Voted  to  finish  Said  House  in  two 
year.  Voted  Said  House  be  Studed  and  Bracesed.  Voted  to  plaister  as  far  as 
is  Needed.  Voted  to  lay  the  uper  floer  on  the  top  of  the  jice  and  Laith  and 
Plaister  on  the  under  Side  of  the  jice.  Voted  and  Chose  Nehemiah  Smedley 
Samuel  Sanford  Richard  Stratton  a  Commetree  to  finish  Said  meeting  House. 
Voted  to  Raise  three  Pounds  on  Each  Right  to  Build  Said  meeting  House.  Voted 
to  Leave  the  Rest  of  Said  work  of  ^d  House  to  the  Discrestion  of  Said  Com- 
metree.    [Dec.  9,  1766.] 

Voted  and  Chose  Benjamin  Simonds  a  Commete  man  in  the  Room  of  mr 
Samuel  Sanford  for  Building  the  meeting  House.     [March  11,  1768.] 

Voted  to  appoint  a  Place  to  Sett  up  a  meeting  House.  Voted  by  Intrest  and 
to  Sett  it  on  the  Square  9880  acres  the  Contray  by  Intrest  5035  acres.  Voted  to 
Leave  it  to  the  Discression  of  the  Commetee  to  provide  for  the  Raising  S^  House. 
[April  18,  1768.] 

Voted  to  Give  Instructtions  to  the  meeting  House  Commetee  Concerning  the 
Pew  Ground  also  Voted  to  Build  Pews.  Voted  that  Said  Commetee  go  on  and 
Build  Pews  according  to  their  Dischression  and  then  Sect  said  House.  [Nov. 
7,  1768.] 

Voted  to  Raise  one  Pound  on  Eaich  Proprietor  Right  to  finish  the  meeting 
House  and  Some  other  old  Rearriges.  Voted  Excepted  accounts  as  follows 
to  Benjamin  Simonds  and  Nehemiah  Smedley  for  finishing  the  meeting  House 
£4  8s.  Sd.     [Oct.  9,  1769.] 

Voted  to  Build  2  Pews  at  the  East  End  of  the  meeting  House.  Voted  Not 
to  Except  the  meeting  House  as  finished.     [April  13,  1770.] 


INDEX. 


Abbott,  Samuel,  150,  211. 

Abenakis  of  Maine,  72. 

Acadie,  239. 

Adams,  John  Q.,  334. 

Adams  line,  4. 

Adirondat'ks,  21. 

Aix  la  Chapelle,  73, 186, 204, 223, 233, 685. 

Albany,  70. 

Albany  as  place  of  supply,  514. 

Alexander,  Corporal,  103. 

Alexandria,  271. 

Allen,  Samuel,  131. 

•' Alpine  Club,"  14,45. 

Amherst  College,  32. 

Amherst,  Greneral,  171,  421. 

Anthony,  Mount,  37. 

Argall,  Captain,  74. 

Arnold's  exi)edition,  41. 

Arnold  to  Quebec,  47(>. 

Artillery  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  419. 

Ashford  Brook,  4,  7. 

Ashley,  Rev.  John,  226. 

Ashuwillticook,  Preface,  107. 

Avery,  Oliver,  515. 


B. 


Bacon,  Aaron,  50,  578. 
Bacon,  Daniel,  50,  445. 
Bacon,  Jacob,  .50,  579. 
Bacon,  Stephen,  52,579. 
Baker  Bridge,  62. 
Bald  Mountain,  12,  28. 
Baldwin,  Joel,  17,  569. 
Ballou,  Aaron,  6.'i. 
Ballon  family,  «>3. 
Bancroft,  George,  105. 
Bantam  Lake,  389. 
Baptist  Society,  473. 
"  Bardwell's  Ferrj',"  112. 
Barnard,  Salah,  285. 


"  Bars  Fight,"  118,  130. 
Bascom,  John,  8,  13,  551. 
"Bascora  Meadow,"  14. 
Batten  Kill,  The,  155. 
Battle,  Lake  George,  Ml. 
"  Bay  Path,"  305. 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  548. 
Bee  Hill,  18,  62,  531. 
Beers,  Deacon  Andrew,  541. 
Belcher,  Governor,  16,  77,  218. 
Belding,  Noah,  479. 
Bellows-Pipe,  33. 
Bennington,  7,  315. 

Berlin  Pass,  22. 

Berlin  road,  25. 

Bernard,  Governor,  227. 

Bill  for  supplies  at  Fort  Shirley,  84. 

Billings,  Elisha  and  William,  493. 

"  Bingham  house,"  580. 

Birchard,  Amos,  25. 

Birchard  family,  545. 

Birch  Hill,  17, 18,  531. 

Birch  Hill  Brook,  18. 

Blackinton,  woollen-mill,  4. 

Blagden,  S.  P.,  510. 

Blair,  Abraham,  91. 

Blair,  Austin,  44. 

Blair,  Bernard,  584. 

Blair  family,  581. 

Blair,  Maria,  5^. 

Blakeslee,  Caleb,  551. 

Blakeslee,  Edwin,  .551. 

Blanchard,  Colonel,  208,  315,  342. 

Block  house  at  West  Hoosac,  256. 

Blodget,  Samuel,  342. 

"  Bloody  Morning  Scout,"  105,  322. 
"Bloody  Pond,"  348. 
Board  of  Commissioners,  3. 
Body  of  Divinity,  Ridgeley's,  486. 
Boove,  Peter,  202. 
Bounty  for  scalps,  275. 
Braddock's  Defeat,  130. 


623 


624 


INDEX. 


Braddock,  General,  287,  313. 
Bratt,  Barnardus,  114. 
Braytonville,  62. 
Bridges,  Jonathan,  43G,  593. 
Briggs,  Enos,  28. 
Broad  Brook,  8,  G4. 
Brookman's,  22,  24. 
Brooks,  Albert,  40. 
Brown,  Samuel,  218,  382. 
Brown,  Timothy  M.,  612. 
Bulkley  farm,  537. 
Bulkley,  Gershom  T.,  562. 
Bulkley,  Rev.  Peter,  389. 
Burbank,  434. 
Burbank,  Daniel,  570. 
Burchard  family,  545. 
Burgoyne,  General,  305,  426. 
Burial-place,  The  first,  515. 
Burt,  Deacon,  484. 
Burying-place,  463. 
'•  Buskirk's  Bridge,"  283. 
Buxton,  16. 
Buxton  Brook,  22,  33,  377. 


Caldwell,  William,  91. 

Calhoun,  Rev.  Dr.,  259. 

Canada  Indians,  5. 

Canning,  E.  W.  B.,  355. 

Cape  Breton,  74,  100. 

Captives  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  128. 

"Captive,  The  Redeemed,"  73. 

Carillon,  Fort,  71. 

"  Carrying-Place,"  321. 

Carter,  Franklin,  38. 

Cartier,  explorer,  75. 

Cartwright,  Richard,  479. 

Caswell,  Jonathan,  319. 

Catlin,  John,  107,  110,  226. 

Catskills,  12,  19,  21. 

Census  in  1765,  470. 

Chadbourne  Mountain,  29. 

Chadbourne,  P.  A.,  30. 

Chambers'  Dictionary,  486. 

Champlain,  Samuel,  71, 155. 

Chapin,   Captain   Elisha,  248,  256,  280, 

411,  487. 
Charlemont,  111,  273. 
"  Charlestown,"  296. 
Charlestown,  New  Hampshire,  210. 
Chauncy,  Rev.  Dr.,  224,  354. 
Chester,  Colonel,  292. 
'•Chickobee,"248. 


Chidester,  father,  son,  280,  284. 
Chidester,  William,  402. 
Children  of  West  Hoosac,  499. 
Childs,  Dr.,  327. 
Chi  Psi  fraternity,  248. 
Choate,  Colonel,  483. 
Church,  Formation  of,  473. 
Clark,  Dr.  B.  J.,595. 
Clark  Hall,  355. 
Clark,  R.  R.,  355. 
Clark,  W.  L.,  106. 
Cleveland,  President,  23,  569. 
Cockroft,  342. 
"  Colchester  Rose,"  548. 
Cole,  Charles  S.,  555. 
Cole,  John  M.,  14,  557. 
Coleraine,  226. 
Collins,  Isaac,  163. 
Comstock  Heights,  40. 
Connecticut  River,  Preface,  5. 
Converse,  Harriet,  42. 
Converse,  Olive,  42. 
Converse,  Walter,  42. 
Cooke,  Rev.  Phineas,  Preface. 
Cook,  W.  L.,  89. 
Cooper,  Judith,  485. 
Coots,  Charles,  105. 
Corner  of  Massachusetts,  1. 
Corps  of  Rangers,  274. 
Cowdin,  Abel,  262. 
Crawford,  John,  275. 
Crofoot  family,  538. 
Crown  Point,  169,  175. 
Crown  Point  expedition,  308. 
Culloden  Moor,  176. 
Curtiss,  389,  394. 

D. 

Dale,  geologist,  558. 

Dalton,  321. 

Dana,  Professor,  60. 

Danforth,  Keyes,  462,  555. 

Daniels,  Starling,  46. 

D'Anville,  123. 

Dartmouth  College,  Preface. 

Davis,  Stephen,  535. 

Day,  Daniel,  441. 

De  Lancey,  Governor,  116. 

Deming,  Aaron,  544. 

Deming  family,  435,  543. 

Demuy,  Lieutenant,  148,  176. 

Denio,  Aaron,  122. 

Dewey,  Daniel,  591. 


INDEX. 


625 


Dewey,  Daniel  N.,  552. 

Diana's  Bath,  17. 

Diderot,  354. 

Dieskau,  General,  145,  276,  346,  488. 

Dodd,  Professor,  4. 

Dodd's  Cone,  20,  33. 

Dome  and  Doinelet,  Preface,  11,  13. 

Donahue's,  17,  18. 

Donalsou,  Daniel,  HIO. 

Doijlittle,  Rev.  Benjamin,  174. 

Doiigan,  Governor,  113,  158. 

Douglas,  Asa,  507. 

Drake's  "  Particular  History,"  144,  164. 

"Dug  Way,"  8,  26. 

Dummer  Fort,  78, 122. 

Duncan,  Samuel,  40. 

Dunning,  Matthew,  473. 

Dunton,  Thomas,  434. 

Durfee,  Rev.  Dr.,  312,  530. 

Dutch  encroachments,  496. 

Dutch  farmers,  516. 

"  Dutch  Hoosac,"  151,  264,  401. 

Dutch  in  New  York,  2,  70. 

Dwight,  Abigail,  488. 

Dwight,  Anna,  43. 

Dwight,  Captain  Nathaniel,  81,  302,  404, 

564. 
Dwight,  Colonel  Joseph,  126,  218. 
Dwight,  Colonel  Timothy,  81,  96,  99,  483. 


E. 


Eagle  Bridge,  154. 
"  East  Mountain,"  10. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  219. 
Eldridge,  J.  A.,  5. 
Emmons,  Mount,  10. 
Emmons,  Professor,  172. 
"  Endicutt's  Tree,"  15. 
Erskine,  Letter  to,  252. 
Everett,  Edward,  108,  193. 
Ewing,  John,  3. 
Eyre,  Captain,  351. 

F. 

Falltown,  124. 
Field,  David  D.,  21,  355. 
Field's  "  Berkshire,"  571. 
Fitch.  Asa,  163. 
Fitch,  Ebenezer,  222. 
Fitch,  Mount,  29. 
Five  Nations,  72. 
"  Flora's  Glen,*'  550. 


"Foote's  Hill,"  556. 

Ford  of  the  Hoosac,  206. 

Ford's  Glen,  15. 

Ford,  Zadock,  15. 

"  Forest  trees,"  9. 

"Fork  Lyman,"  337. 

"  Forks,"  The,  8. 

Fort  Anne,  317. 

Fort  Clinton,  1(^. 

Fort  Edward,  160,  276,  309. 

Fort  Massachusetts,  521. 

Fort  Nicholson,  160. 

Fort  St.  Frederic,  169. 

Fort  Saratoga,  320. 

Fort  William  Henry,  145,  276,  340. 

Foster,  Ezekiel,  260. 

Foster  family,  28. 

Founders  of  Williamstown,  470. 

Founder's  will,  492. 

Fowler  family,  17. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  265. 

French    Flag    at    Fort    Massachusetts, 

143. 
French  Protestants,  231. 
Frontenac,  72. 


Gale,  John  B.,  536. 
"Garden  of  Eden,"  14. 
George,  Lake,  75. 
Ghost  story,  614. 
Gibbs  family,  .*i90. 
Gilson,  Michael,  108, 197. 
Glen  Bridge,  24. 
Glen  Brook,  19. 
Glen's  Falls,  329. 
Gneiss,  11. 
Golden  Gate,  50. 
"Goodeirs,"45,  46. 
"  Gore,"  22,  42. 
Gore  annexed,  4. 
Gould,  Edward  O.,  (304. 
Grass,  Blue,  of  Kentucky,  59. 
Gray,  James  and  John,  489. 
Gray,  John,  2(K>. 
Greenfield,  Preface. 
Green,  Henry,  42. 
Green,  Librarian,  110. 
Green  Mountains,  (5. 
Grey  lock,  Preface,  4. 
Griffin,  Mount,  29. 
Griffin,  N.  H.,  35. 
"Gully,"  19. 


626 


INDEX. 


H. 


"  Half  Moon,"  69,  383. 

Hall,  Clark,  59,  119. 

Hall,  Goodrich,  59. 

Hall,  Griffin,  59. 

Hall,  Morgan,  59. 

Hancock  Brook,  7. 

.Harrington,  Micah,  369. 

Harrison,  Almon,  51. 

Harrison,  Bradford,  618. 

Harrison,  Clement,  Preface,  119,  423. 

Harrison  family,  527,  617. 

Harrison's  Pasture,  32. 

Harwood,  Mary,  607. 

Hatfield,  492. 

Haverhill,  1. 

Hawks,  Eleazar,  111,  139. 

Hawks,  John,  111,  209,  494. 

Hawley,  Joseph,  224,  267,  288,  300,  385. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  67. 

Haynes,  John  H.,  97,  247. 

"Haystack,"  12. 

Hazen,  Mount,  10,  263. 

Hazen,  Richard,  1,  8,  12,  66. 

"  Heart  of  Grey  lock,"  47. 

Hemlock  Brook,  22,  448. 

Hemlocks,  23. 

Hendrik,  Mohawk,  316,  345. 

Hickox,  Deacon  Stephen,  64. 

Hickox  family,  24. 

"  Hickox  Height,"  25. 

Higgins,  Elisha,  391. 

Hobhs,  Captain,  203,  205. 

Holmes,  Isaac,  473. 

Holmes,  Phoebe,  551. 

"Hoosac,"  derivation,  467. 

Hoosac  Junction,  282. 

"  Hoosac  Patent,"  113. 

Hoosac  River,  Preface. 

"  Hoosac  Road,"  14. 

Hoosacs,  Preface,  5,  21. 

Hoosac  Tunnel,  6,  109. 

Hopkins,  Colonel  A.  L.,  64,  510,  550,  603. 

Hopkins,  Harry,  34,  36. 

Hopkins,  Louisa  Pay  son,  48. 

Hopkins,   Mark,   Preface,  36,   200,   312, 

478. 
Hopkins,  Mount,  27. 
Hopkins,  Professor,  9,  12,  13,  35,  36,  47, 

65. 
Hopper,  20. 
"Hopper  Brook,"  440. 
Horsford,  William,  60. 


Hoskins,  Nathan,  552. 
Housatonic  River,  7. 
Howe,  Fisher,  412. 
Howe,  Lieutenant  Sampson,  620. 
Howe,  Lord,  421. 
Hoxsie,  S.  V.  R.,  552. 
Hoyt,  General  E.,  277. 
Hoyt's  "Researches,"  181. 
Hubbard,  historian,  303. 
Hubbell,  Jedidiah,  530. 
Hubbell,  Lyman,  541. 
Hudson,  Captain,  11,  223,  261. 
Hudson,  Captain  and  Surgeon,  519. 
Hudson,  Henry,  69. 
"Hudson's  Brook,"  504. 
Hudson's  Height,  10,  263. 
Hudson's  River,  2. 
Hutchinson,  Governor,  484. 
Hutchins,  Thomas,  3. 
Hyde,  Deacon  Alexander,  65. 

I. 

Indian  Mission  in  Stockbridge,  219,  248, 

252. 
Indian  path,  37. 
Indian  scalps,  102. 
"  Irish  potatoes,"  91. 
Irish  spinning-wheels,  91. 
Items  of  expense  at  Fort  Shirley,  86. 

J. 

Jackson,  Deacon  John,  221. 

Jackson,  Elizabeth,  218. 

"Jackson  Festival,"  312,  478. 

Jackson,  "  History  of  Newton,"  217. 

Jericho,  44,  507. 

Jerome,  Eugene  M.,  604. 

Joel's  Sentry,  17. 

Jones,  Israel,  242. 

Johnson,  Asa,  451,  621. 

Johnson,  Lieutenant  David,  41, 142. 

"Johnson  Pass,"  41. 

Johnson,  Sir  William,  136,  276. 

Johnson,  W.  E., 

"  Journal "  of  Richard  Hazen, 

K. 

Kalm,  Peter,  161, 170. 
Keith,  H.  F.,  304. 
Kelley,  Mrs.  Patrick,  580. 
Kellogg,  Captain  J.,  324. 


INDEX. 


627 


Kellogg  farm,  64. 

KelloRg,  Giles  B.,  55,  445,  577. 

KeWoiiii  Hall,  451. 

Kellogg,  Justin,  fi02. 

Kellogg,  Mr.  Justice,  55. 

Kellogg,  Natlianiel.  4il5. 

Kellogg,  Professor.  472,  571. 

Kellogg,  Samuel,  444,  474,  576. 

Ken»el>ec  expetlition,  476. 

Kidder,  George,  40. 

Kidder  Pass,  23,  38,  41. 

Kill,  Batten,  69. 

Kill,  Kinderhook,  69. 

Kinderhook  Creek,  7. 

King,  Benjamin,  410. 

King,  David,  fXH). 

Kinney,  Daniel,  45. 

Kinney  Place,  46. 

Kinney,  Robert,  514. 

Knowles,  Commodore,  78,  296. 

Kuowlton,  Thomas,  135. 

"  Krigger  Mills,"  39. 

Kriggers,  a  Dutch  family,  507,  558. 


I.a  Come,  Colonel,  147, 162. 
I>ake  George,  32«),  497. 
I^imb,  John,  540. 
Land-grabber  Seelye,  524. 
I^nesboro,  7,  252,  448. 
I^tham,  Captain  Isaac,  562. 
Lebanon,  New  Hampshire,  Preface. 
Lee,  Dr.  Samuel,  371. 
Leet,  Governor  William,  20. 
Leet  Hill.  19,  26,  33. 
Leet,  .Jared,  2(5,  33. 
Limestone,  Chazy,  172. 
Lincoln's  '*  Worcester,"  92. 
Line  between  New  York  and  Massachu- 
setts, 376. 
Line  House,  8,  461. 
"  Little  Hoosac,"  19,  20, 152,  282. 
♦*  Little  Tunnel,"  6,  33. 
Little  White  Creek,  116. 
Livingstone,  Robert,  159. 
Log  meeting-house,  463. 
Long  Oblong,  39. 
Louisburg,  Fortress  of,  74,  93. 
Lowell,  city,  1. 
Luce,  Seth,  441. 
Ludden,  W.  W.,  Preface. 
L>^nan,  Phineas,  310. 
Lyme,  New  Hampshire,  Preface. 


M. 

Macomber  Mountain,  34. 

McCosh,  6(>. 

McGinnis,  :?53. 

McMaster  Mountain,  38,  40. 

McMaster,  Robert,  38. 

"  Mac's  Pattin,"  ."58. 

•'Mansion  House,"  463. 

Map  of  first  survey,  374. 

Marcy,  Governor,  <)00. 

Marsh,  Dr.  Perez,  XiO,  365,  491. 

Marsh,  Dwight  Whitney,  493. 

Martin's  Mount,  40. 

Mason's  Hill,  13. 

Massachusetts  Fort,  Preface,  14,  69,  79, 

107,  178,  198,  242. 
"  Master  Townsend,"  528. 
Mather,  Charles  H,,  588. 
Maxwell,  Orsamus,  82. 
Mayunsook,  Preface,  5,  107. 
Meacham  family,  ;i93,  431,  508,  509. 
Meacham,  Jonathan,  280,  404,  565. 
Meacham,  William,  280,  404,  411. 
Meack,  Dr.  Jacob,  4:32,  561. 
Meeting-house,  474,  52(>,  560. 
Merrimack  River,  1,  76. 
Mills,  B.  F.,  38. 
Mills,  Captain  Samuel,  42. 
Mills  in  West  Hoosac,  498. 
Mills,  Mrs.  Reed,  46. 
Ministers'  lot,  474. 
Ministry  lot,  474. 
Mohawk  River,  2. 
Mohawk  trail,  14. 
Mole,  Mrs.  Thomas,  262. 
"  Money  Brook,"  55. 
Monongahela,  137. 
Montcalm,  General,  140. 
Montreal,  75. 
Moody  Bridge,  7,  421. 
Moon  Hollow,  16. 
Moore,  Mount,  31. 
Moore,  President,  32. 
"  Mount  Belcher,"  2, 16. 
Mount  Fitch,  4. 
Mount  Mills,  40. 
Musgrave,  Sir  Anthony,  21. 


N. 


New  Hampshire,  77. 
New  Mil  ford,  rAi). 
New  Salem,  288,  508. 


628 


INDEX. 


"  New  tenor"  money,  88,  121. 

"  New  York,"  70. 

Nims,  Elisha,  118. 

No.  4,  26G. 

Noble,  David,  563. 

Noble,  Deacon  Deodatus,  63. 

Norridgewock,  75. 

North  Adams,  241. 

North  Granville,  New  York,  166. 

"North  Hoosac,"283. 

Northwest  Hill,  15. 

Norton,  Chaplain,  101,  123,  183,  277. 

Norton,  Mrs.  John,  83,  89. 

Notch  road,  32. 


Oak  Hill,  10,  14,  37. 

"Oblong  road,"  511. 

Old  lime-kiln,  60. 

"  Old  tenor  "  money,  88,  121. 

Ontario,  Lake,  72. 

Original  drawings  of  house  lots,  383. 

Otis,  James,  299. 

Owl  Kill,  37,  114,  153,  283. 


P. 

Park,  Deacon  William,  216. 

Parkman,  Francis,  115,  132,  148. 

Parris,  Elkanah,  51,  52,  579. 

Parris,  Grace,  020. 

Partridge,  Captain  Oliver,  191,  225,  301, 

373. 
Pawtucket  Falls,  1,  77. 
Peace  of  Ryswick,  72. 
Peace  of  Utrecht,  168. 
Pelham,  Fort,  97,  122,  194,  235. 
Pelham,  Henry,  101. 
Penniman,  Christopher,  64. 
Penniman,  Harvey  and  Chester,  64. 
Pepperel,  Sir  William,  299. 
Perry,  A.  L.,  Gil. 
Perry,  Bliss,  548,  603. 
Perry,  Grace,  595. 

Perry,  John,  101, 108,  120, 139,  189,  241. 
"  Perry's  Elm,"  Preface,  424. 
Petersburg  Junction,  152. 
Petersburg  Pass,  18. 
Petersburg  road,  19. 
Petition  of  soldiers,  415. 
Phelps,  Dan,  39. 
Phips,  Spencer,  239,  272.  328. 
Pickets  at  Fort  Massachusetts,  245. 


Pidgeon,  Daniel,  F.G.S.,  67. 

Pierce,  President,  600. 

Pine  lots,  456. 

Pocumtuck  Memorial  Hall,  89,  106. 

Pomeroy,  Seth,  105,  236,  288,  360. 

Porter,  Dr.  Samuel,  42. 

Pottery  work  here,  62. 

Pownal,  8,  426. 

Pownal,  Governor,  227,  520. 

Pratt,  "  Jerry,"  260,  427. 

Pratt,  Mrs.  Roxanna,  575. 

Pratt,  Silas,  259,  391. 

Pratt,  "  Steve."  260,  427. 

Pratt,  William,  425. 

Prindle  place,  19. 

Prindle,  Sheriff  George,  507. 

Privy  Council,  1. 

"Proprietors,"  465. 

"Proprietors'  Book,"  501. 

Proprietors'  meetings,  398,  405,  466,  523. 

Purchasers  of  house  lots,  384. 

Putnam,  James  O.,  600. 

Putnam,  Mrs.  Anna,  592. 

Putnam,  Schuyler,  52. 

Putnam,  Sylvia,  593. 

Putney,  Vermont,  109. 


Q. 

Quartzite,  62. 

Quebec,  71,  144. 

"  Queen  Anne's  War,"  73,  146. 

"  Queen's  College  "  in  Hatfield,  228. 

R. 

Rale,  Father,  75. 

Rale's  bell,  76. 

Rations  in  garrison,  106,  199. 

"Raven  Rock,"  5. 

"  Redeemed  Captive,"  124,  306. 

Redemption  of  paper  money,  88. 

Red  House  Farm,  18. 

Regicides,  20,  26,  33. 

Rice,  Moses,  96,  111,  273. 

Rich,  Moses,  38. 

Richards,  Colonel,  40. 

Richards,  James,  40. 

Rittenhouse,  David,  3. 

"  River  Bend  Farm,"  7,  150,  459,  507. 

"  River-gods,"  225. 

Roadtown,  392. 

Roberts,  Zenas,  46. 

Robinson,  Governor  Moses,  157. 


INDEX. 


629 


Roe,  Thomas,  573. 
••  Rogers  Rangers,"  90,  171. 
Rogers,  Robert,  274,  283,  622. 
Rossiter,  Nathan,  541. 
Ruggles,  310,  344. 
Rutland,  Vermont,  621. 


S. 


Sabin,  Charles,  41,  43. 

Sabiii,  Dr.  H.  L.,  43. 

Sabin  Heights,  43. 

Sabin,  Lieutenant  Z.,  43,  142. 

Sabine's  "Loyalists,"  230. 

Saddle  Mountain,  5,  12,  44. 

Saflford,  Professor,  4. 

St.  Croix,  115. 

St.  Croix  rum,  51. 

St.  Lawrence  River,  71. 

St.  Pierre,  351. 

"  St.  Sacrament,"  I>ake,  115. 

"  Sand  Spring,"  13,  (>4,  459. 

Sand  Spring  Hotel,  14. 

Sanford,  Samuel,  52<;. 

"  Saratoga  River,"  154. 

Sawmill,  457. 

Saxe,  Marshal,  354. 

Scheme  of  a  village  centre,  377. 

Schodock,  7,  69. 

Schoolhouse,  474. 

Schuyler,  General.  517. 

Schuyler,  Peter,  73, 158. 

Schuylerville,  320. 

Scotch-Irish,  90,  118, 157,  258. 

Searle,  Captain  Isaac,  60,  5(53. 

"Seating"  the  meeting-house,  562. 

Sedgwick,  General,  444. 

Seelye,  Ephraim,  51,  4:i8,  524. 

Semi-centennial  of  the  College,  Preface. 

Sergeant,  Rev.  John,  219,  488. 

Shattuck.  Mary,  Preface. 

Sheldon,  Dr.,  562. 

Sheldon,  George,  89. 

Sherman,  Bissell,  441. 

Sherman,  James,  442. 

Sherman,  Jolin,  24,  25. 

Sherwood  district,  42. 

"  Shirley  Fort,"  80,  134,  235. 

Shirley,  Governor,  74,  272,  294,  398,  484, 

502. 
Shirley,  .lohn  and  William,  ."KK. 
Shute,  (Jovernor,  fK),  5,32,  rm. 
Siege  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  135. 
Simonds,  Benjamin,  121,  150,  385,  590. 


Simonds,  Joseph,  594. 

Simonds  Peak,  29. 

Simonds,  Rachel,  286,  387,  433. 

"  Six  Nations,"  69. 

Skinner,  Deacon,  529,  583. 

Skinner,  General,  529,  591. 

Skinner,  John  B.,  597. 

Sloan,  General,  428. 

Sloan  road,  511. 

Slope  Hawks,  31,  191. 

Slope  Norton,  2<.),  191. 

Smead,  Captivity,  153, 173. 

Smead,  John,  189. 

Smedley,  Captain,  389. 

Smedley,  Deacon  Levi,  52. 

Smedley,  Edward.  612. 

Smedley,  F.  G.,  (>4. 

Smedley  Height,  6,  10,  475. 

"  Smedley  house,"  475. 

Smedley  House  No.  1,  468. 

Smedley,  James,  38, 65,  263,  407,  611. 

Smedley,  John,  5(58. 

Smedley,  Levi,  475. 

Smedley,  Nehemiah,  606,  et  seq. 

Smedley 's,  3<K). 

Smith's  "  Pittsfield,"  30. 

Smith,  Stephen,  Preface. 

"  Snow-Hole,"  22,  28. 

South  Williamstown,  6. 

Southwick,  Ichabod,  64. 

Spring,  Rev.  Samuel,  476. 

"  Square,"  379,  420. 

Stark,  General  John,  141,  219,  488. 

"  Steepacres,"  14. 

Stephentown,  7. 

Stetson,  Francis  L.,  569. 

Stevens,  Captain  Phineas,  78,  102,  121, 

203,  295. 
Stockbridge,  372,  402,  485. 
"  Stockbridge  Bowl,"  489. 
Stoddard,  Colonel  John,  79,  94, 104, 120, 

484. 
Stone  Hill,  429. 
Stratton,  437. 
Stratton,  Deacon.  439,  513. 
Stratton,  Hezekiah,  103. 
Stratton,  Major  Isaac,  513,  571. 
'•  Stratton  Mountain,"  4,  12,  44. 
Stratton,  Richard,  436,  474,  513. 
Stuyvesant,  Governor,  70. 
Survey  of  1839,  373. 
Sweet  Brook,  23,  39. 
**  Sweet's  Corners,"  508. 
Swift,  Rev.  Seth,  473. 


630 


INDEX. 


Tacitus,  historian,  136. 

Taconic  Ridge,  3. 

Taconic  System,  173. 

"Taconics,"  22. 

Taft,  C.  R.,  550. 

Talcott,  Mayor  John,  303. 

Tallmadge,  Joseph,  64,  549. 

Tatlock,  John,  11. 

"Taylor,  Elias,"  286. 

Taylor,  Samuel,  286. 

"  Taylor's  Crotch,"  52,  440,  506,  557. 

Tenny,  Rev.  Erdix,  Preface. 

Thacher,  Oxenbridge,  227. 

Thayer,  Foster,  530. 

Thayer,  Rev.  Ezra,  488. 

Thermopylae,  108,  193. 

Thetford  Academy,  Preface. 

Ticonderoga  Fort,  71,  156,  339. 

Titcomb,  Colonel,  310,  344.      • 

Tithing-man,  473. 

Torrey,  Homer,  511. 

Torrey,  John,  38. 

Torrey,  John,  Jr.,  38. 

Torrey,  Justin,  42. 

Torrey,  Myron,  42. 

Torrey  Plateau,  38. 

Torrey,  William,  5,  38. 

"Torrey  Woods,"  23. 

Townsend,  Martin,  44. 

Townsend,  M.  I.,  44. 

Townsend,  Nathaniel,  44. 

Townsend,  R.  M.,  44. 

Townsend,  R.  W.,44. 

Train,  Sally,  582. 

Train,  Thomas,  386,  408. 

Treadwell,  Agur,  23. 

Treadwell  Hollow,  20,  22. 

Treadwell  house,  23. 

Trumbull,  J.  H.,  22. 

Trumbull's  "  McFingal,"  230. 

Turnpikes,  25. 


Utrecht,  Peace  of,  73. 


V. 

Van  Der  Heiden's  Ferry,  195. 
Van  Der  Verick,  113,  152. 
Van  Ness,  113. 
"  Vandues,"  554. 


"  Vane,  Danforth,"  461. 

Vaudreuil,  General,  132, 165,  177,  494. 

Vaudreuil,  Governor,  73,  127,  140. 

Vermont,  Southern  line,  1. 

Village  "  lots  "  of  Williamstown,  380. 

"Vista,"  50. 

Voters  by  law,  473. 

W. 

Walker,  Alexander,  28. 

Walker,  Surveyor,  328. 

Walloomsac  River,  115,  282. 

Walpole,  Robert,  168. 

Ware's  Brook,  8,  461. 

War,  King  William's,  72. 

Warren,  Gideon,  275. 

Washington,  Colonel,  75. 

Washington  County,  New  York,  37,  61. 

Watch-box  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  138. 

Waterman,  James  M.,  562. 

Water  Street,  436,  615. 

"Wawbeek  Falls,"  56. 

"  Wawbeek  Falls,"  Poem  on,  58. 

Welch  family,  17. 

Welch,  Mrs.,  548. 

Welch,  Rev.  Whitman,  142,  463,  471,  473, 
474,  528. 

Well  of  Fort  Shirley,  85. 

Wells,  David  A.,  Preface. 

Wentworth,  Governor  Benning,  77,  229. 

"  West  College,"  449. 

"  West  Hoosac  "  Fort,  406. 

West,  Rev.  Dr.,  219,  277. 

Wheeler,  Deacon,  565. 

White,  Joseph,  273. 

"  White  Oaks,"  9,  13,  63,  438,  508. 

White  Oaks  Chapel,  460. 

White,  Rev.  Alfred,  540. 

White  sand,  63. 

Whitehall,  New  York,  167. 

Whiting,  Colonel,  345,  369. 

"Wilbur's  Pasture,"  4,  32. 

Will  of  Ephraim  Williams,  479. 

Williams,  Bishop  John,  487. 

Williams,  Captain  Elijah,  89,  104. 

Williams,  Charles  K.,  497. 

Williams,  Chauncey  K.,  497. 

Williams,  Colonel   E.,  Preface,  66,  100, 
104,  372. 

Williams,  Colonel  William,   74,   82,  92, 
226,  503. 

Williams,  Deacon  William,  490. 

Williams,  Dr.  S.  W.,  222. 


INDEX. 


631 


Williams,  Dr.  Thomas,  98,  125,  133,  224, 

;i:i8,  :k*y,  477. 
Williams,  Ephraim,  the  founder,  83,  89, 

104,  179,  206,  221,  254,  287,  477. 
Williams,  Ephraim,  Senior,  19(5,  202. 
•*  Williams  family,"  222,  242,  2«i8,  291. 
Williams,  Isaao,  216. 
Williams,  Israel,  100,  104,  285,  291. 
Williams,  Mount,  29. 
Williams,  Professor  Samuel,  3. 
Williams,  Rector  E.,  335. 
Williams,  Rev.  John,  73. 
Williams,  Rev.  Stephen,  306,  330,  483. 
Williams,  Robert,  100,  215,  324. 
Williams,  William,  478,  480. 
Williams's  mills,  241,  381. 
Williamstown    and    Williams    College, 

Preface. 
Winslow,  General,  281. 
Winsor,  Justin,  .^56. 
Winthrop,  General  John,  158. 
Wolfe's  victory,  421. 
Women's  prayer-meetings,  17, 77,  464. 


Wood  Creek,  129,  167,  317. 
Woodbridge,  Dr.  L.  D.,  526. 
Woodcock,  Barnabas,  541. 
Woodcock,  Bartholomew,  542. 
Woodcock,  Neheniiah,  541. 
Woodcock  road,  511. 
Woodcock's  Corner,  39. 
Worthington,  Colonel  John,  224,  265. 
Worthington,  John,  313,  :<21,  487. 
Wraxall,  Peter,  323. 
Wright,  Deacon,  174. 
Wyman,  Captain  Isaac,  224,  270,  272,  276, 
mi,  422,  501. 

Y. 

Yale  College,  125. 

Young,  family  of,  534. 

Young,  John,  6'.iii. 

Young,  John  and  David,  633. 

Young  Men's  Christian   Association   of 

North  Adams,  Preface. 
"  Young  Neighborhood,"  532. 
Young's  Point,  44. 


XortoooD  iSrcBB: 

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Boston.  MmM.,  U.S.A 


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